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Knowing Thyself
This past week I took the Keirsey Temperament Sorter II (www.keirsey.com), which is an evolved and more behavioral application of the classic MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) inventory that places individuals in a combination of 16 potential personality types.I learned that my personal growth, professional development and experiences across the past decade now places me as an ENFJ, compared with an ENTJ classification of about a decade ago and the INTJ result that emerged when I first took the inventory in the mid-1990s. Apparently my capacity for extraverted behavior—with aspects such as sociability, interaction, and multiplicity of relationships—has expanded quite a bit

Washing the Dishes
Within the past week I've read Thich Nhat Hanh's classic work on meditation, The Miracle of Mindfulness, at least twice. There is a plethora of practical exercises in this short book for how to get still and quiet and focused, many of them revolving around awareness of breathing. These practices transcend any particular religious dogma (for we all breathe, don't we?), and help a person become more fully present and engaged with whatever is happening in the moment. For me personally, they give even greater meaning to Jesus' assertions that the Kingdom of God is here now and eternal life a present reality, and teach me more of how I can "be still and know."One of the spir

I Stopped to Pet a Cat
During today's run/walk on a cool October morning, I was practicing being mindful of what was within and around me. I took note of my breath, paid attention to my thoughts as they happened, and heard the song of birds and the yelp of dogs in the distance. I took note of the trees, imagining when they might begin to turn color. Above all, I could sense life teeming around me and through me, sensing a connection to all created things.And then I saw the black, shiny cat with the ID tags. She was trotting on the opposite side of the street, and I was still a ways off. I found myself simply appreciating the life of this cat, the grace of its beauty. And I knew by instinct

A Thought From Holmes (Not Sherlock)
A mind stretched by a new idea can never go back to its original dimensions.A new friend shared this classic Oliver Wendell Holmes quote with me this morning during a meeting at a Panera Bread. I'm sure I've heard it before, but it resonated with particular power for me because of the "stretching" I've undertaken for the past several years. It made perfect sense to me because it is true; once the cognitive wineskin has been reshaped or even torn, it can no longer be repaired to snugly fit the same individual's head.One of the most dangerous and disheartening dynamics to come across each day is the purposeful or unintentional closing of this