My husband emailed me a link to a hilarious New York Times article, What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage. He had just one sentence in his accompanying note.
It’s worth reading the article all the way through, both for the humor and the pretty decent take-aways on changing behavior, whining, positive reinforcement and happier [...]
There are a few books I return to regularly, reading them cover to cover every few years because they feed my soul. They bring me joy, the opportunity for deep reflection, or reminders of what’s important. They feel like a part of my family.
In the world of fiction, those books include Garcia Marquez’ One Hundred [...]
My father came to this country from Germany in 1930, a little boy in steerage class. The first thing he remembered seeing when he set foot in New York was a little boy with a bag of candy. He thought to himself, this is what it means to be an American — to [...]
As a mediator, one of my primary jobs is to help people negotiate their dispute as effectively as possible, with the idea that approaching the dispute differently can help them achieve an outcome that wasn’t possible before.
I’ve been doing this work for well over a decade now, and I see the same ineffective patterns of [...]
Instead of using the phrase “yes, but” next time you’re in a disagreement with someone, try “yes, and” instead. The former sends a mixed message: “yes, that is true…but, no, it’s not.” The latter suggests that you agree with some or all of what the other person said and that you have some additional information [...]
Terri and her co-worker, Jamie, ran into each other in the coffee room. Jamie recalled that Terri was having some work done on her house and asked how it was going. “Awful!” said Terri. “The builder won’t listen to me and I have to ask my husband to raise my concerns for me. [...]
A few months ago, I wrote a post audaciously titled, Do Conflict Better in 10 Minutes a Day. In what has proven to be a highly popular post, I asked, “…what if you gave yourself 10 minutes a day to work on strengthening the conflict skills or attitude you want to strengthen? If you [...]
