I facilitate a workshop on how to deal with difficult conversations with students, whether individually or with a full class. One of the things that we talk about is the stories that we tell in such situations. There are three types: The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves – these are the ones like, “I READ MORE
Category: Compassion
We Need to Do Hard Things
Glennon Doyle frequently says, “We can do hard things”. I’ve been thinking about that idea a lot lately. We’ve all had times in our lives where we had to do hard things. I moved to a new country where the only person I knew was my then girlfriend, now wife. I gave birth to our READ MORE
Situations Can Be Challenging, Not People
I was part of a conversation this week in which somebody was commenting on how people often say that someone else is “challenging” or “difficult”, but people aren’t any of those things. Their actions may be challenging. Their situation may be difficult. The person, however, isn’t either of these things. Brené Brown has written about READ MORE
Call of the Wild
On Sunday my wife and I took our dogs and met up with a couple of friends and their dogs at a newly discovered dog park. There’s a fence all around it, but near one of the gates, there was a bit of a gap between the fence and the ground. Our newest dog, Henry, READ MORE
Having Faith In Yourself
It’s really easy to lose faith in yourself during challenging times. For years I struggled to have any really faith in myself, and I recognize when I’m feeling that way again. Am I a good partner and parent? Am I good at my job? Am I a good friend? I’m a bad cook. I’m unattractive. READ MORE
Why An Orange Shirt?
When a person suffers a trauma, it can take a very long time to heal. When the trauma happens to a people, and lasts for generations, it’s going to take generations for healing. I was born in the United States on land that the Chumash people called home before European settlers arrived. Today I live READ MORE
I Didn’t Want to Bother You
Just about six years ago I realized that I was depressed. It was early in that bout, but it hit me hard. I didn’t tell one of my good friends even though we told each other pretty much everything because I realized that’s what was wrong about a week before her wedding. There was no READ MORE
What Will You Stand For?
There’s a line in the musical Hamilton when Alexander Hamilton asks Aaron Burr, “If you stand for nothing, what will you fall for?” I was reminded of this line the other day while flipping through my copy of Brendon Burchard’s book The Charge, which came out almost a decade ago. In the second chapter, Burchard READ MORE
Not Just Numbers, But Names
During the Holocaust approximately 1 million Jewish children were murdered by the Nazis. At the Holocaust museum in Toronto you receive a card with a child’s name and other information on it when you arrive. When you leave, you slip the card into a machine and find out what happened to that child. You learned READ MORE
Coming Together Instead of Tearing Down is Best For Mental Health
I had an appointment for my second vaccine scheduled for tomorrow , but this past Sunday, in the late afternoon, I saw that the wait at our drive-through was less than an hour. Apparently a lot of people saw that though so I ended up waiting more than 2 hours. Friends were in the next READ MORE
