I’ve been thinking a lot about the saying “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” It’s a solid statement. Especially because there’s a lot of negativity that surrounds us. Heck, many of us are guilty of contributing to the discord around us because there is always something to complain about. And often someone to complain about. But I want to talk about the opposite ...
A while back, I was in Manchester, New Hampshire to give a talk. Everything was going really well – I was connecting with my audience, making them laugh, and basically feeling like a rock star in front of them on stage. I was just flowing and riffing and bantering like a pro – it was completely exhilarating and incredibly fun. It was like, Yes! I belong up here! This is ...
Today, I thought it would be fun to contemplate the best decisions I have ever made. Like everyone else, I have made plenty of bad decisions, but I’m already really great at remembering them, dwelling on them, and eviscerating myself about them. You know, “worst critic” and all that. I don’t need to be always doing that. Neither do you. Especially because on the whole, I would say that I’m ...
I have to travel sometimes for work, and pretty much every time I stay in a hotel, I am fascinated by my hotel room’s minibar. Why, you ask? Well, first off, I typically have just gotten off a multiple-hour airplane leg, and I’m desperate and absolutely starving. Second, I really don’t want to try to find a decent restaurant around me, because I’m exhausted from airports and lines and people ...
“Society treats kids and senior citizens the same,” Rachel remarked to me the other day, and it got me thinking a lot about the truth of that statement on many levels. In the main, there just doesn’t seem to be a lot of time, respect, and wholehearted care given to those populations by the mass of individuals who find themselves chronologically between them, even if they are related to them. ...
Somehow, some way, a bit over twenty-four months have passed while I’ve been doing this marriage thing. What the pez!? You’ll recall I shared some of the lessons learned after one year of being hitched, and I thought it would be important to reflect again now that we’ve hit another milestone. I’m not sure how the first couple years are supposed to be, or tend to be. Are we still ...
In my last blog, I talked about my “savior complex” and how my compulsion to rescue others from their perceived or actual problems actually made me miserable. Perhaps you could relate to that. Today, I want to explore in depth when it isn’t a good idea to get involved in other people’s lives unless it’s truly led by God, instead of your own mercurial emotions and desire to constantly be ...
I was talking with my friend Brittany recently about the way we spend our time, and one of the things that came up has to do with our involvement in the lives of others. Now, I think we are meant to do life in community, and be connected with a group of like-minded individuals who can be there for us while we also are available for them. Life pretty much ...
During our recent backpacking trip through parts of Europe, an interesting thing happened. We were walking around a city square in Ghent, Belgium one workday afternoon, and we saw a child running from the middle of the square toward the busy, crowded street. He must have been about two years old, and it caused us alarm because nobody wants to see a kid to go running into a dangerous situation ...
The Karate Kid – the original version, which came out in 1984 - is one of my all-time favorite movies. Why? Well, I could relate to Daniel LaRusso, the introverted, awkward, skinny underdog who was valiantly trying to make friends and fit in at his new school in California. Plus, most boys my age saw the film and instantly developed a hopeless crush on Ali Mills in all of her ...