My friend Dennis Beckman is the best listener I’ve ever met. I’ve watched him carefully. It’s a thing of beauty. Dennis doesn’t finish a thought for another person. He doesn’t start nodding his head before they are done. I’ve never heard …
What are some things that bring you joy? Sherry speaks fondly of hanging laundry on the clothesline with her Aunt Janie. Sherry would hand her two clothespins at a time, and Aunt Janie would pin the sheets, work shirts and other freshly washed clothes against the blue …
I was dodging COVID-19 for many months. But it finally caught me. I’m one of those “it will never happen to me” kind of guys with all sorts of co-existing conditions that make me a higher risk candidate for anything. It made me totally exhausted. For two full weeks, I just …
A wonderful group of my friends retired in their 60s. I asked them what they planned to do with all that extra time. The most popular answer: golf. Consulting came in a distant second, followed by travel. A decade or so later, here are the findings from my sophisticated …
Every book I’ve read about aging encourages individuals to reduce the stress they experience in their lives. There are weeks when I have a challenging time with this recommendation. I’ve evaluated whether my life currently has a high level of stress and have come back with a …
To win in life, it helps to get comfortable with losing. I have a tip: Always find someone better than you to challenge. For me, it’s a natural talent. As a younger man, I worked for a year on the Sheboygan Campus of the University of Wisconsin. I thought I was a good tennis …
I mention The Change Companies® often in my posts about aging. Perhaps a little more about this story may be helpful – and hopefully interesting. It’s about a belief, a mission and lots of hard work. I started a behavior change company over 30 years ago called Serenity …
Sixty years ago, my bedroom window looked out on the back wall of The LaGrange Theatre. As a kid, I had a great view of everything happening in a suburban Chicago alleyway. On the other side of the red brick wall, movies were being shown featuring the stars of the day: …
A few weeks ago, a friend lashed out at me. He caught me in a good mood. I didn’t lash back. I wasn’t overly defensive. I didn’t say, ”Who made you my personal relationship adviser?” I nodded and thanked him for his frank honesty and left scratching my head. Later that …
It drives me nuts. I’m behind a car approaching a traffic signal. The light is as green as it can be. About 50 yards before reaching the intersection, the car begins to slow down, way down. I’m trying to put myself in the mindset of the driver. This person has nothing better …
