As the stage designer for an 1100-seat auditorium I get to spend a lot of time up a ladder, reaching for things. Drapery, fishing line, cable ties and scissors are just some of the items I carry, tweak and twist while 10 feet off the ground. I have a great respect for the stage, especially… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Awareness
You will be eating again soon
The finishing moment of many pleasant restaurant meals is having a fortune cookie. Dropped off with the cheque, fortune cookies are a final treat, and usually a source of optimistic wisdom. So it surprised me when I opened my fortune cookie to find this message: “You may be hungry soon: order a takeout now.” At… Continue Reading
Guess who’s not coming to dinner
Having dinner with friends at a nice restaurant is a wonderful event. You are with people you love, being served excellent food that arrives without any effort by you in the kitchen. The air is filled with laughter and storytelling, and time rolls backward as you reconnect with friends with youthful exuberance. I joined five… Continue Reading
We are all the same size inside
Humans come in all sizes, shapes and styles, and just when you think you’ve seen every possibility you see someone who looks different yet again. I think we all find people to be interesting — they are variations on ourselves and the world-wide human community. Height is one of the greatest sources of differences with… Continue Reading
Not on the outside
One of the worst feelings is being left out. Something is going on and you aren’t included, whether it was intentionally, or you were forgotten, or they never imagined you might want to be included . While some people prefer being on their own, that is different from actually being left out. Being left out… Continue Reading
Air is thick but sensitive
One of the biggest things we never see is all around us — the air. We know it’s there but we don’t think about it much unless it smells wonderful (like dinner) or smells terrible (like when a farmer is spreading manure on his fields). While air usually looks clear it is much more than… Continue Reading
The rabbit knows he’s delicious
We all have our weaknesses, and most of us know what they are. We also have our strengths, and those are what we need to focus on sharing. Sitting in the backyard with my friend we saw a rabbit. It was doing what rabbits spend a lot of time doing — sitting very still and… Continue Reading
Someone that someone cares about
As people discovered with the Six Degrees of Separation, we are all connected in surprisingly few steps. While walking in the mall, driving down the road, or having lunch, we are near to people that someone close to us knows and cares about. It is an illusion that our days are filled with true strangers… Continue Reading
We are all more
We are all multi-faceted and unique. You and I are complex people, living in a busy world that often misses the simple joys of life. As you walk down the street, know that inside each person you see is more than what they are showing. We can’t have time to know everyone, but we can… Continue Reading
Notice and celebrate small moments too
Each day brings us many small moments of success and contribution, both for us and the people around us. When we pay closer attention to people around us we get to share in more of life's goodness. A great model for this in my life is my Mom, who is not just a wonderful cook,… Continue Reading