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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

INFLAMMATION, CHRONIC PAIN, ADDICTION

We all have a horse in the chronic pain race. The best advice after surgery is taking pain pills on a schedule. If you let the pain get ahead of the pain killer, it’s hard to back down. Skip a pill and you might take an extra dose, then double up in half the scheduled […]

BOOMER HEALTH INDEX

When No News is Good Boomer Health News. Just when you’ve turned the corner and feeling better, clothes fit better, face looks more like you remember looking, something happens. You forget to move. You decide not to get up. You don’t feel making an effort is worth the reward. You’re tired. Now what? You could […]

Neck Cancer … What Is It Good For … Absolutely Nothing

A reader left a comment recently that moved me to respond in a universal way.   Hey Patrick,   Thanks for coming over to boomerpdx. A quick question: How did you find me and this topic. I write about it a lot, but not too many show up in comments like you. I’m glad you’ll […]

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boomer years

BETTER SELF? IF YOU HAVE A BETTER SELF, WHO WERE YOU BEFORE FINDING OUT?

    Life mysteries usually get solved by our better self, the part we hope others notice because it’s better than the usual.   The mystery solutions usually fall between ‘Wow, I didn’t think I could do that’ and ‘Oops, I thought I could do that.’   One shocking example was Det. Mark Fuhrman during […]

Another Moment Of All American Serendipitous Patriotism

    “If you’ve ever wondered what you’d have done had you lived during the era of slavery, the Holocaust, or the Civil Rights Movement — whether you’d have stood & spoken up; whether you’d have intervened to help someone or been complicit in harming them through your silence — you have your answer.   […]

Way Back When Turning Thirty Was Old Age

    I asked a fifty year old man what turning thirty really meant. I was twenty nine at the time.   He said, “It’s easier wearing a shirt and tie without feeling like a fraud.”   Fraud? That’s it? Shirt and tie?   Way back when turning thirty was old age I asked old […]

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buckle up

INVITATION FROM PORTLAND: WHAT’S MY NAME?

An old Russian saying explains it this way: The much loved are called by many names. With that in mind, Portland must be much loved by the number of names it has. Stump Town. Soccer City, USA. River City. Rip City. Rose City. Beervana. Bridge City. And they all fit. Just like weather that changes […]

King Arthur, The Baby Boomer’s Friend In Need

If reading tales of kings and queens encourage a child’s imagination, dragging them up the treacherous goat trails of Tintagel Castle makes it real. Who does that? Baby Boomers seeking greater cultural meaning. King Arthur is a good one to focus on. You know the story well enough to sound like an authority. Sword in the […]

FIRST IMPRESSION, YOU ONLY HAVE ONE CHANCE

  My first impression on the Germanic Front Street of Leavenworth, Washington? I met a guy from Poland. He said he was from Poland. I knew he was from somewhere else with his styling appearance. He comes to Leavenworth every year so I asked him about the most authentic German food in town, expecting some […]

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