Thinking Out Loud

Absorbing Energy

Empathy is tricky business; it’s also natural and part of being social creatures. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that someone has empathy because what they see happening is very different from what you see. Empathy, however, is part of us all even though we feel it, have it, and express it (differently).  Read More

Is It Okay To Hurt Other People?

Is it okay to hurt others? No, not to deliberately be mean and to intentionally cause hurt but sometimes it is necessary to bring up a topic or issue that we know may hurt or upset the other person. And because we know that person’s feelings may get hurt, we are reluctant to begin a conversation where that is likely to occur. Read More

Conversation: An Exercise in Creativity

Typically, we don’t think of conversation as a creative activity, but it is. Consider these dictionary definitions:

Conversation is a form of interactive, spontaneous communication between two or more people. Typically it occurs in spoken communication.

Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a literary work or a painting). Read More

Grit and Happiness

In most posts, I try to express something positive that has value in creating forward momentum. That’s another way of saying that I don’t like to write about what I don’t like or what drives me crazy. It comes across as venting, and I already do enough of that with family and friends. So, with that lead-in, I want to talk about two things that are currently driving me crazy.

I’ll start with grit.  Read More