“Within the next year, I’m going to do 60 things I’ve never done before.” That’s what a friend of mine decided on her 60th birthday, which was a few months ago. Whenever she does something she’s never done before, she writes it down on a slip of paper and deposits it in a special jar she keeps for this purpose. Her goal is to have 60 new experiences by her next birthday. She told me about this after reading one of my recent columns, which [...]
Sometimes the lessons we learn aren’t just the ones that are actually being taught. What we get out of them can go way beyond what was intended. That happened to me last weekend, during one of the sessions at a “Lead Like Jesus” Reconnect in Chicago. The session was about leadership, but the lesson was about juggling. Each of us was placed in one of four groups, based on our level of competence and enthusiasm for juggling. Then we were given a partner, a set [...]
What makes you brave? The date was October 27, 2011. Four people walked down a narrow pathway between two rundown buildings. When they came out on the other side, they were in a different world. Sounds like something out of a Harry Potter book, doesn’t it? But I can assure you that the place these four people were traveling to was not a magical one. It was a muddy and garbage-strewn slum not far from Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Of the four people there [...]
I spent last weekend at a business retreat in Connecticut. The leader of the retreat is someone I met a few months ago, and I knew she was exactly the right person to help me with some areas of my business in which I still needed some guidance and support. She works almost exclusively with women entrepreneurs, and she focuses on both the spiritual and the business aspects of our work. One of the practices she insists we do every morning is to incorporate [...]
I gave a speech at my Toastmasters Club last week, and during the feedback session following the speech, one of the members in the audience said my speech almost made her sick. I took it as a compliment, which is exactly how she meant it. The speech was for a Tall Tales Contest, which is something I love taking part in. It gives me a chance to stretch my imagination, to improve my vocal variety and pacing, and to spend a little time being just [...]
“The Title Whisperer.” That’s the name someone gave me at a recent meeting of our WOW group, after I came up with book titles for three of the members who were there. WOW stands for Women of Words, and it’s a monthly writers group I belong to. We don’t meet to get feedback on our writing, but to share publishing and marketing advice and resources, and to support and celebrate each other’s work. Many of the women in the group are already published authors and [...]
It happened again last week. And, just as it has in the past, it caught me completely off-guard. I was at 5:15 Mass on Ash Wednesday, and hoping that my stomach wouldn’t start growling during the quiet parts of the Mass. This was a possibility not only because it was getting close to dinner time, but because I had followed the Lenten restrictions for Ash Wednesday, which are to abstain from eating meat, to refrain from eating between meals, and to have only one full [...]
“For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.” Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway, who was a master of the short story and of tight, spare writing, once made a bet that he could write an entire story in six words. With the above “ad,” he won the bet. This story – both the one by Hemingway and the one about him – has inspired a number of literary organizations and publications over the years to sponsor writing contests challenging participants to write stories consisting of a [...]