-
Relevance
“I’m just trying to matter.” – June Carter Cash From the habits of favorite pets…to tales of audacious entitlement…to sharing existential beliefs, there is nothing like a 5-hour car ride to fuel a lively conversation. On a recent trip home from volunteering in Louisville, KY at the SkillsUSA National Leadership Conference, my travel companion and I wandered into a conversation about the underlying need that all humans have to be relevant. He started it, stating matter-of-factly, “Of course, everyone has a need to be relevant.” As though it was the most basic of common knowledge. And while I agreed with the premise that we all want to be relevant, I had not though of it in…
-
Why and How
Constitution – the aggregate of a person’s physical and psychological characteristics. Growing up, now and then I heard references made to a person’s constitution. Having a “strong constitution” was considered praise amongst the sturdy, Midwestern farm stock from which we had descended. It meant that someone was physically strong and emotionally resilient. With that point of reference, I came to believe that a person’s constitution was mostly driven by their physiology and most certainly determined at birth. Not unlike a litter of puppies, there were alphas and runts among us. As time passed, my perception changed. While we certainly have some predetermined physical characteristics, there is much over which we have influence.…
-
Invictus Investing
“Your efforts are paying fantastic dividends.” He said it as he walked from the bakery to his car a white paper bag clutched in his left hand. I had been running almost three miles by then, only half-present to the familiar landmarks of my daily route, and he caught me by surprise. That time of morning, most people aren’t out and about. Even fewer are chatty. He was heavy-set. Ambling more than walking. And his tone made it unclear if his comment was as much a compliment to me as it was a condemnation of himself. The thought kept the words with me the rest of the way home…efforts…dividends. I…
-
Any Questions?
I’ll send an S.O.S. to the world I’ll send an S.O.S. to the world I hope that someone gets my I hope that someone gets my I hope that someone gets my Message in a bottle, yeah Message in a bottle, yeah – Sting It is easy to slip into the need for answers in our daily activities. After all, practically from birth we’re taught that all questions have answers. “Where’s your nose?” turns into “What sound does a cow make?” Before long, we are solving for Y and completing job applications. Our early experience can set an expectation that all questions have answers. And even more specifically, that each question…
-
Kaleidoscope
“Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.” – Pablo Picasso, 1923 A person is a kaleidoscope. Bits of gold and rose sliding across flecks of indigo and green–each going in and out of our view in turn. At times, some parts of people are so well hidden, it’s as though they don’t exist. Then another twist, the view shifts, and they reappear. Beckoned forth. Generosity, fear, compassion…plink, plink, plink…selfishness, curiosity, jealousy…plink, plink, plink. Unlike a kaleidoscope; however, people grow and change…or atrophy and change. Regardless of the means, we change. Some change is evolutionary like the unconscious change in our gait from a long-healed injury. Some change is revolutionary like…
