Throw Out the Need to Be Right

Schoolboy tossing paperI recently read a book by Gail Blanke called Throw Out Fifty Things. It’s about clearing clutter, and it was a really good read. An eye-opener.

She talks in the book about not only physical but also mental and emotional clutter, and how to deal with it.

The need to be right is one that struck chord with me. I think the need to be right often gets in the way of my being the person I want to be. Read More

No One Deserves Compassion More Than You Do

self-compassionThe photograph – a closeup of one person’s hand in another’s – is arresting.

The hand on the right, palm up, is that of a white person. The hand lying palm-down in the white hand is that of a very small, shockingly emaciated black person. Probably a starving child. Probably in Africa.

The caption reads, “You hate your life, while some people dream of having your life.”

The photo appeared on the Facebook page of Jeremy Lin, point guard for the New York Knicks, in April of this year. Read More

Life’s Not Fair … And That STINKS!

Pie in faceSomewhere in Africa, a gazelle is running for its life, chased by a hungry lion. What are the chances that the gazelle is thinking, “This is SO unfair!”?

This may surprise you, but I don’t actually know the answer to that.

What I do know is that many people would say, “We should be more like that gazelle; just concentrate on doing what we can, rather than wasting time crying ‘Poor me’!”

I disagree!

Human beings are not gazelles. Read More