Happy New Year to You and Me! As this day marks my 10th anniversary it is extra special to me. Ten years ago today I awoke from a coma in a small hospital in a foreign country. I’d taken my kids for the week to an intensive language school in Veracruz, Mexico. We left home […]

  When I was a young teenager, my quiet, steadfast stepfather gave me a lamp. Not an electric lamp, but one in which oil is the fuel and a wick provides the light. He attached a small note to the gift. It said, “Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto […]

Perhaps there is some love hidden deep within the relationship, but it’s not what’s showing up in this whirl. Here’s the dance: He feels like a piece of sh*t. She can’t bear his suffering. He goes down to the depths of pain and she ties her rope to him in hopes of saving him from […]

One of the first words a child learns is the word “no.” Ask any two-year-old if they want an ice cream cone, and they’ll say “no” even as they reach for it. They know the word; they know it’s a way to express their burgeoning independence. But sometimes they’re not quite clear on its meaning. […]

It was 2006 at Easter Brunch out in the Texas Hill Country. Carol, a mom of my son’s classmate was grumbling about her dog, a young, yellow lab named Henry. They really loved him, but were very concerned that they’d have to give him away due to his escape artistry. “He jumps the fence all […]

“That sounds so selfish.” That comment is voiced regularly in my office and I’m delighted when I hear it. It shows me that there’s some awareness of a feeling that’s uncomfortable enough to examine. Usually, the “that sounds so selfish” question comes from the belief that the wishes of others should come first. That’s the […]

Do you go down rabbit holes? Does it take you off course? My invitation to rabbit holes is resistance. For me, resistance is not so much about staying stuck in one place as it is about not staying the course. Instead of persisting, of staying the course, I resist—by chasing rabbits. I’d much rather race […]

I’m at 30,000+ feet, flying home from Salt Lake City and my annual trip to the Usana International Convention. “Convention” is much like the fair was to me when I was a child. Lots to see, lots to learn, friends to hang with and lots of energy. From each presenter at the convention there was […]

Ever get to that place where you “lose your cool”? The hotter it gets, it seems, the easier it is to lose it. And when you loose your cool, nobody feels good afterwards. Your target doesn’t like that kind of attention, and then there’s the guilt that swamps over you, leaving shame and embarrassment in […]

My son is living with me this summer as he commutes to his college internship. He’s a kind and gentle young man and I like him a lot. But, having him here reminds me how much I have to work with myself to refrain from taking his learning away from him. In that refrain is […]