What exactly is the ocean? What is the sea? The answer isn't something you'll find in a book. To really know what the ocean is, you'll have to see it for yourself. You'll have to hear it. And taste it. You'll have to feel it's power. I remember the first major storm I witnessed first …
Category: Observations on Life
Rise and Shine or Rise and Whine?
Every weekday afternoon from 1952 to 1970, millions of American viewers tuned into the televised comedy "Art Linkletter's House Party." Years later Bill Cosby hosted a show inspired by Linkletter called "Kids Say the Darndest Things." The format was simple and thoroughly entertaining: the host would ask unscripted questions of children and the answers were …
Believe in yourself.
"We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit." ~ EE Cummings You are a remarkable person. …
Rise up! Grab life by the horns!
"The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune." ~ Plutarch When you come across a patch of bad luck, do you tend to blame, complain, regret, disdain or collapse in futility? If so, you are likely missing a HUGE opportunity. How you handle misfortune sows the seeds for the next …
Empathy: A Cure for Self-righteous Rage?
Empathetic capacity is one of man's greatest gifts. Whatever its provenance, the ability to empathize is one of the central tools necessary for creative living. As a father, I am deeply concerned that we find ways to encourage the development of this capacity in our youth, for their sake and for the sake of the …
The Middle Part: Lessons from South Park
I had the opportunity several years ago to watch an episode of the sophisticated and intelligent animated show called "South Park." It was a linguistic smorgasbord and I learned several phrases that I cannot repeat in polite company. The story line, however, tickled me. The main characters of the show are foul-mouthed children who go …
Personal Association – Your Inner Child
"We are always too busy for our children; we never give them the time or interest they deserve. We lavish gifts upon them; but the most precious gift, our personal association, which means so much to them, we give grudgingly." ~Mark Twain Having just departed on a business trip I find myself thinking constantly of …
The Role of Empathy in the 21st Century
Whether or not you are religiously inclined, the statement purportedly spoken 2,000 years ago by a man whose worldview spawned a number of organized religions including Christianity - "Judge not that ye be not judged" - is worthy of deep consideration. Judgment, the arch-rival of empathy, is an insidious and pernicious human invention. The millennium-and-a-half …
To Empathize is to Civilize
Yesterday I touched very briefly on the matter of empathy and I would like to take a short walk with you down that road to discover the influence this fundamental human capacity has on your life and the world at large. Recent discoveries in the fields of neuropsychology, brain science and childhood development show that …
An Ode to my Friends on a Hot Summer’s Morn’
"I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better." ~Plutarch Sympathy is the death knell of a good friendship. Empathy, on the other hand, is a restorative balm that heals life's cuts and scrapes. Sympathy says to another "you are right to …
Continue reading An Ode to my Friends on a Hot Summer’s Morn’
Gregory Hake 