Personal growth
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Compass of the heart
“It is the wilderness in the mind, the desert wastes in the heart, through which one wanders lost and a stranger. When one is a stranger to oneself, then one is estranged from others, too. If one is out of touch with oneself, then one cannot touch others.” ~Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea Anne Morrow Lindbergh earned her reputation as a fearless aviator and explorer. At the same time, the diaries and books she wrote were maps of her emotional journey. In her nonfiction classic, Gift from the Sea, Lindbergh charted new ways to navigate the challenging terrain of marriage, work, and motherhood. Written and published in the 1950s,…
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Kitchen creativity
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How to fix things
“Make every effort to change things you do not like. If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking. You might find a new solution.” ~Maya Angelou Self-improvement involves effort as well as introspection. But when something is broken beyond repair, or a bad situation seems totally out of control, the best thing I can do is adjust my attitude. I can change how many calories I consume in a day, for instance, but I can’t change the weather report. Likewise, I can’t change the rude behavior of strangers, but I can make a bigger effort to practice courtesy and kindness wherever I go. I’ve wasted a…
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Joy despite the facts
“Be joyful, even though you have considered all the facts.” ~Wendell Berry Time off is the best gift we can give ourselves when we need it. I usually thrive on writing blog posts and columns, but sometimes it’s a relief to wake up without deadlines. Without deadlines, I’m more attuned to my surroundings and the moment at hand. I stop feeling pressured to turn every idea, emotion, or event into a story. There’s freedom, for instance, in knowing I can simply appreciate a luminous moon or a field of sunflowers without having to document the spectacle. So what did I do with the extra hours of deadline-free time? My goal…
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How to Know a Person
“Being open-hearted is a prerequisite for being a full, kind, and wise human being. But it is not enough. People need social skills.” ~David Brooks As author David Brooks sees it, so much of our current national angst results from the “fraying of our social fabric.” Put simply, we’ve forgotten how to talk with each other. And we’ve forgotten how to listen to each other. Many of us feel unseen and misunderstood. Worse yet, mental health statistics show that we’re feeling lonelier than ever. Social media may have given us more connections, but the quality of those relationships isn’t as satisfying as we’d hoped. In other words, posting messages and…
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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 our 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. Whenever I’m offended, annoyed, or angered, I usually adopt a self-righteousness attitude. But that’s when I need to pause and consider the reasons behind another person’s offending actions, according to David Brooks in How to Know a Person. (Click on the previous link for my review of the book.) And that’s when a little…
