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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 for dessert. But it turned [...]

By |April 24th, 2015|Columns, Values|Comments Off on A few mistakes can lead to our just desserts

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 the article to me. The [...]

By |April 17th, 2015|Columns, Organizing|Comments Off on A new understanding comes out of the closet

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 several other friends – were [...]

By |April 10th, 2015|Columns, Values|Comments Off on An emergency landing leads to a dream message

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 the problem. A trip to [...]

By |April 3rd, 2015|Columns, Health and Well-being|Comments Off on Losing our senses helps us gain insight

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 was very unsettling to me. [...]

By |March 27th, 2015|Accountability, Columns, Health and Well-being, Success|Comments Off on A five-day change highlights everyday success

“Three things” can help us get a lot done

Three things. There seems to be something magical about three things – at least when it comes to getting things done. Like many people, I make daily To-Do lists, and I have a love/hate relationship with them. They help me plan and organize my day, but they often seem like an albatross around my neck, weighing me down with too much to do, not enough time to do it, and the guilt and frustration of not getting everything on my list done by the end [...]

By |March 20th, 2015|Accountability, Achieving Dreams and Goals, Coaching, Columns, Success|Comments Off on “Three things” can help us get a lot done

Insights from enemies and friends

“The best way to defeat my enemy is to make him my friend.” Abraham Lincoln said that, and it’s become relevant in my life in a subtle but powerful way. Not that I have any enemies that I’m aware of. But there are people with whom I’ve had arguments, disagreements, and differences of opinion that occasionally got – or threatened to get – rather heated. Not to the point of violence, but to the point of anger, hurt feelings, grudges, or even the end of [...]

By |March 13th, 2015|Accountability, Columns, Faith, Quotes and Sayings|Comments Off on Insights from enemies and friends

Seeing the best can bring out the best

In an episode of a television show I enjoy, one of the main characters acknowledges that he seems to see the best in people even when nobody else can, and he speculates that this must be an asset in some lines of work, but may be a handicap in his. He’s a rookie cop, and the person he’s telling this to is his father, who is also the police commissioner of New York. Another television show has a character who sees the beauty in everything [...]

By |March 6th, 2015|Buried Treasure, Columns, Gifts and Talents, Values|Comments Off on Seeing the best can bring out the best

Recurring nightmares expose our biggest fears

I did a radio interview last week that focused on the coaching I do to help people achieve their dreams. After we finished recording, the host and I had a conversation that started out about dreams and goals, then progressed to the subject of nighttime dreams, and finally to recurring nightmares. Like when you’re running away from something and you keep falling down, or you’re making an emergency phone call and you keep misdialing. I mentioned that when I have upcoming speaking events, I often [...]

By |February 27th, 2015|Coaching, Columns|Comments Off on Recurring nightmares expose our biggest fears

It may not be easy, but it’s always worth it

“If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.” That was the standard reply I always heard from a friend of mine whenever one of us – or anyone we knew, for that matter – was dealing with a really difficult problem or an especially challenging issue, in business or in life. And it was a good reminder, not only that it takes hard work, discipline, and perseverance to reach our goals, but that the result will be worth the effort when we get there. [...]

By |February 20th, 2015|Accountability, Columns, Faith|Comments Off on It may not be easy, but it’s always worth it