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The Gift of Imagination: Use It or Lose It
Imagination occupies space in the mind. But unless you and I use this space, it remains small. Truncated. truncated––cut short; less than it could be Merriam-Webster What feeds imagination? Curiosity. Eleanor Roosevelt’s book You Learn by Living, Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life, struck some of the seldom-used keys on a piano’s eighty-eight keys, reminding me that simply knowing musical notes is not all it takes to make music. Her book made me think about curiosity––how using our minds to think and learn expands imagination. “Keep alive one of the most valuable qualities a person has––curiosity.” Eleanor Roosevelt She makes the point that when a child’s questions are ignored,…
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Eleanor Roosevelt Gives Advice about Life
Isn’t she dead?, you might ask. Well, yes. Yet because Eleanor wrote a book, she still speaks, even though she is dead. More than sixty years after Eleanor wrote You Learn by Living, Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life, what reader doesn’t want to live a more fulfilling life? The book was first published in 1960. My used copy is a Fiftieth Anniversary edition, published in 2011, and reprinted in 2020. I ordered this book because someone said it would make a good gift for graduating seniors, either from high school or college. Books come to me in the most circuitous ways, how I hear about them varies, and…
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Reining Emotions from Inside Out
The PIXAR movie Inside Out pictures the life of Riley, an 11-year-old girl who must move with her family from the Midwest to San Francisco. The genius of the movie lies in how it shows competing emotions. Which emotion in Riley’s mind will control the situations she encounters? What controls how I feel about what happens to me and what’s happening around me? This question applies to each of us when confronting change. The Refuge of Remembering Over time, Riley’s memories function as islands of refuge when things around her go wrong. Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness are highlighted emotions. The islands of these emotions exist to anchor and…
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Thank You Note? Or Thank You Not?
To write or not to write? That is the question. Whether tis nobler to overlook acknowledgement of a gift or to take pen in hand and write the words "Thank You," thus opposing the nature of ingratitude, and by opposing, end the default sense of entitlement. When gifts received are not acknowledged by the receiver, what’s a mother to do? Or anyone, for that matter. Anyone who gives time and thought and money to purchase a gift merits proper acknowledgement. acknowledgement: a thing done or given in recognition of something received Recipients who fail to make the connection between gifts received and the giver who gave the gift ought to…
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Shauna Niequist Talks About Change
In her latest book, I Guess I Haven’t Learned That Yet, Shauna writes about life after death––death of the life she thought she would live. “This is not about what I’ve been through; this is about what remains . . ..” “This book you’re holding is one I’ve been writing and rewriting for years, and as much as I’ve struggled with it, the struggle has healed me, helped me, and forces me to make sense of my story and our world––as much as anyone can. Being a writer means being committed to paying attention, to walking through the world as a noticer. It means finding language for the seemingly unspeakable,…
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The Easter Question: Hast Thou No Scar, No Wound?
Leading up to Easter, I’ve been thinking about this question for weeks now. Hast thou no scar? No wound? A poem by missionary Amy Carmichael lodged those few words in my mind decades ago when I read a biography about Amy’s life. A missionary from Ireland to India for more than 50 years, Amy never took a furlough, meaning she never went back to her homeland. Instead, she started an orphanage that saved countless young girls (and later young boys) from prostitution associated with Hindu religious practices. Bedridden from an injury the last 20 years of her 83 years of life, Amy devoted those years to her writing and to…
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“Un-distracted” in an Age of Wild Assaults
“To write a great book, you must first become the book.” Naval Ravikant Bob Goff becomes the books he writes. At least, he lives the book before he writes it. Undistracted: Capture Your Purpose Rediscover Your Joy Somehow, Bob freed himself from distractions in his own life to write a book that he hopes will help readers capture their own purpose and joy. Bob oozes authenticity from an oversized personality that spills onto the pages of the books he has written. Going. Blowing. Doing. “When it comes to the words we use, we’re never shooting blanks.” Bob Goff Bob wants to help other people realize the fullest potential in their…