Still snowy here in the unaccustomed South, and we each have to make the decision about when it’s safe to drive. It varies, of course, with the vehicle and the address. To get from my house to a paved and cleared road, requires covering the long downhill curving driveway with woods on either side, followed […] Read More

We have the rare pleasure here of snow these last few days. It was two and a half days before I could get from our house on a hilly dirt road through woods to the main road. So I’ve had a cosy few days, with a little cross-country skiing, up until the bindings broke on […] Read More

This afternoon I heard for the first time about how a Japanese business management technique can be usefully adapted to making positive changes in one’s life. Like lightning, I rushed to Google this new word: kaizen. The basic idea, as explained in One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way by Robert Maurer, […] Read More

If you’re needing an inspiring role model, read the Wired Magazine career history of Avatar director James Cameron. What a combo of persistence, courage, and inventiveness! But to make that feel real and encouraging, I always need to know the details. Thirty-three years ago, he was a young truck driver who went to see Star […] Read More

Okay, it’s Monday at the office, time: 7:36 p.m. I haven’t had a self-defeating thought all day. Not one. Maybe it’s not just work that keeps them at bay. Maybe it’s concentration, a strong focus. But I can’t be this focused all the time. Obviously I need a leisure time strategy as well. Will ponder […] Read More

Turning through an old issue of Metropolis magazine — “Architecture*Culture*Design– last night, I came across an interview with a wise furniture designer, Bertjan Pot. He said this: “I think the best thing you can give to the world is the thing you do best. And if that is making pretty tables, then let it be […] Read More

It’s the first weekend since I’ve been writing down self-defeating thoughts–as a way to get rid of them. This process of “therapeutic homework” continues to be an education. Obviously, I don’t have a big enough sample to claim I’ve discovered a pattern. But I do notice that I’ve written down many more of them today […] Read More

Yesterday I mentioned that I had begun writing down my self-defeating thoughts and finding that the process of watching for them seemed to make them occur a great deal less– in fact, hardly at all. Important addendum: this morning I worked steadily through my forty-some e-mails with no procrastinating at all about the more complicated […] Read More

Tuesday morning my shrink suggested I write down any self-defeating thoughts I have in the course of the day. I can’t honestly say that I’ve had any since then. That’s three days without. I’m impressed. Who knew a cure could be so easy? Try it. And, if you will, share how it works for you. […] Read More

Consider the lovely South African guinea hen. Here’s a bird that’s actually used as a “watchdog” on farms. Not that she’s fierce. Instead she has a lot to say. She’s so attentive and ready to give voice that she can alert a farmer to any little disruption in the night. And warn off an intruder. […] Read More