This week started the Days of Awe, as some Jews call the Jewish New Year. One prayer I particularly like on Rosh Hashanah is Rabbi Jack Riemer’s A Time for Turning. Here’s a highlight: … takes an act of will for us to make a turn. It means breaking with old habits. It means admitting […]
How Can We Break With the Old and Create a New Season? Read More »
Have you ever left a bandage on your arm too long? If you leave it on too long, you feel anywhere from discomfort to pain when you pull it off. Does that change your choice—do you choose to rip the bandage off as soon as you realize that? Or do you choose to leave it
How Do You Choose Between Short-Term Convenience and Long-Term Pain? Read More »
I went to the dentist this morning, for my semi-annual cleaning. The only interesting parts of the visit were their COVID questions and the piped-in music. They asked me about my vaccine and disease status 4 times: when I made the appointment; when I confirmed it by email; confirmation the day before by phone; and
When Do You Choose to Embrace the Past, Present, or Future? Read More »
CAL Newsletter: Where Do You Choose to Draw Your Boundaries? Sometimes, people ask us for more than we want to offer—or can reasonably achieve. When people ask us for more than we want to offer, we have many options for responses. Each of those responses reflects our boundaries. That means we need to know how
Where Do You Choose to Draw Your Boundaries? Read More »
Aside from death and taxes, we can depend on change. Change occurs whether we want it to or not. We have big choices: when to embrace or reject these changes. I don’t see just one extreme: embrace or reject. Instead, how can we create options that help us through the changes so we can embrace
When Do You Choose to Embrace or Reject Personal Change? Read More »
The recent news about Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka made me sad—for them personally, for their potential accomplishments, and for us as a society. How much pressure do they feel, that they needed to stop competing at the highest level of their sports? When I feel extraordinary pressure, I rely on my support systems. It
Who’s Got Your Back? Pressure and Resilience Read More »
A funny thing happened these past couple of weeks. Instead of short messages in my LinkedIn messaging, I’m receiving messages that look like newsletters. Not too long, but not short messages. I’m so shy and retiring (!), I asked one of these people directly. “Are you using LinkedIn to send newsletters?” Yes, he was. I
How Can You Create Better Interactions? Read More »
CAL Newsletter: Which Kind of Power Do You Need to Avoid Triangulation? A Beloved Family Member (BFM) refuses all kinds of social media. Just refuses. However, BFM has friends on several sites. These Friends know I am related to BFM and message me to get to BFM. That’s triangulation. The first time this occurred, I
Which Kind of Power Do You Need to Avoid Triangulation? Read More »
I love the summer. The summer sunshine helps me do more—inside or outside. I even get a bit of a tan. Summer rejuvenates me. It’s also the time of year when I review my goals. That’s because July means half the year is over. Or, if you’re an optimist like me, you still have half
How Often Do You Choose to Reset or Readjust? Read More »
Back when I was a software developer, I excelled at certain mistakes. I could write an infinite loop faster than anyone. Then there was the off-by-one mistake for arrays or tables. I repeated certain mistakes too often. Until I started an engineering notebook. Once I started to learn about my mistakes, I stopped those mistakes. I
Mistake vs. Success: When Do You Learn from Each? Read More »