I’ve been thinking about writing this blog for months. Perhaps even for years. I’ve noticed that every New Year’s for the past few years, I hear people say or write on social media about how the previous year has been a “dumpster fire” and that the next year must be...
For the past few years on Thanksgiving, I’ve watched Brother David-Steindel-Rast’s Ted Talk about gratitude and happiness. He simply and elegantly points out that every moment is a gift for which to be grateful. Can you be grateful for everything that happens in every...
https://youtu.be/ZfPdSdCsKr0 We ask the wrong questions. All the time. Maybe it’s the former journalist in me, but I always yearn for us to ask better questions. Lest you think I get it right all the time, I promise you I’ve learned this lesson the hard way. In my...
https://youtu.be/BqdBo1dH6AQ “It’s Not About You.” If Dr. Haldeman was giving you a “talk” that included this phrase, you were not being your best self. Seminary classmates and I grew accustomed to hearing these words from my worship professor and advisor, Dr. Scott...
In my early days of working as a chaplain at a treatment facility for young people with mental illness and behavioral disorders, a battle erupted around the chapel services I offered. Front line staff, who were responsible day-to-day for the health, safety, and...
Many of our routines and rituals have been upended this year. Give yourself a gift this fall by registering for my next online retreat, Reinventing Ritual. We'll discuss what about our past rituals and celebrations have given us purpose or joy, how is the current...
https://youtu.be/nlz9yo3kkvM This just might be the best Birthday Month. Ever. Seriously. Who would have thought that - in a pandemic - my birthday month could have reached this level of awesomeness. Not even I. When I launched my Birthday Month of Connections, I...
When I began planning my crazy Birthday Month of Connections event series, I seriously wondered if anyone would show up. It’s summer, and people want to be outside. People are tired of being on Zoom. “People wouldn’t be interested in hanging out for my birthday,”...
https://youtu.be/2m1RQyb87AI Come network. It's my birthday. Celebrate with me all month during my virtual #BirthdayMonthOfConnections events. Schedule of remaining events here. Birthday hats optional. ***** All I wanted to do was bring cupcakes to class. But, alas,...
Blame it on being a Generation Xer. In the 80s, we were among the first to have cable TV. And, I, having grown up in Omaha, Nebraska — a test market because of its Midwest “normality” — got access to cable television, even MTV, earlier than some of the rest of...
My mom always regaled me of stories of the one food she craved while pregnant with me: dill pickles. She didn’t crave any other strange foods … just pickles. She worked as a nurses’ aide in a hospital at the time, and she said that the cafeteria workers would give her...
When I was in seminary (a.k.a. graduate school for pastors), one of my professors would fairly regularly give one of us the “it’s-not-about-you” speech when we were in times of distress (i.e. self-created drama). He would remind you firmly, directly, kindly that...
Pandemic time bears a striking resemblance to airport time. I have long theorized that time spent in airports and airplanes exists in some strange liminal space — not really here nor there. If I spent enough time in an airport waiting for delayed or cancelled flights...
We all know too well what it is NOT. We’ve all been on teams that do not function well: Work teams that are lead by micromanagers or absent or burned out leaders; families that pull away from each other in crisis; any business or organization that’s lost it’s sense of...
You may only know that Lent is a Christian season during which practitioners, “give something up,” as a spiritual practice. You may even know it is a season for preparing for Easter, or a big change more generally. This Lent which began for Christians on Feb. 26 has...