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In Ten Years
In the book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, Stephen Covey suggested to “begin with the end in mind”. He suggested that the reader should write his/her own eulogy, as a set of long term goals. In other words, if you think about what your long-term goals are, you are more likely to achieve…
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This I Believe
In the 1950s, there was a radio show called “This I Believe”. People wrote essays about things that they believed, and then had 5 minutes to read those essays on the radio. The show was very popular, and later became a series of best-selling books of the same name. I recently started an online seminar…
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A Gordian Knot
I know a couple of people who are struggling with big life problems, including the loss of career (and the loss of income that goes along with a career), legal issues, financial issues, and relationship issues. These people are in a place where they are struggling to find workable solutions. Every solution seems to have…
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Order! Order!
When I was young, I loved to open brand-new boxes of crayons. I loved the smell of the crayons and I loved the sharpener. I especially loved the organization of the box. Each crayon was perfect, and each row was perfectly aligned. That love of order has carried over into my adult life. There is…
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Keep Your Eye On The Ball
I write a lot of letters to my family. My book (“Can Openers: Essays on Life and Love”) is a result of those letters. I wanted to collect all of my letters, and all of my writings, in one place. I used my first book to do that. I always write a letter to my…
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My Identity Cannot Be Stolen
Recently there has been news coverage about a security breach at Equifax. 143 million people may have had some of their personal information stolen, including credit card numbers, social security numbers, and passwords. I have experienced “identity theft” twice. It isn’t fun. It also isn’t surprising, because my social security number is everywhere. It exists…
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Pedestals
I was walking through Philadelphia yesterday, and I passed a statue. Statues have been in the news a lot lately. Cities and towns all over the United States are engaged in conversations about who is/isn’t appropriate to be celebrated with a statue. I spent the rest of the day thinking about why we put people…
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When An Intruder Breaks In
“What was that?” It was the middle of the night in February 1993. Theresa and I were sound asleep, and were woken suddenly by loud noises above us. “What was that?” At first it sounded like someone was walking on the roof. There was definitely movement above us. Footsteps. The next sound that I heard…
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Beat The Traffic
I have experienced some incredible traffic jams. Some of my worst examples: On the way to a Grateful Dead concert (July 4, 1987), my friend Alan, Theresa and I got caught in the mother of all traffic jams. We exited I-95 (about 4 miles from the stadium) 5 hours before show time. We did not…
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Spider Webs
I go to a park near our home at least once a week. I take my dog there (or maybe he takes me there, I’m not sure). There is a walking trail about one mile long. There is an ice house on the trail. Ice houses were structures built before the invention of refrigerators. They…