Category: Life & Living

If I were to ask you what you need out of life, what would you say? Chances are you’d probably confuse the word “need” with the word “want” and before long you’d provide me with a list filled with materialistic possessions that have nothing to do with what you actually need. I recently came across an article by Allison Kahner, Psy.D. on Psychology Today entitled Key to Happiness: Focus on What You Need, Not What You Want. She had some pretty interesting things to say. “Studies of happiness and wealth repeatedly show that beyond a certain level of income or material prosperity, happiness levels do not continue to increase with increased levels of wealth. That is to say, once you have what you actually need (and maybe plus a little…

Growing up in an Italian-American family, difficult conversations were always the white elephant in the room. Everyone knew they were there, but no one dared bring them up. But difficult conversations can only be ignored for so long before they come to a head (usher in an impromptu screaming match during family dinners). And while not every difficult conversation means fist-pounding at the dining room table and someone storming out in tears, no one every looks forward to having them. Why is that you might ask? Irina Firstein (LCSW), says, “Most people are reluctant to express their feelings and thoughts because they are concerned about rejection, anger or alienating others.” That sounds about right to me. Personally, I’ve had many bad experiences trying to have difficult conversations with people I…

“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” – Groucho Marx When my wife and I moved from New Jersey to Colorado, we decided to try life without cable television. After all, we were in a new state and a new house and getting ourselves settled in both was our top priority. Since the house was already prewired for cable, we agreed we could always add it later on. Fast forward three years and you still won’t find cable television in my house. And you know what? We haven’t really missed it. Beyond the financial rewards of “cutting-the-cord” as the phrase goes, we’ve gotten back something immeasurable and irreplaceable once it’s gone - time. We once…

“Through practice, gently and gradually we can collect ourselves and learn how to be more fully with what we do.” - Jack Kornfield How does one become a better writer, teacher, programmer, leader? With practice. How does a toddler go from crawling on their hands and knees to walking on their two feet? With practice. How does a parent learn to be a better parent and a spouse learn to be a better spouse? You guessed it – with practice. The list is truly endless but this fact is unavoidable – if you practice anything repetitively (especially when you’re a novice) your goals are more attainable. Arrogance, however, is a roadblock you continue to swerve around, but refuse to acknowledge. I recently identified a video project within my company, and…

“Value those who give you constructive criticism, because without them doing so, you will never reach the peak of what you are do.” – Unarine Ramaru Recently, while conducting some research on the art of constructive criticism, it became clear fairly quickly that many experts, leaders, teachers, parents and even me are divided on its benefits. In short, constructive criticism is supposed to help improve a person, a project, an initiative, a circumstance, you name it. And in some cases, I suppose it does. But we’re all human, and when there are people involved you can bet that their emotions will soon follow. Natural emotions that our body triggers as soon as we sense that some part of who we are is being challenged. That brings about a certain level…