LIFE’S TOUGH! The CHALLENGES are FORMIDABLE The RESPONSIBILITIES are AWESOME The EXPECTATIONS are OUT OF SIGHT And TIME is always TOO SHORT for what we want and need to do Consequently, it’s increasingly clear that…
All of us would become much more broadly, deeply and enthusiastically engaged in life if only we had more NOBLE enterprises to pursue. Mundane things like “chores” and “homework” and everyday maintenance flotsam and jetsam…
ar·tic·u·la·tion noun LANGUAGE the formation of clear and distinct sounds in speech. “the articulation of vowels and consonants” MUSIC clarity in the production of successive notes. “beautifully polished articulation…
For this one, you may want to look up “Free Will” on the internet and pick a couple of TED talks for background. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/06/theres-no-such-thing-as-free-will/480750/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH_VG_aqwoc INTRODUCTION: A small but hard core mix of neuroscientists, philosophers…
In describing the ERTIA UNLIMITED “Lifecourse Diagram”, one of the major points to be made is how important it is to make ourselves “helpable” … i.e., by showing some degree of initiative … by being…
The wife was cleaning out the refrigerator shelves but couldn’t figure out how to remove a retaining rack, so she called Super-Hurango for help! [OK, it was probably a ploy to make retired SH feel…
I reflexively wince when seeing or hearing reference to the Kentucky motto: “Unbridled Spirit”. Of course, there’s the superficial first inclination – at least in Kentucky – to conjure images of “unbridled” horses galloping idyllically…
Ed Romond loved mathematics. After high school, he got a BA in math, and started his career teaching high school math in Boston. While his wife was matriculating through a Psychiatric Nursing program, she planted…
“It’s like brains get wired differently over time.” – Elizabeth Warren [Commenting on the evolving and often contradictory regulations for major financial institutions] In fact, life is nothing if it’s not about “getting wired differently over…
“It sounds somewhat ridiculous to say that one of the problems we face … is that we haven’t learned how to spend free time in a sensible way … whether America succeeds as a civilization will depend…
[From Season of Life by Pulitzer Prize winning author Jeffrey Marx, Simon & Schuster, 2003] Gilman High School in Maryland has an unusual and highly successful football team. And its coaches have a few unusual rules…
The measure of a sports figure’s stature in his or her chosen sport is PLAYING TIME. The better you are, the more playing time you get. And it’s not just scoring that counts. Rebounds, defense, and…
Like it or not, habits pretty much define us: What we “habitually” do is who we are. My Latin Professor in college used the term “wont” to describe what we are “accustomed” to doing: …
An earlier blog (http://lifemasterymusings.blogspot.com/2014/12/character.html) examined the fundamental elements that comprise character. These included, by various accounts, all of the following: Optimism Wisdom Courage/Bravery Humanity Persistence Justice …
I’ve come to hold the view that life is about piling up dots … piling up building blocks, including connectable anchoring and reference points … that can, over time, be connected, rearranged as necessary, and…
You may be astonished, as I have been, to learn that the failure rate beyond high school and beyond college is much greater than it is in matriculation through those institutions. Endless studies point out…
What is your Battle Cry … your “Call to the Post” … your absolute imperative … your “Call to Action” … when important stuff needs to get done? What gets you off the dime and…
What differentiates the “human being” from non-human beings? Reason enough to ask comes from both historical record and the daily account of man’s blatant inhuman behavior, reflecting an unchecked rush toward satisfaction of “animal appetites”.…
Perhaps I was doomed to be an “Odd Fellow” from the start. My father was a card-carrying member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. (Yes, it’s a real organization! http://www.ioof.org/) But, quite apart from…
There is an increasing concern – at least an increasing discussion – about the fact that earth has finite dimensions and finite resources while its population – at this cusp of the 21st century –…
“It’s the most agile that run closest to the front on the most challenging obstacle course.” Craftmaster LIFE is one of the most challenging obstacle courses we will ever face – whether we have the…
Disruptive Motorvation is the process of purposely and proactively “breaking bonds” and “breaking rank” with convention and prevailing winds to create new realities of possibility and to achieve out-of- box results. This term borrows conceptually…
After six hours of manual labor yesterday – spent thinning out a flowering crabapple tree in preparation for eventual removal, I was inclined to go purposely off-line today. For the record, the flowering crab has been severely…
In the “Bite Sizing” blog (http://lifemasterymusings.blogspot.com/2014/09/bite-sizing.html), it was noted that putting air in bike tires (i.e., increasing the pressure) makes the biking experience so much easier/better. To the uninitiated, that may seem like “cheating”. And…
Have you ever been presented a sandwich you couldn’t get between your teeth … and once you do manage to tear off a chunk, you can’t readily chew it until you mash it down to…
It’s only frightening when you think about it: Our DNA only takes us so far in the universe – with a primary emphasis on things like survival and perpetuation of the species – and gives…
Being “accountable” is the prime currency for “making it” in the universe at large as well as for “making it” in the personal universes we each inhabit. You may have money and you may have…
Everyone wants an “Edge” … wants to have “a Leg UP” … wants to Beat the Odds … In fact, we will go to any length – even lying, cheating and stealing when the chips…
It’s what “Makes Our Day” … the acquired, adopted or bestowed assertion that we’re OK … that we have value and are headed in a reasonably ”right” direction. It’s what we live for – a…
OK, let’s face it: Most of the things that make life more “manageable” range from boring to downright unpleasant: · Picking up after ourselves · Doing the laundry · Making the bed · Loading and…
First Principle of Manageability You can’t have it all and/or do it all – at least not all at once. We CAN – and DO, however, all hope for better and wish for more. And…
Who has not thought – at some point – about running away? · … from oppression … · … from boredom … · … from constraint … · … from inextricable calamity · … from…
U.S. Championships; Saturday recap (Nick Zaccardi Jun 28, 2014, 6:01 PM EDT) “In the women’s 400m final, Olympic champion Sanya Richards-Ross couldn’t run down Francena McCorory. McCorory, the World Indoor champion, ran a personal best…
“Pay me more and I’ll do more work!” [Overheard from a staff assistant] Point to Ponder [Soon following this remark, this SA was “passed over” for a key promotion.] “Financial incentives, or ‘pay-for-performance,’ have been…
As this entry is taking shape, I’m in great angst working on “Terms and Conditions” for web site registration and find the confounding, compounding detail required to be excruciating. However, templates from other notable sites…
Some things are certain. A lot is not. Much is only conjecture. And some things are true or practical only in certain circumstances. But, if what we suppose is useful, the supposition serves a sure-enough…
Dateline: May 29, 2014 In the wake of yet another mass shooting by an obviously deranged college student at UC, Santa Barbara, America struggles with how to deal with the identification, diagnosis and treatment of…
DUI, as in “Driving Under the Influence” of mind-altering substances, is illegal. But OUI – “Operating Under the Influence” – of myriad factors in our ever-expanding universe – is standard practice, some of it legal…
Remember the scarecrow in the “Wizard of Oz”? Here’s his theme song: “If I Only Had A Brain” “I could wile away the hours Conferrin’ with the flowers Consultin’ with the rain And my head…
“If I miss one day’s practice, I notice it. If I miss two days, the critics notice it. If I miss three days, the audience notices it.” Ignacy Paderewski, Pianist [NOTE: An absence of practice…
“None of you is special. You are not special. You are not exceptional.” David McCullough, teacher, addressing Wellesley High School graduates June 2012 This admonition comes as a sobering comeuppance for all of us raised…
I’m fascinated by superstar players in sports – how they almost seem to see things in slow motion despite the frenetic pace of a game and can seemingly adjust in mid-air. Some of that enhanced…
LIFE’S TOUGH The CHALLENGES are formidable, the RESPONSIBILITIES awesome, the EXPECTATIONS out-of-sight, and TIME is always too short for what we want and need to do. To protect ourselves from the vicissitudes of life, we…
The fundamental, nagging, gnawing question that keeps me up late at night is this: Why do we have so many “Defining Moments” / “Moments of Truth” in life? “It ain’t fair!” “Why ME?” “I never…
I’ve always had my share of “stage dread” … if not outright “stage fright”, sometimes with mind-numbing anxiety about being on stage, despite the fact that I’ve been on stage a lot, singing in two…
