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Willing to stand out
“You’ve got to be willing sometimes to stand alone. You’ve got to be willing to piss some people off. You’ve got to be willing to look different. Sound different. Be different. And those are risks that many of us are not willing to take.” ~Iyanla Vanzant Human beings are wired to belong. We want to feel accepted by our family. We gravitate toward friends who share our lifestyle, moral standards, and viewpoints. We thrive in a tribe. Yet each of us also has a different set of experiences and personal opinions. One of the gifts of maturity is learning to value authenticity — and individuality — in ourselves and others.…
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Make a note of it
“In this era of email and voice mail and all those things that I didn’t grow up with, a plain old paper letter takes on amazing intimacy.” ~Elizabeth Kostova Hand-written notes and cards can enrich our relationships. There was the time I found a thank you note in my snail mail, penned by a neighbor who was recovering from joint-replacement surgery. I had dropped off a container of chili at her home a week earlier, knowing how hard it is to cook meals when you’re barely able to walk. This thoughtful neighbor had extended the same kindness to me when I had surgery years earlier — and I certainly didn’t…
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How we see things
“We don’t see things as they are. We see them as we are.”~Anais Nin, memoirist We humans view everything through the lens of personal experience, which includes our upbringing and education, where we’ve lived, and the people who form our tribe. Things get tricky when we encounter others who see things differently than we do. When I’m offended or angered, sometimes I adopt a self-righteousness attitude. But that’s exactly the moment I need to pause and reconsider the reasons behind another person’s behavior, according to author David Brooks in How to Know a Person. Have I taken time to understand what the other person might be going through? What backstory…
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A matter of trust
“The most precious thing in this world is trust. It can take years to earn and only a matter of seconds to lose. It’s important to keep trust at the forefront of everything you do.” ~Lolly Daskal, for Inc. Last week, I heard Billy Joel’s “A Matter of Trust” on my car radio. As coincidence would have it, I’d been thinking about “trust” and why it’s the foundation for all our relationships — whether we’re talking about romance, marriage, business, friendship, family ties or political leadership. As today’s quote reminds us, trust is difficult (if not impossible) to repair when it’s betrayed or broken. Trustworthy people respect our stories and keep…
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New doors, new things
NEW UPDATE 3/1: I’m taking a break from “Life Lines” — so this is the last post you’ll see here for a while. I’m currently at work on a new magazine piece and scheduling a series of writing workshops to be announced this spring. You’ll receive updates about my new projects and workshops in future subscriber posts. Wishing you all a spring filled with fresh and wonderful beginnings! “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” ~Walt Disney
