Conversation is the Way to Authenticity
Stop endeavoring to seek out your true, immutable authentic self as that is an impossible task. However, do not then succumb to the pessimistic despair in believing everything and everyone, including you, is irredeemably artificial. To attempt to define that singular,...
Is Omaha, NE like Flint, MI?
This question popped into my head Sunday morning as I finished reading this article in the New York Times, “Flint Wants Safe Water, and Someone to Answer for Its Crisis.” At the end of the piece is this quote from the newly elected Mayor of Flint: “It does let us know...
Converse to Serendipity
It is towards the end of Pagan Kennedy’s New York Times Sunday Review piece, Cultivating the Art of Serendipity, that she hits upon an essential catalyst between the unnoticed and the discovered: Conversation. Kennedy wonders about the possibilities that may arise in...
Character not Charisma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvQTTA9raJU “Squishtalks should compete with Dale Carnegie Schools,” Aaron told me last week. His comment arose as we talked about how we enjoyed the opportunity to be reflective around this festive time of year. I had explained that the...
Reexamining the Model of Healthcare Education
It is interesting to see the ongoing evolution of healthcare education to acknowledge the non-clinical facets of a clinically positive and organizationally productive healthcare environment. The latest is Kaiser Permanente's announcement that it will be launching its...
Creating Community in the Cafeteria
A recent Harvard Business Review article here found that, "Firefighters who eat together do their jobs better than those who don’t." The researchers found a significant positive correlation between eating together and team performance. Cooperative behavior was about...
Technology – Opiate of the Masses
Karl Marx wrote that, "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people." In attending recently, however, a mindfulness workshop, it occurred to me that in the...
The Power of Conversation
As part of my project a couple of 830 mile long conversations, I explored the role of conversation in our lives. Embracing conversation demands openness, empathy, silence and courage. It is a simple yet profound gift by one person to another. My reflections on the...
Listen at Thanksgiving
I embarked recently on a project, a couple of 830 mile long conversations, adventuring in an RV across the small roads and into the small towns across Nebraska, discovering its places and its people. Among other matters, I explored the nature of conversation and its...
Death. Again.
"I'd like to tell you how such conversations have allowed me to survive, and live well." I love life, which is why I think we should talk about death, or at least feel that we can. Our mortality can be terrifying. To bring our attention to its inevitability can be...