Some of us know the song Secret O' Life by James Taylor. He sings that the secret of love is opening up your heart and the secret of life is enjoying the passage of time. It is hard to argue with either of those. The more you open your heart to love or life the more of it you will find. I have a quote at the beginning of The Relationship Training Manual for Men by Ben Franklin. It simply says: “If you would love, love and be lovable”. No reason to argue with that either. I th

A friend today shared this story with me. He was in a grocery store in the Seattle suburbs buying some snacks. The checkout person said to him: “Oh, you must be stocking up for the game today” and pointed out a bunch of other people in line with their own snacks. My friend is not much of a football fan and grew up in the Bay area. He replied to the checker: “Actually I am a 49’er fan.” Then he told me: “I have never seen a face change like that. She went from friendly to host

I read a blog written by Madeline Levine, PhD that spoke about a pre-teen who was walking home alone from school when he passed by a fenced yard that contained a growling, barking dog that jumped up on the fence and scared him. The boy went home and told his parents and a discussion followed about the various responses the parents could take. They could have the child walk a different route home and thus avoid the frightening situation. They could walk with him down the st

Recently I read a blog written by a former teacher who is now a mother. She was ranting against homework and the amount of activities that her children have and how it leaves her child with little unstructured family and self time. It is a thoughtful blog and if homework is an issue for you than check it out. Schools wouldn’t feel the pressure to pile on the homework if they thought that colleges would be more discerning about person and less so about academic achievement. Bu

Last year I went to the Skirball museum and saw an exhibit about Bill Graham. I asked my twenty-something daughter if she knew anything about him. She didn’t and I have done a fairly good job of exposing her to the history of rock and roll. But, Bill Graham was a producer, not a musician, and thus not as well known. Perhaps he was the first big time rock producer, but still not in the front line of rock music singers/groups/songs/stories you ought to know. At the exhibit I wa

I read a New Year’s day blog by Ron Lieber of the New York Times titled "Think Seriously About Paying for Play." I don’t think reading his blog will seriously alter your approach to play in your life, but I do think it will give you a greater perspective and may get you to approach your play in a smarter fashion. At its best play promotes a lack of self-consciousness – you get to lose yourself in the moment. Lieber references Brene Brown’s writings where she has you conside

There are all manner of courageous acts people take every day. Some would say getting out of bed is a courageous act and some days it certainly feels that way more than others. There are many ways we all are called upon to be brave, put up a stiff upper lip and carry on. Bob Dylan sang that: “…sometimes the only thing I knew how to do was to keep on keeping on.” Some days it is all we can do to keep on keeping on. Other days we take leaps forward, maintain the equilibrium or