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Aug 20

On Compassion

There was a lot of talk at last year’s Wisdom 2.0 conference about compassion + mindfulness being more powerful than mindfulness alone. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately as I’ve been trying to find time and space to quiet my mind and worrying that it’s selfish to take this time away from my family or my other relationships or other responsibilities, and decided to dig a bit deeper into the research around compassion.  I found a great summary of the emerging data on UC-Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center’s site.  It’s way more thorough than anything I’d put together myself, so I thought I’d post the highlights here: Read more

Aug 19

A T-Shaped Life

Ever heard of a T-shaped person?  This has nothing to do with being pear-shaped or apple-shaped and finding jeans to fit accordingly; but rather, it’s a metaphor often used in the workplaces to help hire, build teams, and grow organizations.  The top of the “T” represents breadth, or working knowledge of lots of different things and the ability to collaborate across disciplines.  The vertical part of the T represents skills and expertise in a single area (like engineering or knitting or product design or ice cream making).  Read more

Aug 18

10 Reasons to Get Your Sweat On

Fast Company recently reported on a new University of Washington study on exercise rates and obesity.  The study showed that while the percentage of Americans doing “sufficient” levels of exercise rose between 2001-2011, obesity levels rose as well.  Only nine counties included in the study showed a decrease in obesity levels — and overall, “a 1% increase in physical activity led to only 0.11% lower prevalence of obesity.” Read more

Aug 15

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On Children

Our first-born child started kindergarten today, and it stirred up more emotion that I had anticipated.  As we walked into his classroom his hand felt small in mine, I realized that before too long, my hand might feel small in his.   I felt joy and hope and nostalgia and fear and love all at once — simultaneously wanting to set him free with pride and hold him tight to protect him as he entered a new school and a new phase.  I wanted to know he’ll always need me…but not need me too much.  Read more

Aug 14

Open Sesame

The verdict about which oils are healthiest seems to be a moving target.  Coconut oil — better in moderation or a daily staple?  Canola oil — decent choice or heart attack in a bottle?  I can’t keep it straight.  But the good news is that I feel like olive oil and sesame oil are on the DO list more often than they’re on the DON’T list.  I’ve been loving sesame oil lately and thought I’d share a recipe I’ve made twice in two weeks because it’s easy and healthy and SESAME-Y.  It’s an adapted version of a recipe I pulled from The New York Times last month. Read more

Aug 13

Seconds, Minutes, Hours

I have a love-hate relationship with the leaning in/opting in/”having it all” media barrage.  I love the discussion for the hope it offers and the fascinating stories it uncovers, and I hate it for its privileged tone and generalization of an issue that is highly individual.  The latest headliner on the topic was published in The New York Times Magazine Sunday: “The Opt-Out Generation Wants Back In.”  Like many of the other articles on the topic, it profiles some interesting people and discusses their lives and their choices without talking about the biggest elephant in the room: TIME. Read more

Aug 12

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Walking the Walk

“It would be foolish to want only ‘happiness’ for our children.  This would leave them stunted and poorly prepared for life’s inevitable difficulties.  What we really want to cultivate is well-being, which includes as generous a portion of optimism as our child’s nature allows and the coping skills, and therefore the resilience, that make adaptive recovery from challenge possible.”
– Madeline Levine, PhD

Our children are among our best teachers, reminding us of the raw humanness that connects us all and giving us reason to think about our own values and actions and choices in a broader context.  Read more

Aug 8

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Cucumbers + Gladiolas

The cottage is made up of four rooms — a kitchen, a living space, a bedroom, and a bathroom — all tiny, adding up to a mere 400 feet or so.  Flanked by forest green paneling and narrow white beams, the space appears fragile but represents resilience.  It looks as if one of the many fierce Midwestern thunderstorms that rage each summer could destroy it in one mighty gust, but it has withstood hundreds….maybe thousands of them of the years. Read more

Aug 7

On Gratitude

Mid-way through dinner tonight, we heard a loud “BANG!”  Everyone looked up from their plates wondering what it had been.  A firework left over from the 4th of July?  A gunshot?  Some sort of explosion?  Within minutes, we saw a blaze across the lake, forming a crimson path on the water and sharpening the silhouette of the pine tree in front of it.  It happened in a flash — a quiet and peaceful evening turned into a steady stream of sirens and a fireball raging out of control, smoke billowing and flames leaping.  Read more

Aug 5

Share the Love

What’s not to love about the sharing economy?  This planet has a lot of people on it…and more than enough stuff to go around.  So why not share the love?  If you’re into collaborative consumption, beyond finding a place to stay on Airbnb and renting a Zipcar and finding a new (used) tent on Yerdle, you can now simply lend your support at a new organization designed to “educate our peers and community leaders about the benefits of sharing” — www.peers.org. Read more

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