From The Front Lines
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Why Do We Rush to Make People Feel Better?
Someone starts crying. Don’t cry. Someone is worried. Everything is going to be okay. Someone is disappointed. Maybe it happened for a reason. Someone is grieving. At least you had all those wonderful years together. Someone is angry. Try not to let it bother you. Most of these things are said with love. We see…
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Why Do We Fight Tears?
Think about what you do when you feel tears coming. Your throat tightens. You change your breathing. You blink harder, look upward, swallow. Maybe you clench your jaw or take that strange little breath meant to pull everything back under control. Your body has begun to cry. And almost immediately, another part of you tries…
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Not Everything You Feel Is Yours
Something strange happens when you finally get quiet. You start noticing how noisy everyone else is. Not loud. Noisy. You walk into a room feeling perfectly fine and ten minutes later you’re tense. Someone rushes into a meeting carrying urgency and suddenly everyone is moving faster. You spend an hour with someone who is angry…
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When Did We Stop Doing Nothing?
Try to remember the last time you waited for something and did nothing. Not meditating. Not practicing breathwork. Not listening to a podcast. Not checking email or scrolling on Meta. You just simply waited. That’s getting surprisingly hard to do. Stand in an elevator and watch what happens. Wait in line at a coffee shop.…
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How Do You Know a Good Human When You Meet One?
A friend recently told me something about his brother that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. His brother is one of those people who leaves a wake behind him. Conflict. Hurt feelings. Broken relationships. Illegalities. Messes that other people somehow end up cleaning. And yet he keeps moving forward—unscathed. Things work out. Opportunities…
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How Do You Know a Good Human When You Meet One?
A friend recently told me something about his brother that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. His brother is one of those people who leaves a wake behind him. Conflict. Hurt feelings. Broken relationships. Illegalities. Messes that other people somehow end up cleaning. And yet he keeps moving forward—unscathed. Things work out. Opportunities…
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When Matter and Meaning Come Home
Why two seemingly different movements may be part of the same return Something strange is happening. The more technologically capable we become of moving almost anything anywhere, the more valuable nearby is beginning to feel. The more connected we become digitally, the more we hunger for actual belonging. The more sophisticated our global supply chains…
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Are There Really Only Two Types of People?
That’s something that I have believed for many years – givers and takers. You are probably thinking right now which one you think you are. Some people seem to move through the world asking, What can I get from this? Others seem almost constitutionally wired to ask, What can I give and contribute? We tend to know which…
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The Conversation You’re Having Before the Conversation Even Starts
Do you ever stop to wonder why we spend so much time preparing for a conversation leaving little room to be truly present in the conversation? Think about how often we do this. You’re driving to work and already having the meeting. You’re in the shower explaining yourself to your spouse. You’re walking toward someone’s…
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Why Is It So Hard to Let Someone Be Wrong About You?
Think about that. We all do it. And we do it so often we don’t notice. We are constantly on guard to prevent it and when it happens, it consumes our attention through worry and doom-casting. And when someone does get you wrong, there is a sudden and almost irresistible urge to “clear this up.”…