Not knowing can be unsettling. Our tendency is to try to get through these times as quickly as possible, but as Danaan Parry suggests in...

One of the best things a parent can do for a child is help them develop the ability to make decisions. This sometimes involves close council when stakes are high and other times it involves letting the child learn from making decisions on their own - for better or worse. My parents taught me a lot about decision making, and I have taken a greater interest in the topic since having children of my own. When I am faced with a decision in my own life I often hear my mother’s voic

“One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time.” – Carl Sagan When I was eight years old my reading ability fell below grade level, so my parents asked one of my teachers to tutor me during the summer before fourth grade. Mrs. Fergeson had a large collection of children’s books in her living room, and each week she let me pick any book I wanted to read aloud to her. At the beg

My grandfather loved to play golf. During retirement he played with his friends a couple times a week. But as he got older his game began to decline. Rather than playing frustrated, he decided to change the way he played the game. Instead of taking a full swing and hunting for his ball in the weeds, he began taking half swings. His shot didn't go as far, but his ball landed at the center of the fairway with remarkable consistency. Watching my grandfather transition his golf s

In my first full-time job after I graduated from college, I inherited an event planning process that had been in place for many years. The process required five professionals to take turns staffing an office for three hours every afternoon where students who wanted to plan an event would visit and complete a series of paper forms. Staffing the office was a significant time commitment, and the process resulted in a good deal of data entry mistakes when the information was late

With so many issues vying for your attention, having a way to think about how you spend your time and energy is essential. I’m sharing the following story about how I have come to understand the issue of homelessness with the hope that it will give you a new lens with which to see problems in your own life. While participating in a leadership development program over a decade ago, I had the opportunity to tour a homeless shelter and help make breakfast for 40 men. During the

On the first day of my persuasive communication course students are eager to learn how to convince others to see things their way. They want to know how to negotiate employment benefits, get assigned to the best projects, and sell their ideas. But before we learn to persuade others, we discuss how to be critical receivers of persuasive messages. Not only do I want them to think critically about the persuasive arguments their classmates will present during the semester, but I

I once had an acquaintance who was really smart and fun to hang out with, but he had a really bad habit. He told elaborate lies. Research suggests most people lie, on average, one or two times a day. However, this individual’s habit of lying verged on compulsive. Much of what he said was more than exaggerations or misleading; he routinely communicated messages that were deliberately deceiving. He lied with ease and only in hindsight did I recognize his signs of deception. Som

From the pegboard above the stove in my grandmother's kitchen hung utensils, a few small pots, and a metal sign that read: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. When I was old enough to read those words, I thought if my teachers in school encouraged the Golden Rule and my deeply religious grandmother found it important enough to display in her home, it must be important. The maxim was reinforced in college when I learned that the idea is expressed in many religio

We experience various levels of tension every day, stemming from personal challenges, work pressures, relationship dynamics, and global events. These tensions are common thread in the human experience, ultimately shaping shaping our responses to the world around us. However, we don't like tension and prefer to resolve it as fast as possible. Pema Chödrön, an American Tibetan Buddhist, writes, “When we feel powerful energy [tension], we tend to be extremely uncomfortable until