A few thoughts on happies in my life lately.... 1. A couple months ago, I was super bummed because I had torn our apartment apart and couldn't find my grad school copy of Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature. It had all my notes, my lovingly dog-eared pages... I was more bummed than I thought … Continue reading At the Moment … little happies
Well, believe it or not, for one of the few times in my life I am out of words. My visit to Palmyra was something I never expected and an experience like no other. I am awed and humbled and so, so, SO grateful that I fell arse-first into a job that allows me to … Continue reading Notes on Week 2 of my digital declutter
I went to a nonprofit training the other day, and in the course of talking about how to define the "why" of your organization, the speaker talked about the limbic area of the brain. You know my ears perked right up. (THE HUMAN BRAIN IS AWESOME.) The limbic system is the seat of our emotions, … Continue reading Emotions need us to provide the words
In order to stay honest and accountable, I have decided to make a blog series of my notes and thoughts on each of the chapters in The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology. I want to use this space as a place to work out my questions, my agreements, my dissatisfactions, my counterpoints, and my realizations. … Continue reading OHPT: Thoughts on Chapter 1
I AM NOT GOOD AT THIS. Well, I'm good at eliminating specific distractions, but I'm v. v. bad at not giving into the urge for a distraction and can be v. v. creative in how I justify the giving in. I spent waaaaay too much time, specific time I should have been focused on other … Continue reading Notes on Week 1 of my digital declutter (AND PALMYRA)
Compassion is a major motivator in philanthropic giving. Sure, some people give because they need or want the associated tax break, but most people, when asked to explain why they give to charity, say they give for much more personal reasons. In an interview of 700 Britons, Charities Aid Foundation found that people say they … Continue reading Your Brain on Philanthropy: Compassion Fade
A friend recently posted on Instagram a list of her favorite books from 2019. (Or, as she so awesomely put it, "the books I couldn't shut up about.") While several new-to-me titles intrigued me, there was one I went out and purchased right away: Cal Newport's Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy … Continue reading Digital decluttering
I love fresh starts. New years, new months, new opportunities. Newness gets my engine revved, gets me all sorts of energized. New intense workout program? Gimme. New idea? Let me read 10 books on it. New friend? LET ME OVERWHELM YOU WITH MY ENTHUSIASTIC INVITATIONS AND OVERSHARING. While I'm not one to expect a lot … Continue reading My 2020 goals
It's that time of year where we start thinking about the ways we can make our lives better (aka, time for RESOLUTION EXTRAVAGANZA). Sadly, many of our resolutions come out of a process that includes a whopping dose of envy. We see someone enjoying something good (whether a trait or an object) and we think, … Continue reading Envy: the fuel of resolutions (but it's not always a bad thing!)
Last year I wrote a series about my 12 joys of Christmas. It was fun, a little out of character for my blog in general, and ended up being a nice bit of fluff during a stressful time of year. This year, however, I'm feeling... blue. Melancholy. Grieving. I feel just as much joy as … Continue reading The hope of Christmas
