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The Gift of Echoes
I have always recognized the parts of me that clearly reflect my father, his personality and his traits. Like him, I am a perfectionist. Like him, I can perseverate over any and all things and let worry surround me like a cloud. I know that he had good qualities as well but it is the…
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Apples and Trees
How often do we see the reflections of our parents in us and our reflections in our children? Some of those reflections are clearly better qualities, some, well, not so much. I remember calling my brother, of blessed memory, on more than occasion and telling him, with a little bit of humor and a slight…
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Transitions
If there is any constant in life, it is change. So often I have lulled myself into thinking that tomorrow will be just a continuation of the day before, that people and situations and circumstances will all be the same. Yet, the truth is that no day is the same as the one that preceded…
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Birthday Meditation
I have always loved birthdays. As a child I remember thinking that I would feel somehow “different,” that when I woke up on that day I would not just be a year older but that I would be able to recognize some “change” that took place as another year was added to the tally. I…
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Enabling
The word “enable” has taken on such a negative connotation. We use enable to mean that we are giving someone the ability to do something that is less than positive. We enable their bad behavior. We enable their self destructive patterns. We enable them to settle rather than strive. I’ve been thinking about this word…
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Letting It Go
We have all heard, and maybe used, the expression “forgive and forget.” I will be the first to tell you that I’ve often said that I can forgive but I can never forget. But that is not really the truth. While I don’t forget, I have also not truly forgiven, or made any effort to…
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Continuity
Someone once asked me what the hardest thing was that I had ever done. I answered, without hesitation, that it was giving the eulogy after my brother died suddenly, unexpectedly and far too young. I was blessed to have a sibling who was my best friend, my confidante, my cheerleader and my support. As children…
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Between the Cookies
Certain foods feel to me like punctuation in my life, those moments where there is a brief pause, something that makes us take notice. I’m not talking about my childhood nightly family dinners, which followed a pattern but the other times, the weekends or family events when my mother would pull out her trusty stand…
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Leading with Gratitude
There’s a question that has been rattling around in my brain for the last few days. Maybe you want to try it as well. Here goes: what if you woke up tomorrow and all that you had is that for which you are grateful today? On the surface, it sounds like a simple question but…
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Where is Stillness?
Label it however you choose, but I have come to accept that I am a person who is never fully at rest, never fully at peace. My entire childhood was spent with my mother asking me to please be still, to sit down, to stop flitting around. My father used to say “Take a breath”…
With a Full Heart
Reflections on Leadership and Life
With a Full Heart 