When Life Hands You Lemons: How to MAKE the Lemonade
We all know we’re supposed to make lemonade when life hands us lemons. As nice as it might be to never get the lemons in the first place, it’s not…
Where They Are
A philosophy professor friend once told me about the greatest regret he had from all his years in the classroom. Early in an Intro to Philosophy course, he tasked his…
Cookies and Cameras
Each of us came into the world unable to exert any direct influence, unable to even feed ourselves! Some of us were born with the proverbial silver spoon in our…
Laughter Through Tears
Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion. The character of Truvey Jones in Robert Harling’s "Steel Magnolias" A friend recently commented that he’s at the point in life where he’s…
Jam TODAY
In Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Lewis Carroll shares an interaction between the White Queen and Alice. The White Queen tries to hire Alice, offering “Two…
Choosing Celebration Instead of Regret
In Buddhism, desire is thought to be the cause of all suffering. One extremely common kind of desire is regret: the wish for that which is contrary to reality. You…
Rewiring Circuits in My Super Secret Laboratory
When we feel like someone is trolling us, pushing our buttons, or getting under our skin, we generally stop responding and start reacting. When that happens, we have let go…
What Would Future Me Do?
They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. If so, then the cement between those paving stones is the tired disappointment we feel with ourselves when we…
Stop Running and Screaming
When in trouble or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout. Herman Wouk There are a few things less productive than running in circles while screaming and shouting, but…
The Anonymous Expert
In Mark Twain’s short story, Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven, once Captain Eli Stormfield makes it past the pearly gates and gets his bearings, he begins to learn about the other inhabitants of heaven.