An article by Sue Shellenbarger, which recently appeared in The Wall Street Journal, pointed out an interesting paradoxical fact: “When someone is getting stressed out, one of the least effective (and perhaps most annoying) things to say is ‘Relax.’” She goes on to say that while the person communicating this directive may have the best…
Go for it while You Still Have the Chance Ross Reck, “It’s not uncommon to hear people making excuses about why they didn’t take advantage of the opportunities that life sent their way. You’ll hear them say things like, “I could have done this or that….” Then come the excuses: “…but at the time my…
Many of us have a hard time of figuring out what to say when we run into a friend or acquaintance who has recently lost a loved one. A friend of mine lost his wife to suicide a few months ago. At the urging of an old friend, he started attending the meetings of an…
A subscriber shared with me a fascinating quote in response to last week’s about how tongues are made for praising. The quote is from an Indian spiritual master named Sai Baba who passed away in 1918. The quote is: “Before you speak ask yourself, is it kind, is it necessary, is it true and does…
I came across this phrase in a document I read recently. I thought wow, what perfect sense this makes because tongues are indeed made for praising. They are not made for belittling people, cutting them down or making them feel bad. None of these actions make the world a better place. On the other hand,…
The other day I went to the Post Office to mail a gift to my mother in law. I was not doing well that morning as I felt very stressed and anxious. When I was called to the counter, I noticed the postal employee who was about to help me was drying her eyes and…
According to an article by Robert Lee Hotz which recently appeared in The Wall Street Journal, students who take handwritten notes outperform those who type them on a keyboard. While handwritten note takers take fewer notes than those who type them (22 words per minute vs.33), they learn better, retain information longer and more readily…
It’s not uncommon to hear people making excuses about why they didn’t take advantage of the opportunities that life sent their way. You’ll hear them say things like, “I could have done this or that….” Then come the excuses: “…but at the time my kids were little,” or “but we had just bought a new…
Like many professional athletes, most of us have fallen into an occasional slump where we’re not performing at our usual level of effectiveness. A slump usually takes the form of a lengthy drought between successes. And, like professional athletes, many of us try to break out of our slump by working harder and longer. What…
I fell into this trap recently when it appeared that things weren’t going well in certain aspects of my professional life and I began to stress out. When this happened, I lost track of the fact that I have a wonderful wife, a fantastic family, lots of great friends, a nice roof over my head…