If Only

There are numerous reasons why the word life has the big/little word “if” in the middle.  As we go through our lives our experiences give us opportunities to make many choices. As we age we are pleased with a lot of these choices we have made.  On the other hand, few people can look back on the years without having some second thoughts.  After all, we … Read more

Life is Not Always Fair

While sitting on top of the world, a new principal – young, inexperienced and insecure – was hired.  I had struggled long and hard to put myself through college and worked to get a good teaching job.  I became a topnotch popular teacher and was an active member of the community.  I brought innovative new ideas to the system, started a great summer school program, and … Read more

Words Have Meaning

In one of the earlier articles I mentioned the childhood game of “Telephone” and how our messages can result in miscommunication.  Another important lesson we all need to learn and practice is the fact that our non-verbals can carry a deeper meaning than our actual words.  The way we speak, the sound of our voice, and our body language speak louder than the words we are … Read more

How People Hurt Us

There are many reasons why others may hurt us.  In this article I will continue to list some more of these reasons. Remember that childhood game of “telephone” played at parties?  Everyone would sit around in a circle, one person would whisper something in the ear of the person next to him/her and the message would go whispering around the circle.  How often did the message … Read more

Why Do People Hurt Us?

Many of us can get our feelings hurt fairly easily.  When that happens, human nature can take over to protect us from further harm.  Too often our defenses can stop us from asking hre important question, “Why did the person choose such an action?”  There are many reasons why people may end up hurting us.  In this newsletter and in next month’s, I will mention a … Read more

Somebody Hurt You

Somebody hurt you and you cannot forget it.  You did not deserve the hurt and it went deep enough to lodge itself in your memory.  Most of us find that the pains of our past keep rolling through our memories and continue to resurface from time to time. Forgiving is love’s toughest work and love’s biggest risk.  Our sense of fairness tells us people should pay … Read more

TRUST

Can you remember how you first experienced a loss of trust?  The realization that not everyone or everything is always open and above board?  As a parent, I can vividly remember the first time our son gave us “the look.”  Like other kids, Gregg loved video games.  The first video game was a guy known as Pac Man.  Gregg was just a pre-schooler at the time.  … Read more

Oxygen Masks (Filling Your Own Bucket)

Sacrifice is a significant word in our vocabularies.  One of the biggest challenges for many people is how to take time for personal leisure and relaxation without feelings of guilt.  We live in a workaholic world with multiple stresses.  Too frequently, even our children are not even allowed to be carefree kids anymore but are continually being taxied from one activity to another.  We are expected … Read more

The Days Are Long But the Years Are Short

There are days when we can feel like pulling our hair or screaming because nothing seems to be going right.  The kids are driving us nuts and we think it will be a miracle if we make it through the day.  Then, before we realize it, we stand back and observe as one of them starts Kindergarten, then high school, celebrates another birthday or some other … Read more

Ways to Forgive Yourself

Since we are human beings, we are bound to make a number of mistakes over the years.  Yes, some of them are more serious than others.  All of us have learned that nothing can change the past.  The time wasted drinking, doing drugs, gambling, engaging in risky behavior , over spending the credit limit, or caught up in a lousy marriage can not be gained back.  … Read more