“And then I realized that no matter how long I researched and thought about shoes, I wasn’t going to find a good fit. What I actually needed to do was to try on a bunch of different pairs.”

All people, even the ones we find most challenging, are our teachers.

According to the school of therapy called Internal Family Systems, the core self that is beneath all of our sub-personalities or parts has several qualities: curiosity, compassion, clarity, connectedness, creativity, courage, confidence, and calm. These are known as the eight Cs.

There are two ways to transformation: either you change your world or you change how you relate to it. One path focuses on changing things on the outside, the other path works on changing things within.

Imagine an upset parent speaking to a child who hasn’t finished an assignment for school. Contrast these two possible statements:

“I am angry that you didn’t finish your homework.”
“Part of me is angry that you didn’t finish your homework.”

You place your bets on the table. As the wheel spins, you hope that the ball lands on the numbers you’ve chosen. This is how things work in the game of roulette, but it seems to me that there is a similar dynamic present in life as well.

An interesting study found that people who placed an artificially aged self-portrait on their desks were more likely to contribute to their retirement accounts and to live healthier lifestyles than a control group without the portrait.

Have you ever said something like, “I’ll take action when I’m ready. It’s not my time”? I haven’t yet read Seth Godin’s book What to Do When It’s Your Turn (And It’s Always Your Turn), but I find even the title itself worthy of reflection.

Aquinas On Gender Construction? is the provoking title of one of the episodes of New Polity’s fascinating series on gender. Spoiler alert—they argue that gender is more than just our biology and that in some ways, though not all, it is constructed.

A carpenter builds things from wood. He uses his knowledge, tools, and hands to shape raw materials into something as simple as a shelf or as complex as an ornate house; but while he is working, it is not just the wood that changes—he himself is transformed.

When a community is at peace, it is resistant to being controlled by external forces. When an individual is at peace, he is immune to the torrent of voices trying to convince him that he needs more.

How good are you with money? Before you read on, take a moment to notice what sorts of things come up for you as you ponder this question.

Suppose you found yourself in a pitch-black room with unknown surroundings. If no lights were available, what would you do to learn about your environment?

Have you ever been in so deep that shame and a sense of futility prevented you from climbing out?

In their book, The Independent Farmstead, Shawn and Beth Dougherty have the following meditation to aspiring small-scale farmers looking to buy a plot of land for their families.

Until recently, the concept of the common good was always something that mystified me. I often heard that it was something governments should aim at, but whenever I asked for an explanation of what exactly the common good was, the only two examples I received were peace and truth.

During this season of Advent, we await the arrival of Jesus. Although he came as an infant, he was and is the King of Kings.

Last year, I heard the COO of a tech-company give a talk on IT Careers. Along with general changes in the industry, he discussed a few of his company’s particular cultural norms.

How do you teach a toddler to set the table? In a recent address at the ARC Conference, Jordan Peterson tells the story of how he trained his 18-month-old son to do this very thing.