I heard it when I was diagnosed with cancer and in other less-potentially-lethal situations. I hear it said to and about other people in precarious financial positions, in unenviable health crises, in situations with their kids or their siblings or their parents. “It’s God’s will.” Is it supposed to relieve the afflicted of guilt? Comfort … Read more
Still sweating from my run, bent at the hips, fingers touching my shoes, I noticed the artwork on my legs. An old scar from a bike accident. A newer scar from falling while trail running. A pair newer than that from tripping while running up stone steps. And a large bruise from last week. We … Read more
Piggybacking on last week’s post about knowing your strengths—if you don’t know what skills you have that other people don’t, you typically can’t help them or teach them very well. For example: I’m not good at starting conversations with people I don’t know without context. Not one of my strengths. In a variety of contexts … Read more
In episode 798 of the Magnum Edition of Dan Savage’s Savage Lovecast podcast, he had a conversation with Justine Ang Fonte, author of Instagram account Good Byes. (Fabulous account on setting boundaries—highly recommend!) This gem came out of the conversation: “I see what’s happening with your body language right now. What word is that?” There … Read more
We were driving back to Phoenix from LA last week and stopped at a rest stop for gas, food, and stretching legs. It was late afternoon; the moon was rising in the still-sunlit sky over shadow-covered desert mountains. The phase of the moon and its proximity to the mountains caught my attention—it looked like the … Read more
We tend not to see our own strengths because those skills come to us easily, whether developing the skill was easy or not. Sometimes, we don’t see our strengths because they’ve been downplayed by others over time and we’ve taken to believing the naysayers. This leads to us downplaying our skills while overemphasizing/coveting others’ skills … Read more
Sometimes, the people who encourage others to “turn your lemons into lemonade!” already have a pitcher and sugar and water and ice and a knife and maybe even a juicer and can’t see that it’s not that simple for someone without those things.
Rocket Kid’s school invited parents to observe their child’s classroom for half an hour prior to upcoming parent conferences. No interaction with the students, except to accept a glass of water from the gracious class host, and a quick hi/bye with my boy. I saw so many amazing things—kids helping each other, kids on task … Read more
In my book club, we were talking about people not being aware of their own strengths, or downplaying them. I mentioned that this was the theme of a blog post that I’ve been trying to write, but it’s resisting being written, so it’s not publishable yet. One of the ladies requested I write about the … Read more
“Talent is a snare and a delusion. In the end, the practical questions about talent come down to these: Who cares? Who would know? and What difference would it make? And the practical answers are: Nobody, Nobody, and None.” Art & Fear, by David Bayles and Ted Orland Talent gets you nowhere if you don’t … Read more