Necessary Release
Despite our awareness that we benefit by forgiving others and ourselves, we deny ourselves by surrendering control over our forgiveness decisions. Them Often, our most significant stumbling block to forgiving others is making it contingent on the offender’s remorse; “I will not forgive him until he apologizes.” However, requiring repentance is the equivalent of asking […]
Bewilderment Continued
Send Them Back We both praise and vilify the country’s leader for doing the job our laws require. Ironically, the deportation zealots would have been better off drafting President Obama back into office. In both terms, he deported (removed and returned) more illegals than the current President did in his original term. Why didn’t President […]
I Don’t Understand
For those unaware, this type of message is an invitation to contemplate, not an assault on my dear readers. When I use “we,” I refer to a segment of or our entire society. I understand that not everyone belongs to the group I am referring to. Selective Interpretation We argue the Second Amendment right to […]
Give Them a Megaphone
Sweet Land of Liberty? In a country proclaiming freedom of speech as its preeminent 1st Amendment constitutional right, we now seek to silence voices instead of protecting them. College students protest to cancel speakers with “incorrect” viewpoints. A counter-protest is an opposing speech. A cancel protest is a suppression of speech that is worse than […]
Sticks & Stones…
…may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Do they teach children this lesson anymore, or has it gone the way of multiplication tables? Of course, it is much easier to widely broadcast words today than when the author penned them in the mid-1800s. We are no longer limited to whispering gossip into […]
Another Revolution Complete
I made it through another trip around the sun. Yes, I am approaching (not there) that age when I am not excited about adding a digit, but I am glad to make it another year – not everyone did. Reality Setting In Just when the dad bod was coming into style and finding many devotees, […]
Not Everything of Value is Worth Doing
The Distinction Warren Buffet says, “The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything.” They realize every activity carries an opportunity cost. When we say “yes” to one thing, we necessarily say “no” to another. The issue does not lie in easy choices such as reading […]
Will to Do
We needlessly postpone action while seeking the wise counsel of sages or scrolling the internet to pursue knowledge we think is a prerequisite. In most cases, the answer is already within us or unnecessary. A lack of will, not knowledge, often inhibits our next right action. Need to Know? Consider all of the wellness schemes […]
You Can Be Both
Can Always Do Better This message was instilled in me just a few months into my professional career through a senior partner’s response after I hesitantly suggested a revision to a document he had drafted. Joe Allen said, “I have never seen anything that couldn’t be improved.” These words have remained with me and served […]
Promise Yourself
We know what we must do to accomplish our goals but fail to do them consistently. To make progress, we need commitment and perseverance (i.e., discipline). Promise Any goal undoubtedly requires doing things you would rather not do or abstaining from things you want. Remarkably, we often have a higher commitment to others than ourselves. […]