Hello there! How are you doing today? How was the week? I had a relaxing week. This is the last calm week before the storm so I am trying to make the most of it. Here is the question for today: If you were to to explain what keeps us together and helps us going … More Hope
Emerging through hardship … More On the Duality of Life
A reckless driver almost took me out, but it was my fault? Seems to be the way these days, and it’s weakening us as a society. … More Un-Reproachable Us: Your Faults Are My Fault?
I think one pitfall we tend to encounter, when we try to put Stoic teachings into practice, is that of becoming unfeeling, “like a stone.” I mentioned four such difficulties in a previous post. Here, I want to expand on this particular one. What this expression means, becoming or being “unfeeling like a stone,” is … More The pitfall wherein we become unfeeling
How fortunate I am to have been raised by loving parents. Although not perfect (for who in human form is?), my parents set many fine examples of how to be in this world. They encouraged–more importantly practiced–honesty, caring, generosity, and industriousness. One of their powerful examples was that of saying grace before eating our meals. … More God At My Table
We have a family story that has always fascinated me. When I was in my 20’s, my dad’s mom, Nana, told me the story of my dad’s first two years and how she prayed for his life. Following his birth, my dad contracted dysentery at the hospital and was sickly for two years, eventually resulting … More Talking with a Higher Power
On Saturday I listened to an interview to a Belgian politician who was saying that Governments should let out of the political scene extreme rights parties. He claimed that they receive too much visibility from the media and this is a reason for their popularity. He suggested not talking to them, as simple as that. … More Declaration of Honour
Hello! Let’s talk about life transitions today. As you might know, I recently finished my dissertation and I will no longer be a student. I have been a student for about 24 years by now. So, this new chapter in my life is very exciting and I am looking forward to it but also a … More How to handle transitions in life
Over the past 3 years with Pointless Overthinking, I’ve loved getting to know our community of bloggers and blog-lovers. I’m surrounded by inspiration and aspire to give back even a fraction of the amount of motivation I’ve received. Through this community, I connected to a podcast created for writers that explores topics of the writer’s … More Great Writers Are Great Readers… and Listeners
As noted by the philosopher Aristotle, humans are ‘social animals’ who exist and thrive in communities. We have the ability to devise sophisticated institutions enabling us to co-operate with others across cultures and borders. We can see how interwoven our lives all are through the complex interdependencies in our economies, societies and in the natural … More Expanding Circles: Spiritual Exercises as a Bridge Towards Cosmopolitanism
It’s Not Rocket Science, Although Given My Utter Ignorance of Rocket Science, Maybe Part of It Is But I doubt it. I recently tweeted something on the Twitter machine – a silly, mildly amusing tweet that said, “I have never been harassed or demeaned by Scott Rudin; this isn’t meant to condone his behavior in … More On Punching Up
“Come out to my car and check this out,” my cousin said. He was a few years older than me and always kept me up to speed on what the cool, older kids were into. I was in middle school, he would graduate soon. It was Christmas Day 1984. We were visiting extended family at … More Influence: Remembering Prince On His Death Day
The paradigm of reality that is related in this article is radically different from the one that we’ve been conditioned to believe. Almost everyone, particularly in western-type cultures, has been programmed to blindly accept that they are a separate self (the little “i”) who either gains, and is, therefore, labelled a success; or losses, and is, therefore, labelled a … More The Story of Gain and Loss
This last weekend, I was out listening to live music for the first time in two years and suddenly the people, the place and the context overran me with a sublime feeling of community. I was with my brother and his wife and because the lead singer of the blue grass group we were listening … More Community
In Japan, they believe that folding 1000 origami cranes may bring good fortune. Today, this ancient Japanese practice has spread around the world, embodying faith, hope and peace. And God knows how much we need them now. According to an ancient Japanese belief, folding 1000 paper cranes can bring good fortune in your life. The legend … More 1000 Origami Cranes
Note: This blog was originally published as an Op-Ed in the San Antonio Express-News. I’m republishing it here today because it relates nicely with Learning to Question: A Pedagogy of Liberation, a book I’m reading and one I wrote about in my most recent Pointless Overthinking blog. *** I am an American educator. My job … More Community Colleges Are Helping to Transform America
Hello there! Today, going with the theme of my last few posts, I want to discuss one other internal change I went through in the past 5-6 months: no longer claiming to know what is good for me and leaving it God’s hands what happens in my life. As I mentioned in an earlier post, … More Let it happen
In To Have or to Be? the sociologist Erich Fromm argues that there are two distinct modes of existence. These are unique ways in which we relate to others and the world around us. Having The first is the ‘having mode.’ This is characterized by an attitude of acquiring or possessing things. It is when … More Erich Fromm on Having Versus Being
Please accept my apologies for posting two days in a row. It’s generally not a good thing to do with so many of my talented colleagues able to offer so many great pieces. But I felt a need to write this as I lay awake last night, and realized that April is the month American, … More April, 2022, Meet April, 1945
A humorous look at our Easter “fun” and trauma-causing traditions. … More I Got A Problem With Easter