Dear Friend: I wanted to write you today to remind you of something wonderful. First, let me say that I know there are hard, unfair, and scary things in the world. But I also want to remind you that there is someting stronger than all that. Right now there are people full of love looking… Continue reading Love, Wisdom, and Creativity Seeking YOU
Lately I have been thinking a lot about playfulness and performance, which are two different modes of living. Playfulness and Performance When we are playful, we become joyfully caught up in the moment, focused on what we are doing for its own sake, [1] rather than focusing merely (or primarily) on what we gain from the… Continue reading Playfulness and Performance: Two Modes of Living
I have recently learned an important lesson about gratitude, and it has given me a great deal of joy. But before I tell you about that lesson, I should be honest about something. In the last few years, I have felt a bit skeptical about gratitude. It seems like recently, everywhere I turn, I have… Continue reading What I Have Learned about Gratitude Recently
Every day we tell ourselves stories about our own self and our life. And these stories matter greatly. They greatly affect our mood, our view of ourselves, and our ability to see life clearly. Let me give you an example from my own life. I have a diastema, which is a fancy name for a… Continue reading Stories We Tell Ourselves and Why They Matter
“To be human is to engage in relationships with others and with the world.” Paulo Freire[1] Recently I have been thinking about something I call “People First Politics”. I’m pretty excited about it. People First Politics is a name I came up with, but the ideas behind it have a long and noble heritage. (You… Continue reading People First Politics: Something to Get Excited About
I have recently been experiencing some painful and joyful personal growth. This semester, I have been teaching an independent study on African philosophy with two young women. This was our anthology, which I highly recommend. They have taught me so much. We finished our independent study the other day by watching the movie Judas and the… Continue reading What I Learned Teaching African Philosophy This Semester
This is an intention or prayer for when you feel aimless and lonely. Sometimes we don't know what we are doing, and we feel alone. Perhaps we aren't sure what our purpose in life is and because of this, we feel adrift and isolated. These feelings happen to everyone, including me, sometimes. If you are… Continue reading An Intention or Prayer: When You Feel Aimless and Lonely
Today we celebrate Mother’s Day, and I have been thinking a lot about the feminine. When I refer to the feminine in this context, I don’t refer to gender or biological sex. Rather I refer to a caring, relational, and life-giving way of being in the world. Philosopher Audre Lorde suggests this feminine is, at… Continue reading Do We Honor the Feminine?
One of the hallmarks of the U.S.[1], ideally, is that we tolerate diversity of ideas.[2] Because of this, we have a long-standing tradition of tolerating a variety of religions, ideas, beliefs, and lifestyles in our public life. We understand that not everyone agrees with what everyone else believes or thinks. And we believe, nonetheless, that… Continue reading Should We Tolerate Everything?
It is important to let yourself be a beginner. It's important that I let myself be one, too. But it is really hard. If you are anything like me, you have a bit of a perfectionist streak, and you want to get everything right and do everything well from the very beginning. Because of this,… Continue reading Let Yourself be a Beginner
