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BETTER LISTENING SKILLS FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING

If practicing better listening skills isn’t a life goal, it should be.
How hard is it to pay attention?
You did it in the classroom with the encouragement of a teacher.
I still remember Mr. Kraus singing ‘Toot toot tootsie goodbye’ when he tossed little tootsie rolls to students with the right answer in algebra.
Maybe we need more of that? Instead we get more of this:

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RETURNING REVERENCE TO IT’S RIGHTFUL PLACE

There’s a scent of reverence in the air, of returning reverence after a long pause.
It started in my doctor’s office where I’d been called to sit on a panel with others.
One of the others was Roy Pittman, one of my personal heroes.
The next time I saw the doctor he told me he was surprised at the way I acted, that I showed reverence to Coach Pittman.
If I did, I didn’t know it. What I remember is feeling awe-struck. Maybe it’s the same thing?
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NBA CHAMPION CROWNED, AGAIN

Becoming an NBA champion is a lifelong goal for every basketball player in the world.
The best want to play the best, beat the best, to tell themselves they’re good enough.
It’s that along with contracts and money and fame.
All of that goes along the wayside when you stop playing in ninth grade like me, or in high school.
Do I blame the coaches that I didn’t become a star, a substitute, or even a benchwarmer?
Noooooo, but . . .
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CLEAN LIVING FOR A QUIET LIFE

Clean living is an art form, and like all art it takes practice.
Yes, we’re talking about practice.
It takes practice to talk without a particular tone, without too much edge.
Do that and you may have a productive conversation.
Go ahead and save the tone and edge for people you don’t know, who don’t know you.
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I READ THE NEWS TODAY OH BOY

The news today is all about world events.
News organizations deliver it every day with the same hype and urgency.
News hounds consume every detail and load it onto the pile they carry in case someone asks them ‘what’s up?’
That’s when you brace yourself for the headlines as if they’re coming from an anchorman. Or woman.
That’s the big news story you NEED to know.
The small news, the stories that make us step back, come out another way.
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toughen up

PRE-EXISTING CONDITION AFTER CANCER DIAGNOSIS

The day a cancer diagnosis becomes a pre-existing condition   Like we learn everyday when things change, everybody is different. What you do after a cancer diagnosis isn’t the same as someone else. They might go along their way as if hearing a bee buzzing nearby. Shoo, cancer/bee. Or they might fall down on their […]

Boomer Gym: 1-1-1

Baby boomer numbers scare non-boomers. Most of the numbers you hear sound like this: 79 Million Baby Boomers in America. 10,000 Baby Boomers retire every day. Those are the frightening numbers. Number matter, but one of the most important is one hundred eleven, the old 111. But what does it mean? It’s a natural number. A […]

CANCER STORIES: FEEDING PUBLIC FEAR AND PRIVATE WOE

Things you’ll never know until you get cancer, any cancer:   You’ll either be an object of sympathy, or an antenna of sympathy. Or both.   “Keep up the fight,” or, “You’re a fighter,” or “You look like you’ve got this thing whipped.”   That’s what I heard after running Hood To Coast at 49 […]

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boomer years

BOOMER UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY

Time to answer the charges? Boomer UNTIL proven guilty. Too many accuse the baby boomer generation of things they didn’t do. How can that change? And how fast? You may recognize some of the accusations, you might have a made a few yourself. After all these years, it’s finally okay. Let it go. Boomers showed […]

MESSAGE TO AGING MILLENNIALS: STAND TOGETHER

Eventually you figure out where you stand. How does that work? Look around. You’re not standing alone. Even when if feels like no one notices, they do. What they notice is context, where you are, and the nearest identifier. The biggest thing is if they decide to join you. You might call it selfish to […]

ORGANIC FOOD DELIVERY: INGREDIENTS FOR LIFE

  Where’s the organic food? All I see are fruit and veggies. Overheard in a grocery store produce aisle: “Let’s head to the deli and get something to eat, this is just ingredients.” Ingredients for healthy food? The top image is a box from Organics To You. They promise “Farm Fresh Home Delivery.” Not Meals […]

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buckle up

Breitenbush Retreat: Advancing Forward In Peace

    Tell a conservative baby boomer man about a Breitenbush Retreat and expect to hear:   Yeah, sure, we did it all back in college. Sure, it’s all about whatever. What? Oh sure.   The idea of a retreat is foreign to them now that they’ve hit the years that aren’t so kind.   […]

WINNERS OF THE BOOMPERPDX 500, pt.2

It starts like all good races, “GENTLEMEN START YOUR ENGINES.” The BoomerPDX 500 starts with directions. “There will be some right turns, there will be some left turns.” That’s more than you can say about the Indy 500. What more is needed? A map helps. Instead of time limits, the BoomerPDX 500 is a finishing […]

THE EXPLOSIVE BEAUTY OF THE NW

One Rule: Everything Changes. No, this isn’t the only region with snow on the mountains and this isn’t the only mountain. The Cascade Range pops up like continental acne, fueled by ocean crust diving under the heavier land plates, melting, and voila, volcanos. Capturing the power of geological force is one thing, capturing elemental force […]

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