I’m not looking forward to the drive. It’s a long one. We’ll be on the road for four to five hours. I wouldn’t call it dread, but I’m not jumping for joy either. My son, though, has been counting down the days. In a week and a half, my wife and I will be driving … More A different kind of joy
And end of the month line-up for June. … More July’s Greatest Hits
Of all the trouble that I have these days, I wonder how much of it is borrowed. Here’s why I ask. I’m starting a new job tomorrow. It doesn’t feel like an entirely new job because I’ve worked with these folks for the last 6 months as an independent contractor. But then they handed me … More Borrowing Trouble
I enjoy questions. Gentle probes, whether I’m the inquiring mind or the query recipient. When I admire someone, I find a way to ask about a skill or quality I observe and appreciate. How did you come to be this way? Do you have a story to share? Occasionally, I’ll admit, it’s a technique I … More Light & Love
It seems like these days pass so quickly that we often finding ourselves reading, appreciating the gift of a post, and then moving on too quickly. To extend some of the great notes of the week, we are trying out Well Said Saturdays – bringing a few quotes from recent posts forward. From Quiet, Please! … More Well Said Saturdays – July 29
We all have different ideas of what a self-care looks like for ourselves – ideas that match our personality and phase of life. But for all the variation in style, there is a central question of how to make self-care stick. So in this episode, Vicki and I talk about the little hacks that help … More Episode 28: How Self-Care Can Make Us Better Humans with Vicki Atkinson
I was driving in my car today and caught myself thinking fondly of my ex. We’ve been broken up for one year and seven months now. And in that moment, I realized that I have only ever truly loved two men. Both of these men were long-term partners and in both relationships we lived together for a time. When you live with someone and share your life with a person for several years, you see everything about each other, no matter how well you try to hide things. And as I was thinking about my ex today, I was just remembering all of the good, all of the things I truly loved about him. In that moment, I also realized that all of the negative thoughts I’ve carried since the breakup, all of the things that were said and not said during our parting, just faded into the distance. And now, only love remains. … More After Time, Only Love Remains
I walk carefully along the river’s edge, careful to watch my step. The water is crisp, clear and fast-moving. If I fell in, I’m pretty sure I’d be a quarter mile upstream before I knew it. I follow a path to two big rocks looking out over the river. I take a break and sit … More Casting another line
I first heard the term mise en place while watching the television show Worst Cooks in America on the Food Network. Chef Anne Burrell introduced the term to a new season’s cast of recruits: people of various ages and professions who had shown themselves to be inexperienced, inept, or exaggeratedly careless cooks. At first, I … More What a Chef Can Teach Us about Writing
“Overwhelmingly, we are attracted to people who listen to us well. When things go wrong in any relationship, the first factor to consider is: Are we still listening?” -Glaser & Glaser, p. 17 Listening skills…they’re the bedrock of healthy relationships and if I had to isolate one topic addressed most frequently in my consulting practice … More Quiet, Please!
The Heart of the Matter 