If you’ve ever felt a loving embrace, thank an adjective. Because without the adjective, all you would have felt was an embrace.

Adjectives bring words to life. They turn beer into cold beer, nights into starry nights, moments into magical moments. The colorful and descriptive nature of an adjective is based upon a perception, a judgment, an evaluation of what we think we see in front of us.

Perceptions, judgments, and evaluations are great when we are talking about beer, nights, and moments. But when we add people to that list, perceptions, judgments, and evaluations can sometimes be anything but great.

The ability of adjectives to enhance can be offset by an adjective’s ability to hurt, especially when it comes to people. Our highly competitive world is quite polarizing. Demographically we are all Continue reading “The Divisive Nature of Adjectives” →

I used to think Martha Washington didn’t know what she was talking about. She’s quoted as saying happiness or misery is more about our dispositions and not our circumstances.

Martha, I’m sorry. You were right.

Life is always a lot more fun when our circumstances are exactly as we’d like them to be. How can you not be happy when the world is going your way? But what happens when the circumstances change, when a big ol’ rain cloud shows up in your clear blue sky?

In my own life of late I’ve had a few big ol’ rain clouds showing up and spoiling my view. The clouds shifted my focus and energy in Continue reading “Martha Washington Is Not An Idiot” →

“To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.” — Mahatma Gandhi

A few weeks back my only brother suddenly passed away. Still very surreal to think of Steve in the past tense. We weren’t the closest of brothers, but a brother is a brother, and gone, sadly, is any opportunity for two brothers to ever have the chance to perhaps build a bridge between them.

Steve was a carpenter by trade, his skills simply outstanding, far beyond my brotherly pride. It was said by someone at his wake perhaps God was putting on a new addition and needed the best carpenter he could find. If that was the case, God, you made the right choice.

THE GLOWING HEART My brother was more than your typical tradesman. He was seasoned, at times gruff, always colorfully Continue reading “Redefining Angels” →

OK, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything new to the blog. But I have a good reason.

I’ve had nothing good to say.

I know that according to “expert” bloggers I have violated the greatest rule of blogging by not posting content on a regular basis. Frequency is critical to building a brand, they’d say. Out of sight out of mind.

Ideally, I’d be able to create meaningful content on a regular schedule. And God knows I try. But I have a different “greatest rule” of blogging — don’t waste the readers time with less than your best effort.

I’m not going to just post something for the sake of “brand building”. That wastes your time and undermines my intention of offering you something of substance.

I do expect to get back to posting this week. I just wanted to let you know what was going on.

I greatly value every reader of this blog. Thanks to all who have joined our community. It means a great deal to me.

Thanks for your patience.

So what are you building with your life?

Are you living a life of “what could have been” when you could be living a life of “all you were created to be”?

There is a new skyscraper on the rise in Boston. My frequent drives through the city usually land me stuck in the middle of morning rush hour traffic, the perfect venue to watch this new building come to life.

Every time I pass by, I see the steel structure has grown a few floors taller, the steel workers bolting one steel beam into place and then another, and then another. Not much to look at in it’s current configuration, but that’s just part of the process.

Building anything of substance usually takes time. It starts with a vision and then a strategy and then the implementation of the Continue reading “Building The Greatest Version of You” →

Are you actually buying into your idea of who it is you think you are?

In a rare moment I recently found myself sitting alone on my deck. Just relaxing. It wasn’t for very long, just long enough to notice I was actually relaxing.

Our house is situated not to far from a major highway. I remember all we ever heard during our first weeks here was the annoying hum of cars and trucks racing down the interstate. Over time we simply got used to the noise as it gradually just blended into the background. The noise didn’t go away, we just didn’t hear it any more.

During my moment of relaxation on the deck I was able to momentarily sit back and enjoy the sounds of nature all around me, especially the birds sharing their distinctive songs. My focus on nature was abruptly broken by the sound of a motorcycle screaming down the not-to-distant highway.

VOICES SURROUND US Our world is full of ambient noises, of millions of voices just waiting to be heard. Sit at a table in any restaurant and shift your focus Continue reading “Hummingbirds, Harleys and The Voices In Your Head” →

Life has a funny way of throwing things at you, doesn’t it? Here we are just cruising along and from out of nowhere life drops it’s latest challenge into our lap.

Every challenge brings with it two different outcomes. Sometimes the challenge gets the best of us, stopping us dead in our tracks. Sometimes the challenge alters our course but not our ultimate destination. Either way, we are the ones who will determine the outcome.

Life is all about how we respond to the unexpected, when Plan A comes crashing down. Our responses are habitually predictable. We already know how we’ll react in most situations because it’s how we’ve always reacted. We already know if we will overcome the challenge that stands before us.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS? Our habitual responses to what life throws at us are rooted in our expectations of ourselves. Some expect to succeed, to prevail in the face of adversity. Others buckle under the perceived pressures, doubt and uncertainty reappear as expected.

What do you expect from you?

Continue reading “The Art of Overcoming Yourself” →

“…We are not here to merely contemplate our own greatness. We are here to achieve it.”

I recently found myself on the USA/Canadian border where northern Maine meets the province of New Brunswick. The funny thing about the border in this area is that there is no actual physical border. No wall, no river, no razor wire. There are small markers indicating where the two nations come together, but for the most part the border is nothing but a line drawn on a map. With this line comes an understanding of it’s boundaries and limitations, agreed to and respected.

Standing on this borderless border, it would be very easy to cross over to the other side. But we don’t, because we accept the limitations placed before us.

Sometimes in our own lives we come face to face with our own personal boundaries and limitations. These are boundaries and limitations that we accept and respect even though there is nothing physically restraining us from moving beyond these self-inflicted Continue reading “There Is No Doubt About Your Greatness” →