I was recently asked to talk to a group of 7th grade students as a part of our area “Leadership Academy.” The invitation was specifically to share my thoughts on “happiness,” which is understandable because “happiness” has been my “schtick” at work for the past few years. At work, I basically have a bully pulpit …
Tag: living
Tongue Fu!
In the summer of 1997 I was Recreation Director at a well-known music camp in Michigan’s north woods. I was also a young band director with my eyes set on becoming a principal when my camp boss and soon-to-become mentor, Larry Pye, gave me a book titled Tongue Fu!. Larry was a former band director …
Did you fall today?
I have learned a lot of lessons through ski jumping. One lesson I learned a few years ago was that taking risks was critical for improvement in the sport. I must have been very risky at the beginning, because I would often come home from practice with a new set of bruises or scrapes. Of …
How’s it going?
“How’s it going?” How many times a day do you get asked this or a similar question? I appreciate when people ask me this. But lately, my response has started to bug me. Why is that, you ask? Not long ago someone asked me how I was doing and I responded, as I always do …
Rungs on a ladder
I was recently asked what professional accomplishments I was most proud of. It seems like a pretty simple question, right? Well, that was not the case, at least for me. The reason I had trouble answering the question is that the word “accomplishment” seems rather terminal...an end. For certain, I have had a lot of …
Oh Henry
My wife Kathy and I just adopted a puppy, and named him Henry. We adopted his big sister, Leland, two years ago. They’re both Goldendoodles. Also called “designer dogs,” “Doodles” are a cross-breed dog, obtained by breeding a Golden Retriever with a Poodle. Kathy and I often say that we are too selfish to have …
Create and be creative
Creativity is one of the most distinct differences between humans and other life forms on Earth. There’s a ton of research and resources available--many on the web--that explore the connection between creativity, the brain and overall wellness. In fact, there are so many great resources that I won’t attempt to reproduce that here. Instead, I …
Gratitude – The best free gift to yourself
I recently spoke with a principal who conducted a “gratitude challenge” in his school. Over a very short period of time, he wrote dozens of thank you notes to all the people who had a connection with his school-teachers, paraprofessionals, central office staff, PTO, etc. Then he hid those notes around the school. Students, upon …
What’s your GPS?
A few nights ago I was scrolling through my video streaming sites, and it struck me how many shows and movies exist in our popular culture that either originated or are set in the 1980’s. The Goldbergs, This is Us, Fresh Off the Boat, Freaks and Geeks, Stranger Things, The Americans, just to name a …
Who would you put on Mt. Rushmore?
A few years ago on the way to ski jumping camp I stopped in Keystone, South Dakota so that I could see Mount Rushmore (the national memorial, not the rock band). And being a rock hound, I thought the idea of snapping a photo of some stacked rocks in front of the landmark would be …
IMPASSIONED PHOTOGRAPHY & ART 