Quiet Whispers

"Do you hear that noise?" my Uncle Sam asked. I could not hear anything, but when I listened carefully, I heard a faint clicking sound. "Your car is always talking to you… listen carefully, Bob." – wise advice for a young boy from his...

Some Things Don’t Belong to Me

I love to learn and enjoy a wide array of reading. No matter how much I read, however, I will remain an unlikely participant on Jeopardy, a popular TV quiz show in the United States featuring trivia on many subjects. “Knowing it all" has much allure for me....

Exercising Thanksgiving Muscles

Developing a skill in any area of life always requires a disciplined repetition. Just as I intentionally work my physical muscles daily in order to stay in shape, I need to intentionally practice gratitude in order to build my thankfulness capacity. Without practice,...

Spiritual Blind Spots

I want to share with you a book I read during my long flight to Malaysia this month. It is called Blind Spots: Why Smart People Do Dumb Things by Dr. Madeleine Van Hecke. I quickly identified with the key point of this book – that people have blind spots where...

A Formula for Crisis

My life as an emergency physician required action. That action was critical to success in crisis situations. When training emergency medicine residents I instructed them that there were necessary steps that preceded action. Stop and think (assess the problem) Make...

Don’t Lose Heart

Discouragement comes so quickly to me. Looking at the sad state of world affairs makes me wonder, “Is there any hope?” Staring daily at the pile on my desk representing important tasks can also cause me to wonder, “Is there any hope for...