I was quite blessed to have Ms. Evans as my high school guidance counselor. For whatever reason, she took an interest in me, looked after my welfare, and encouraged me to be my best. When I was close to graduation, she called me to her office and gave me a small award for which sheContinue reading “Finding your balance”
Category Archives: Toward Growth
It’s really not about you
There wasn’t a great deal of amusement at high school football practice. August and September in North Carolina can have the heat of an oven and the humidity of a steam room. Still, I sometimes found myself laughing at the rivalries that would spring up around the arbitrary division of the team during practice.Continue reading “It’s really not about you”
The one who gives the most wins
When I’m restless or pre-occupied at night, I sometimes listen to talks by Earl Nightingale, one of the oldest of old-school personal development coaches. Long before Wayne Dyer, Tony Robbins, and the like, Nightingale was dispensing wisdom with a pleasant baritone voice. Something I’ve heard him say many times always sticks with me: If weContinue reading “The one who gives the most wins”
For Labor Day, a secret of adulthood revealed
Like most young people, I often slept late in the summer, played baseball in the park, and frequently enjoyed lying on my back, listening to the radio while staring at the white puffy clouds overhead. Inevitably, at least once a month or so, some adult would tell me something along the lines of “Enjoy itContinue reading “For Labor Day, a secret of adulthood revealed”
True Grit
In my kettlebell class, which is one of the highlights of my week, the instructor told us that we’d be doing something a little different. The idea was to repeat this particular lift with the goal of not being the first one to quit. He said, “I know who I’m betting on.” With that, weContinue reading “True Grit”
The Art of Being Wrong
When we moved in to our house on a cul-de-sac about 10 years ago, one of the first things I noticed, something that irritated me very much was that the neighbors would put their yard clippings and fallen branches on the island in the middle. As I contemplated this and became more angry, I wouldContinue reading “The Art of Being Wrong”
The Power of Helplessness
“Rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I built my life.” J.K. Rowling There was a time in my college years when I was doing all I could to hold things together with the singular goal of making it to graduation. About this time, I read for the first time a book by CatherineContinue reading “The Power of Helplessness”
With me to this day: Lou Gehrig
Caught up in a bit of nostalgia, I recently ordered and received a biography I read, with no exaggeration, about seven or eight times as a youth. This was an account of the life of Lou Gehrig, published in the early 1940s. While it’s easy to find deep meaning in the things of our childhood,Continue reading “With me to this day: Lou Gehrig”
The quality of mercy
“The quality of mercy is not strain’d, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.” William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice I can well remember having made a big mistake in my early years at my company, andContinue reading “The quality of mercy”
Evolving beyond cynicism
“It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light.” G. K. Chesterton. Like many teens, I was taken when I read the first lines of J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye” in high school: “If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I wasContinue reading “Evolving beyond cynicism”
