New Experiences Lead to New Discoveries
I did some analysis a few days ago on a project I’ve been working on, and was surprised at what I discovered. Actually, it would be more accurate to describe it as “a project I started almost a year ago that was going well, then got stalled and abandoned, and now feels like just another one of those projects I started but never finished.” Do you have any of those? The project was a personal challenge inspired by a friend [...]
A few mistakes can lead to our just desserts
We had friends over for dinner last weekend, and our meal included cheesecake for dessert. It was from a recipe I’ve had for a long time, although I’ve never actually made it before. It was labor-intensive and time-consuming, with a lot of prep work required and some tricky steps along the way. There was one point at which things didn’t look the way they were supposed to, and I started worrying that instead of cheesecake, we’d be eating cheesecake soup [...]
A new understanding comes out of the closet
“The more we simplify, the easier life is.” That was the bottom line, literally, in an email I received from a friend recently. Her email was about an article she had just read that had to do with cleaning out our closets. The first thought that popped into my head was, “When did she see my closet and realize how badly I needed this advice?” For the record, she’s never been near my closet, and that’s not why she emailed [...]
An emergency landing leads to a dream message
I got a phone call a few days ago from a very close friend. The call came early in the morning, and the first thing she said, other than, “Did I wake you up?” was, “I have to tell you about the dream I just had.” I love phone calls from her that start like this. She has vivid dreams that often seem prophetic in nature, and are always profound and inspiring. In this one we – as well as [...]
Losing our senses helps us gain insight
I started wearing glasses when I was in fifth grade. I still remember squinting at the blackboard, even from my desk in the second row. The teacher’s writing on the board seemed lighter and “fuzzier” than it used to be, and was getting harder and harder for me to read. It was such a gradual change that I didn’t realize I was the one who was changing. A standard vision test at school alerted my teacher, then my parents, to [...]
A five-day change highlights everyday success
I had a medical procedure done this week, one of those “preventive maintenance” tests that should be done every so often – in this case, every ten years – once we reach a certain age. Preparing for it required following a low-fiber diet for five days. I could eat plenty of white bread, rice, and potatoes, but no whole wheat products or high-fiber cereals. Canned fruits and cooked vegetables were okay, but fresh fruits and raw vegetables were not. This [...]