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Give A Little Bit
For it is in the giving that one receives. –St. Francis of Assisi It is difficult to be authentically generous and righteously entitled at the same time. It’s like trying to smile and frown simultaneously. You end up in this awkward grimace. Nothing much is accomplished. When I am feeling uncertain, the solution for me is to give. Give my time, my energy, my talent. Giving is the ultimate plot twist. It moves me from a scarcity mindset to abundance. Despair to hope. Groggy to focused. I am not a doctor, scientist, or mystic but I’ve participated in a number of real world “experiments” and the theory always holds true. Giving changes me. Nature abhors…
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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…
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Upsiders
There is a story told of an old farmer and the series of events that come to pass in his life. His horse runs away. His horse returns…bringing with it a dozen wild horses. His son is thrown while breaking the wild horses injuring his arm. A war breaks out, and his son is exempt from duty because of his broken limb. Back and forth it goes. At each point in the story, the villagers congratulate or console the farmer based on his revised circumstances saying, “oh, how wonderful” or “oh, such terrible news” in turn. And each time, the farmer sagely responds “perhaps”. Like March weather in the Midwest, our life circumstances are often…
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Chaos Theory
Dr. Sattler, Dr. Grant, you’ve heard of the chaos theory? No? Non-linear equations? Strange attractions? — Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park Entering Barnes and Noble, beyond the familiar fragrance of Veranda Blend and 10′ tall NOOK display, you’ll notice a table of books aimed at helping their readers improve. Regardless of the scope of improvement, personal or professional, most of these books have one thing in common–they involve a plan. Building a home requires a blueprint. Running a project involves a work plan. As students, we were coached on the Five Ps–prior planning prevents poor performance. Having a plan gives us a roadmap for the eventual completion of complex or challenging activity…
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Bloom
Purple crocuses have begun popping up in the yard. The branches of the lilac bushes are laden with buds. It has been raining for 24 hours straight, and signs of spring have sprung up all around us. Bulbs that went in the ground last fall have begun announcing themselves. It will not be long before they are more than hopeful tips of green. Soon they will bloom…where they were planted. This idea of blooming where we’re planted may seem counterintuitive in our consumptive, fast-paced culture. We have been trained to scan the horizon for the next big thing instead of focusing on what’s within our grasp. To that way of thinking, it will…
