Category: Life & Living

Many organizations today have adopted a notion that employees should assume positive intent when dealing with other teammates and superiors during meetings or while engaging in conversation (both oral and electronic). I’m a firm believer that yes, it is far more powerful and productive to think positively in life rather than focus on the negative conspiracy theories we often fabricate in our own heads due to a lack of legitimate data. But at the end of the day, the practice to assume positive intent does in fact have a downside. In reality, what organizations are doing is minimizing people’s feelings, thus allowing the offender to walk away with no blame or shame for their disrespect. We call that bullying. We’ve all heard the adage check your emotions at the door…

If you need to be convinced that our global society has a problem with material possessions, I turn to the following report. By the end of 2020, the combined weight of all human-made objects will far exceed all living things on Earth. Think about the reality of that statement for a minute and then ask yourself, why are we so obsessed with material possessions? The pandemic has allowed us to examine our lives and our priorities. For some, they are using this time wisely and making changes to better their post-pandemic existence, while others have no self-awareness and see nothing requiring any real change. One area I believe we all could use a little help (myself included) is the question of why are we so obsessed with material possessions. The accrual of more and…

“Your home is living space, not storage space.” ― Francine Jay As a young boy, there was an unmistakable difference between my grandmother’s house and my great-grandmothers. My grandmother’s house was a warm, comforting, welcoming place, which was soon realized by anyone walking through the front door. My great-grandmother’s, by contrast, was more like a museum filled with “collections” - where everything was there for you to see but not touch, let alone sit on! When my great-grandmother passed away, all the furnishings and decorations which she’d purchased over the years and treasured for decades were sold or discarded with little importance. What’s sad is that she never let anyone truly enjoy any of them - not even herself. It begs the question, if you and those around you can’t…

The places we call home. Be it an apartment, a single-family house or a condominium, it’s a place of safety, solace and shelter – a place defined more by the people who live there than the dwelling itself. But the places we call home have changed drastically over the last nine months – shifting its traditional architype to something many of us never expected. With businesses and schools across the country moving their everyday operations remotely, homes are adding make-shift offices and classrooms to their overall floorplans. Others, who’ve sadly lost employment during the pandemic, are setting up dedicated quiet spaces for video interviews with organizations and recruiters, while struggling with the burden that their homes are a financial liability contingent upon employment. There’s no denying that families and spouses…

Exercising your privilege to vote is not something we should take lightly. It requires serious thought and reflection to grasp that casting our ballot doesn’t just determine an election, but it says a great deal about the person we are and the role model we will be for younger generations to come. Ask yourself, what does voting for Trump say about you? Casting our ballot is tied to personal perceptions about the kind of person we are – the values you instill in your family and in your children. While it’s easy to assume that voting is more about policies and economics, it’s an honest reflection of what we value and condemn, whether we realize it or not. Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express…