Obsessions
A self-styled “comma queen” has an infectious take on her chosen obsession.
All posts filed under: Monday Musings
Thoughts to start off the work week
Wonder
A dear friend passed away. She lived with a sense of individual wonder, the power of hope, and the vivid but questing belief in a future for the globe.
The search for wise leaders
Wisdom includes meaningful self-knowledge as well as an important outward-facing impact that translates into action.
Discipline
Discipline is remembering what you really want.
The start of a good idea
Michael Lewis believes the rift in American life “that is now coursing through American government isn’t between Democrats and Republicans,” but “between the people who are in it for the mission, and the people who are in it for the money.”
To wander. To dawdle. To live.
Wander. Dawdle. Already two of my favorite words, they now seem perfect for a gap year. For years I looked for books to help encourage my desire for a slowing down of the daily rat race. Not surprisingly, I tended to find and read them while on vacation. One winter holiday, when one usually focuses on resolutions for the new year, I was instead leisurely enjoying a book on the wandering mind. Author Michael C. Corballis wrote, “It seems we are programmed to alternate between mind-wandering and paying attention, and our minds are designed to wander whether we like it or not.” That sure rings true in my experience. In The Wandering Mind: What the Brain Does When You’re Not Looking, Corballis argues that, “Mind wandering has many constructive and adaptive features — indeed, we probably couldn’t do without it. It includes mental time travel — the wandering back and forth through time, not only to plan our futures based on past experience, but also to generate a continuous sense of who we are. Mind-wandering …
Making big decisions
After running through the woods in the gathering darkness, four young people warily approach an old house. The dialogue begins: “Let’s hide in the attic. No, in the basement.” They look around wildly, and one female pleads “Why can’t we just get in the running car?” A male character responds, “Are you crazy? Let’s hide behind the chainsaws.” The voice-over comes in to say, “If you’re in a horror movie, you make poor decisions. It’s what you do.” After the pitch for saving money with Geico Insurance, there is the scream, “Run for the cemetery!” and all four take off from the garage full of chainsaws to . . . who knows what. But we’re safe in assuming it will be bad. I still laugh every time I see this clever commercial. Decisions. We all face them. And making big or difficult decisions isn’t easy, even if you’ve never been in a horror movie. But we all see examples of poor decisions leading to disastrous consequences on a daily basis. When we have to make quick …
Create at the intersection of experience and innovation
Authenticity is when we “think less about reinvention and more about forging ahead in ways that draw on our accumulated knowledge.”
Judgement and forgiveness
Why do we find it so easy to judge and so hard to forgive?
Daydreaming Makes a Comeback
“Life is already too short to waste on speed.”
MORE TO COME... 