I attended my first Wild Goose Festival (also known as The Goose) in 2014, in Hot Springs, NC. The Goose delivers on six commitments: Co-Creation, Storytelling, Radical Hospitality, Real Relationships, Non-Violence, and Always Evolving. Goose participants include social justice advocates, misfits, mystics, prophets, sages, storytellers, and seekers—this is where you experience the disconnect of spirituality […]
In a recent coaching session, we discussed stress and strategies for managing it. The client mentioned she was practicing meditation, yoga, and deep breathing. I acknowledged that all those practices are beneficial. I also pointed out that these activities are focused on herself and turning inward. I asked her what she was doing to help […]
Years ago, I facilitated a simple trust-building initiative for a large group, which opened a conversation on trust. Participants mingled, stopped, looked into another person’s eyes, and said either “I trust you” or “I don’t trust you.” There was no explanation of why they said what they said. They just moved on after their statement […]
While it is true the United States has experienced a recent surge in productivity, driven by a combination of factors that have contributed to the rise in output per worker, I believe we have an epidemic of laziness. I see and experience the epidemic of laziness in critical thinking. “Critical thinking is the process of […]
Returned to my Alma Mater, DePauw University, for my 50th class reunion. As I walked past the infamous boulder at East College, I noticed it had been moved since my previous visit in 2015! This was a foreshadowing of other changes I would discover! The Lows… Remembering over 70 classmates who have died. Meeting international […]
Liz Cheney challenges Democrats with A Remarkable Message. As a registered independent voter, I pay attention to both parties in the news, podcasts, and streaming. It is obvious the Democratic Party is a “ship without a rudder.” If the Democrats want my opinion, they need to create Project 2026 – clearly state who they represent, stand for, and don’t stand for, plans […]
The story of kintsugi (golden repair)—this style of pottery—may be the most perfect embodiment of all our trauma-shattered lives… Instead of throwing away the broken beloved pottery, we’ll fix it in a way that doesn’t pretend it hasn’t been broken but honors the breaking—and more so, the surviving—by highlighting those repaired seams with gold lacquer. […]
I volunteer at the Asheville, NC, Habitat Restore. I was working the cash register recently, and a woman checking out remarked about my wedding band. She said, “That is an unusual design!” I told her I designed this and my wife’s wedding bands in lost wax 45 years ago. I learned lost wax jewelry design […]
The owner of Montford Deli, Asheville, NC, David Sweeting, apologized for comments about Anne Frank that generated controversy. “I want to apologize to the Asheville community… because of my stupidity.” Sweeting said that as a 9th-grade dropout, he had never heard the story of Anne Frank. After witnessing the hurt caused by his remarks, Sweeting […]
As I have written, I do not do New Year’s Resolutions. I focus on a word. The word seems to find me! Past words include carin, civility, and selfie. The word that has chosen me for 2025 is turbidity. “Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, […]
