Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash It’s a time of resolutions. We are one year removed from the fateful beginning of The Year of the Pandemic in America. No more needs to be said about this year of our discontent. Thankfully there are signs of hope. The third deadly wave seems to be waning and vaccinations are taking hold. Maybe, just maybe, an end is in sight. Along with our changing fortunes come aspirations and...Continue reading...
A few weeks ago I was deciding on a book of the Bible I wanted to read in my time of daily reflection. I found the perfect part of the Bible to fit my mood, the book of Ecclesiastes. For those of you who are unfamiliar with that particular piece of scripture, let me summarize it with a phrase that recurs throughout, “Everything is meaningless.” Reading this poetry is the closest thing to doom scrolling...Continue reading...
A commonly held belief these days is that post-pandemic we will likely not get back to normal. Things will have been so fundamentally altered that relationships, careers, lifestyles, hopes and dreams will be, at least, modified. I wrote about this topic a number of months ago (which feels more like years ago). This season is no blip on our radars – it has been a game changer. Speaking for myself, I am in a huge...Continue reading...
I would hide when I heard him coming. My office was at the foot of the stairs down in the basement of the building in which I worked. I knew my boss’s footfall. So, when I heard him descending the stairs, I would turn off the light in my office, lock the door and cower. This man scared me. In the relatively short period of time in which I worked under him, he had effectively...Continue reading...
Photo by Paolo Bendandi on Unsplash Think about your grandparents. What images enter your mind? What feelings come over you? I imagine those feelings might run the gamut of emotions. My PapPap (Dad’s father) died when I was 3, but my earliest memory of any kind was fishing with him on the bank of the Allegheny River. He is more mythic in my mind than anything. My Nana, PapPap’s wife, instilled in me my love...Continue reading...
I spend a good part of my time these days helping people wrestle with questions related to job, career, purpose and calling. Are they interchangeable? Are they the same thing? Can you be satisfied in a job that doesn’t feel like a calling? If you sense you have a purpose in this world, do you need to leave your career and throw your whole life into it? Those are great and necessary questions. And they,...Continue reading...
Photo by nikko macaspac on Unsplash One of my most cherished times of the day is in the early hours, just after waking up. I look forward to my boring, but comfortably same, breakfast of yogurt, granola and berries and maybe a homemade bran muffin (the best ever, with dried cherries). I then take some time to read the New York Times as I sip my just-ground pour over coffee. Then, often with classical music...Continue reading...
If you and I were to sit down for a cup of coffee, you’d probably not notice anything out of the ordinary about me. I’d come across as stable and fairly put together. And, largely, I am. Outwardly I’m settled, albeit subdued. But apparently my body has been keeping score, according to Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk in his book of the same title. I will spare you the gory details, but there’s a lot...Continue reading...
Sometimes leaders’ actions are deadly. Their words get peopled killed, they kill ideas, they kill relationships. Maybe not via premeditated murder but, for sure, through negligence. I hate writing this. I have been stewing for days since the terrorism and seditious attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. I have wanted to reflect in writing about it but needed to give myself time to de-escalate my emotions. I am still simmering, but I have...Continue reading...
