Memento mori and getting more out of your moments.
Part of my particular brand of OCD tendencies veer toward counting. I am a counter. I count stairs every time I go up or down them – seriously. I don’t even mean to. I count camera angles in tv shows. I count turns if I’m playing a game. I count empty seats on a plane. […]
Satisficers and my friend, Mary.
Seven years into my career at that middle school I’ve told you about, I decided to apply to work in a district closer to my (newly purchased) condo. As an educator in my state back then, you typically had a small window of time to switch districts in order to still be able to take […]
Sky Blue and Black – and why regret can work in our favor.
One of my very favorite songs in the whole wide world is filled with reflective lyrics about someone who has let the love of his life slip out of his hands. And now he spends his time thinking of all the ‘if only’ scenarios that he thinks could have preserved their love. Regretting. “… I’d […]
Subarus – and avoiding distress.
I just bought a brand new Subaru and part of me feels more at home than it has for a while. When I got married 4 years ago, I quickly purchased a bigger non-Subaru SUV because I think I felt like I needed to spread my wings and be someone ‘new’? After all, I […]
“A fine mingling of letting go and holding on.”
Jon J. Muth tells the story of “two traveling monks who reached a town where there was a young woman waiting to step out of her sedan chair [a portable covered chair that is designed to hold one person and is carried on poles by two people]. The rains had made deep puddles and she […]
The Second Arrow.
I wrote part of this post last week in small step snippets and over multiple hours with the help of the dictation tool on my computer because for several days of said last week I was more sick than I can ever remember being in my life. Being sick is not something that happens often […]
Mr. Steele and the magic combination.
The principal that hired me for my first teaching job was named Mr. Steele. He was a tough guy with a huge heart and a huge temper to match. He was passionate about the program he started in his school for kids that were struggling and boy, did he want them to succeed. I […]
Being who you’ve always wanted to be.
(artwork by Caytie Frampton – @caytiediddesigns) My sister Caytie is an artist. She always has been. She is super talented and proficient in drawing, and sketching, and hand-lettering, and doodling, – and painting. Or, so I thought. Two months ago she sent me a text. “I’ve been doing some painting……” What? I thought she […]
Decluttering your thoughts – and Ina Garten.
Several years ago when Ina Garten was in her black pants and denim shirt Barefoot Contessa heyday, my sister Marilee offered me four of Ina’s cookbooks. She was “getting rid of some stuff”, as she was prone to do, and thought of me. I happily took them and added them to my growing collection of […]
Fueled by Identity.
The author Brad Stulberg recently wrote that “The Arrival Fallacy was first coined by the behavioral scientist Tal Ben-Shahar. It describes the commonly held illusion that once we make it, once we attain our goal or reach our destination, whatever it may be, we will achieve lasting happiness and fulfillment. But this simply is not true. We […]
