Choices and decisions
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Sitting it out
“No one reaches out to you for compassion or empathy so that you can teach them how to behave better. They reach out to you because they believe in your capacity to know their darkness well enough to sit in the dark with them.” ~ Brene Brown, The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings of Authenticity, Connections and Courage Being fully human means you’re going to experience bouts of disappointment, anger, and sadness. Someone will say or do something that hurts or alienates you. Or you might say something insensitive and hurtful to someone else. As hard as we try to avoid emotional collisions, we all stumble on conflicts we can’t fix,…
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The case for quality
“When you have deep friendships with good people, you copy and then absorb some of their best traits. When you love a person deeply, you want to serve them and earn their regard. When you experience great art, you widen your repertoire of emotions. Through devotion to some cause, you elevate your desires and organize your energies.” ~David Brooks, The Road to Character Once in a while, my husband and I like to spend a quiet afternoon at the Detroit Institute of Arts. We always return home feeling inspired after visiting our favorite paintings and exhibits. Sometimes we rediscover a piece that we’d forgotten or overlooked in the past. Best…
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You be you
“The beauty of us lies in our vulnerability, our complex emotions, and our authentic imperfections. When we embrace who we are and decide to be authentic, instead of who we think others want us to be, we open ourselves up to real relationships, real happiness, and real success.” ~Marc & Angel Hack Life Some readers would never get caught browsing in the “self-help” section. It’s a lot cooler, after all, to tell people you’re reading the last of Thoreau’s essays or Shakespeare’s comedies while you’re finishing a good mystery novel. But I promise there’s some beneficial self-help material out there, in books and online. If, like me, you find that…
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The art of the apology
“Apologies require taking full responsibility. No half-truths, no partial admissions, no excuses, no rationalizations, no finger pointing, and no justifications belong in any apology.” ~Cathy Burnham Martin I admire people who know how to apologize. Admitting an error takes courage, and is never a sign of weakness. It might feel easier to preserve your dignity by kicking your mistakes under the rug and acting as if they never happened. Or blaming someone else. Or making excuses. But refusing to admit you screwed up comes across as arrogant or uncaring — and makes you look small. Worse yet, it could also damage a relationship beyond repair. Apologizing requires maturity, class, and…
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How to conquer stress
“The truth is that stress doesn’t come from your boss, your kids, your spouse, traffic jams, health challenges, or other circumstances. It comes from your thoughts about your circumstances.” ~Andrew Bernstein Change your thoughts, change your life. It’s a timeworn catchphrase, often overused by self-help authors, celebrity psychologists, and motivational speakers. But like every catchphrase, it contains a grain of truth. It’s easier to blame outside sources for everything that’s going wrong. But like it or not, you alone are individually responsible for resolving your inner turmoil. Every person on earth faces health crises, job changes, painful losses, and road blocks. How you view your own — and how you view…
