Shortly after I got married, a girlfriend passed on this advice: “Sometimes you have to ask yourself if you would rather be right or you’d rather be married. Because you can be right all the way to divorce court.” The is the best advice for life I have ever heard. We humans have a strange obsession with being right. Not only do we tend to … Continue reading Being right is not the most important thing
“You’re being too sensitive.” Oh are those ever familiar words. All through my childhood they trailed after me like a tin can tied to the end of my shoelaces with each step in danger of sending it bouncing across the floor. The sound of those words clanging along behind me made me wince until I could hardly bear to move from my spot any more. … Continue reading “You’re so sensitive!”
Imagine being given a box of parts with no directions or labels or pictures to guide you. You would be forced to put whatever it was together without the benefit of even knowing what the end product was supposed to look or how it’s supposed to work. It would take time to look through the pieces to see what is there. You would have to … Continue reading Whatcha Makin’?
As we go through life, many of us are excellent at noticing and trying to protect ourselves against what is wrong or bad. However, if we don’t force ourselves to, we will rarely spare a thought for what is right and good in the things and people we come across. Basically, we become experts at studying the dark while remaining mostly oblivious to the light … Continue reading Every good gift
Note: A few years back I did some writing for a now defunct Christian magazine. I never put these articles up here because the magazine owns the rights to them, but now that they are defunct, well, I’m going to share! In the early ‘90s Salt-n-Peppa famously sang “Let’s talk about sex, baby” and boy, oh boy do we take their exhortations to heart. Sex … Continue reading Let’s talk about sex, baby!
Recently, my 16 year old son gave me what I consider to be a great compliment; he told me that I needed to talk more in conversations with other people. Of course a couple of weeks later someone else I know complained that I wouldn’t let her get a word in edgewise. Some days, I’m sure she’s right. But the fact that my kid who … Continue reading Easy Listening
Finding and explaining what’s wrong with people is a great past-time. It’s fun, easy and makes you feel better about your life. It’s the junk food of human relationships! Believe it or not, figuring out what’s good about people is a great past-time as well. It’s challenging, satisfying and makes you feel better about the world. It’s the gourmet meal of human relationships. There are … Continue reading Looking for the Good – People Edition
This afternoon, I strapped Olivia into her stroller and headed out the door for a nice, long walk. I was going to fetch the dog to come with us, but my darling Hobbes had somehow managed to escape off his non pull dog harness where I had left him to pee and bark at deer 20 minutes earlier. Again. Not to worry he wasn’t lost. He’s … Continue reading My Dog’s an A-hole
I distinctly remember being a child and realizing that no one could read my thoughts. It was a very freeing thing for me to know that I couldn’t get in trouble and no human would ever be able to judge me for what I thought in the privacy of my own head. This was the beginning of my love affair with thinking. In your head, … Continue reading Your Brain is a Great Place to be Wrong
I always feel like I’m supposed to magically know what to do or say in any situation. Perhaps I missed a bunch of days in “how to be a human” school cuz I don’t. Then again, perhaps one of the reasons people usually prefer to live predictable lives surrounded by predictable people is because it minimizes those uncomfortable caught-off-guard moments of life. However, life has … Continue reading Fake It Till Ya Make It!
The Upside Down World 