When I was in high school my philosophy teacher, Mr. Linn (yes, I had a philosophy teacher in high school) told me that the quote, “To be is to be seen” is attributed to Jean Paul Sartre. At least I think he said it was Sartre, I might be mis-remembering. I could look it up, […]
Life Lessons
Refusing to see
So I’ve been watching “Empire” on Fox. Not in real time, but on Hulu. And I’ve got to admit. So far it’s been a pleasure. A guilty pleasure, but a pleasure nonetheless. There are lots of story lines woven throughout the show. One of them has to do with a father’s unwillingness (inability?) to accept […]
Lead like the great conductors
As a musician I believe that music is a great teacher. The lessons that musicians are able to learn through music, if they’re willing to learn them, go far beyond the mechanics of playing any particular instrument. In this, one of my favorite TED Talks, Israeli conductor, Itay Talgam, studies the conducting styles of several […]
Learning joy
I recently attended a conference and found myself sitting next to someone. We instantly hit it off. During our time together he made a comment about how he had learned to find and experience joy. At first glance joy seems like something that we don’t have to learn. It seems like something that just washes […]
Living questions
Questions, not answers, are the key to uncovering life’s truest meanings and purposes. We need to learn how to ask great questions. We need to become comfortable living with not-yet-answered questions. We need to reframe the idea for any given question there is necessarily “an answer.” How to ask great questions. Great questions bubble up within […]
To slide or not to slide
It was a warm and sunny day. The type of day we have been waiting for. The door at the end of the hallway opened and a group of kindergarteners went outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. There were 20 minutes left in the school day. Why should kindergarteners have all the fun? I decided […]