Discipline and Freedom

The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating-in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life. -The Way …

It takes a crisis to raise a village

I was listening to someone talk about volunteering north of Winnipeg in the sandbagging efforts. She talked about what a great time she had. She specifically talked about how a group of strangers so very quickly came together to do the job, and that there was “none of the awkwardness” which so frequently arises when …

Contemplating the End

I sat with a dear friend yesterday-someone who is over 80, and has many friends and family, but no direct descendants. I had my laptop on my knees, and we discussed what would happen after she died. With no children to plan the funeral, who would do what? I wanted to give her the opportunity …

Working to Escape Life?

The Winnipeg Free Press had a fascinating article yesterday that stated: During the Great Depression in the 1930s, Kellogg’s instituted a six-hour workday in its plants to take up the slack of too many people and not enough jobs, he says. Within two years, workers were accomplishing as much in six hours as they had …

A slow fade

I was recently at a water park…one of those fun ones with water spurting out of all sorts of places, hoses to spray, slides to slurp down on, and a lazy river to float on. There was a large bucket at the top of one of the roofs of the play structure and I would …

Look Deeper for Understanding

I work with a lot of wonderful people-people I admire and learn from. People who teach me about themselves and about life, and as I tell them about what they have taught me, they also learn. Often people come to me asking with curiosity-actually, by the time they are talking to me about it, is …

Naming the Elephants

Funny how a person can be thinking of an idea, and then several cool things happen very soon after that enrich and expand the thinking, y’know? I was visiting with some friends lately…and some pretty huge stuff has happened in both of our lives-the same tragic events-we were both devastated by the same experiences. I’m …

Double Binds

D’ya ever notice how, in the Canadian political system, the “loyal opposition” is loyally opposed to everything? I realize it is their job to challenge what the party in power is doing and keep them on their toes…but this morning on the way to work, I listened to an interview about how the government is …

Celebrating–a time to recapture hope

Gotta hand it to those Americans…they sure know how to throw a party during the Inauguration. I watched some of the highlights on the news and on you-tube–the closing song on Sunday’s concert led by Beyonce choked me up a little and I’m not even American. But what teared me up was that if I …