Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. – Melody Beattie
QUOTE & POSTER: Gratitude is not a statement, it’s a feeling.
It is so easy to say I am grateful that I often don’t stop to really, really experience gratitude. Saying the words doesn’t mean a thing without the feeling and it takes a moment of genuine reflection to summon that feeling. This Thanksgiving, don’t shortchange yourself with hollow words — EXPERIENCE THE FEELING.
Poster and Quote: The Wisdom of Thomas Jefferson
WHICH ONE IS MOST RELEVANT TO YOU?
QUOTE AND OBSERVATION: If we take care to repair ourselves with ointments laced with gratitude, humility and compassion, the scars left by healed wounds reveal life insights and experiences that can make us more beautiful.-Michael Josephson
Nietzsche told us “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger” and Hemingway wrote about becoming stronger in broken places. A different way of thinking is found in the Japanese concept of kintsukuroi the art of repairing broken pottery with gold or silver lacquer in a way that makes the object more beautiful than it was before. I think this is …
WORTH SEEING- POSTER: GIVING THE GIFT OF SELF-ESTEEM: “You is kind. You is smart. You is important” – Aibileen Clark (from the wonderful film “Help”).
Grammar doesn’t matter nearly as much as the sentiment – one that every parent and every teacher should express to every child. I hope you were fortunate enough to receive that message from someone early in your life and that some child was fortunate enough to receive the message form you. CLICK TO SEE POSTER.
Poster: Five things to teach your children
1. Be a good friend. 2. Be kind even to those who don’t deserve it. 3. Learn from every experience. 4. Do your share even when others aren’t doing theirs. 5. Start and finish a job even when you don’t want to.- Michael Josephson Click to see poster.
COMMENTARY 899.2: Are You the Father Your Child Deserves?
Listening to 9/11 survivors re-live the horrendous event that shattered their lives should remind us all to treat every day as a gift, and to treasure every opportunity to give or receive love. This is especially true for parents. A favorite story is about a 10-year-old boy who was told by his father not to expect him to go to …
COMMENTARY 899.1: Let the Butterfly Struggle
A young mother was fascinated but concerned as she watched a butterfly struggling mightily to escape through the small opening at the top of its cocoon. And when the creature seemed to give up overwhelmed by the task, she felt sure that it wouldn’t make it without help. So she enlarged the hole. The grateful butterfly wriggled out. Unfortunately, its …
COMMENTARY 893.1: A Parable About Leadership
Listening to politicians’ nasty rhetoric, one might think that leadership has to be aggressive and confrontational, but consider this parable about leadership. A student assigned to write an essay about an effective leader wrote this story: “I’ve been taking a bus to school for years. Most passengers keep to themselves and no one ever talks to anyone else.
COMMENTARY 892.5: Worth More Than a Million Dollars
If you had the choice of winning $1 million in the lottery or saving a stranger’s life, which would you choose? I suspect many of you think you should say, “saving a life,” but what you are really thinking is how much better your life would be if you were rich. If the test was which act improves the world …
You Can’t Lose by Relentlessly Pursuing Excellence
As I embark on a pilgrimage with my 65-year-old little brother to see the Baseball Hall of Fame, I am also frantically trying to complete a book on “The Exemplary Policing Organization.” As my two worlds collided, I got to thinking about what it means to be exemplary, to be one of the best ever at something — to be worthy of …
COMMENTARY 887.1: Democracy and Respectful Discourse
On this Fourth of July, I hope you will take time to experience pride in and appreciation for the great qualities of our country. One quality of our democracy is that every citizen is a public official. Thus, the passionate advocacy of political convictions is not only a right, it’s a patriotic obligation. What worries me, however, is the tendency of many …
Memo From Michael: How do you do the right thing when you’re not sure what the right thing is? (Even ethicists face dilemmas).
[Revised July 4, 2014] (What follows are lengthy musings of an ethicist struggling to live his values in the real world.) Have you ever found yourself in a place (I don’t mean a physical location) you really don’t want to be in and wondered how you got there and how you can get out of the bad place and get …
COMMENTARY 886.2: The Paradoxical Commandments
In 1968, when Kent M. Keith was a 19-year-old sophomore at Harvard, he wrote the Paradoxical Commandments as part of a booklet for student leaders. He describes the Commandments as guidelines for finding personal meaning in the face of adversity: 1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway. 2. If you do good, people will accuse you of …
QUOTE & OBSERVATION: All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. — Edmund Burke
Irish and English statesman Edmund Burke said, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.” This is true of major evils like the unabated rise of Nazism in the 30s and 40s and the toleration of, or indifference to, the outrageous ideas and actions of the KKK in the 50s and 60s. But it …
COMMENTARY 872.5: Clichés and Milestones
One of the things I hate most about clichés is that whenever I experience milestone experiences, I have to admit they are true. There’s nothing unique or original about my feelings except that they are mine. So, when I witnessed my daughter Samara turn 18, my mind and heart flooded with trite and corny thoughts and emotions: “Where did the …
COMMENTARY: Advice for Parents of Middle Schoolers
First, remember, with emerging demands for independence, worries about peer acceptance, pressures of school and extracurricular activities, and a continuous search for self-identity, adolescents are on a physical and emotional roller coaster.
Time Flies
“The bad news is that TIME FLIES. The good news is that YOU ARE THE PILOT.” – Michael Althsuler
QUOTATION & POSTER: If you want to be happy, learn to be alone without being lonely …
If you want to be happy, learn to be alone without being lonely. Learn that being alone does not mean being unhappy. The world is full of plenty of interesting and enjoyable things to learn, things to do and people who can enrich your life. — Michael Josephson
To Try or Not to Try, That Is the Question: Wayne Gretzky and Michael Josephson or Homer Simpson – You choose
Wayne Gretzky said, “I miss 100% of the shots I don’t take.” Michael Josephson adds, “Take more shots. The only time failure is certain is when you don’t try.” Homer Simpson’s rebuttal: “Trying is the first step toward failure.”
QUOTATION & POSTER: Don’t underestimate yourself! You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.
Don’t underestimate yourself! You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.
QUOTATION & POSTER: Don’t waste your time or sap your energy on worry.
Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy. ~Leo Buscaglia Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere. ~Glenn Turner