Who am I / 19 Jul 2019
Am I A Failure As An Activist? Does It Matter?
What kind of people make the best activists?
Compassion for difficulties / 17 Jul 2019
Why My Abortion Made Me A Better Woman And Citizen
Bodily autonomy is an undeniable, inalienable right.
Compassion for difficulties / 11 Jul 2019
There Is A Better Way To Help People Going Through Hard Times
Good intentions aren’t always enough.
Spirituality & Faith / 09 Jul 2019
What Does It Mean To Love Thy Neighbor In The Age Of Trump?
Against the darkness of these days, the plea to love God and neighbour feels like sunlight.
Hold Dualities Together / 04 Jul 2019
Why I’m Both Celebrating The Myth Of July 4th And Honoring The Anger
One person’s revolution is another’s rebellion.
I just saw Liberal Arts, a nostalgic coming-of-age indie film directed by and starring Josh Radnor (of How I Met Your Mother) that tells the story of Jesse, a 35-year-old college admissions officer in New York City who loves literature and language who has a romantic relationship with Zibby, a 19-year-old college student. ?The film deals with the addictive pull of nostalgia for our youth but there is a line in the film that caught my attention. Jesse is overly negative and judgmental and at one point after dissing a book Zibby......
Continue Reading
Book Club, Wisdom Warehouse |
October 30, 2013
Using Gladwell’s Insight to Inspire Those Who Need It Most
I just finished reading Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants.? Like Gladwell’s prior books this one is entertaining, with great story-telling that explores one counterintuitive thesis. ?Blink compelled us to trust our guts. ?The Tipping Point suggested we seek out and invest in “influencers”.? And in Outliers, Gladwell posits that it isn’t talent, but rather luck and hard work that are far more important. As always with Gladwell you need to read him while understanding that what he “proves” is always more true......
Continue Reading
Daily Life, Wisdom Warehouse |
October 29, 2013
Why a Controversial Baseball Play Should Be More Than a Metaphor
For the first time in baseball history?- and in the World Series no less?- a game ended because the umpire called “obstruction”. Will Middlebrooks, the third baseman for the Boston Red Sox, lunged for a throw from the catcher Jarrod Satalamacchia but could not reach it. He fell, and while lying on the ground he tripped Allen Craig who was rounding third base trying to score. Though Craig was out at the plate with plenty of room to spare, Jim Joyce the umpire, immediately called obstruction. According to this rarely......
Continue Reading
Inspiring People, Videos, Wisdom Warehouse |
October 28, 2013
Video: Innovating Compassion. A Discussion with Irwin Kula, Angela Maiers and James Doty, M.D.
So a neurosurgeon, a visionary educator and a rabbi walk into a bar…? I met Dr. James Doty and Angela Maiers a few weeks back at BIF9, a remarkable gathering of over 400 innovators from across fields – science, technology, business, health, music, education, design, and social justice. Thirty-two people were invited to tell their innovation stories, each of which enchanted and elevated heart, mind and spirit. The first three stories – mine, Angela’s, and James’ were just released and there has been such buzz around them that we decided it would......
Continue Reading
If there is one universal piece of parenting advice, both given and received it is likely: “Don’t Talk to Strangers, it’s Dangerous”.? In a country where approximately 160,000 children a year are kidnapped by non-family members and thousands more are exploited on the Internet, ?it is obviously critically important to teach our children about strangers.? But I wonder, what is lost when this same advice is heeded by adults.? Do we really want a world in which no one speaks to strangers?? What do we lose personally and collectively by not talking......
Continue Reading
I hate jet lag.? Hardly a provocative statement? – does anyone really like jet lag?? Who could possibly enjoy waking up at odd hours, or worse, falling asleep at dinnertime? ?But I wonder if there is anything to be learned from jet lag.? This week as I returned from a trip overseas, I began to realize that I could find some lessons in dealing with jet lag.? I realized that in using the practices I have discovered over the years to counteract jet lag, I could also apply them to some of......
Continue Reading
Grief & Coping, Wisdom Warehouse |
October 23, 2013
Can the Death of a Parent Bring Families Together?
Few moments in life are as difficult as losing one’s parent. In the swirl of sadness and mourning, a parent’s death can unify or further divide the surviving family. In some cases, the highly charged emotions may amplify issues between siblings. But this can also be a remarkable opportunity to heal some of those long-standing hurts and wounds that are part of every family I know, including my own. There can be a positive potential for healing in this otherwise excruciating moment. Certainly, there are always reasons to resist coming together, especially......
Continue Reading
Relationships & Family, Wisdom Warehouse |
October 22, 2013
In Today’s News Cycle, Has the Term ‘Bullying’ Lost Its Meaning
Brad Lewis took to YouTube and Facebook within hours of burying his son, Jordan, who shot himself in the heart.? “This bullying has to stop,” Lewis said in a seven-minute video. But is it right to blame a suicide on bullying?? Is it really that simple?? Aren’t many more kids bullied than the number of kids who harm themselves?? Has the term lost its impact because it means so many different things? I asked myself these questions after reading the story about Brad and Jordan Lewis, and I even found that I......
Continue Reading
Book Club, Wisdom Warehouse |
October 21, 2013
How Reading Literary Fiction Makes Us More Empathetic
My grandmother used to say, ‘you are what you eat’, (even despite her lovingly burning everything she cooked).? My mother would say, ‘you are how you spend your money’ while my father would think ‘you are what you spend your time on’. And I can still hear my middle school principal’s admonishment ‘you are who your friends are’. ?Undoubtedly, they were all right to some extent, as lots of things contribute to “who we are”. Well, that list just got longer.? ?According to psychologists David Comer Kidd and Emanuele Castano at the......
Continue Reading
Why we sleep is a question that has captivated philosophers and scientists for millennia. If you really think about it, letting go of all activity and going to sleep for several hours every day – becoming totally unconscious and completely vulnerable?- is actually quite bizarre.?Yet sleep is not just a human need: every species of animal on the planet is known to sleep in some fashion. Recent findings have shown that when we sleep, our brain undergoes a sort of mop-up process that removes waste products linked to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.......
Continue Reading
Latest Video
Watch: Barbara Johns, Teenage Revolutionary Against Racism
16-year-old Barbara Johns stood up against racial segregation and inequality in America's schools,
