Category Archives: inspiration

“The long and winding road”

Posted on July 29, 2014 by stillalife

By now everyone on the planet must have heard the cliché, “It’s the journey that’s most important, not the destination.” A friend who writes a travel blog (see story here)  and who traveled with her husband to Greece to buy a … Continue reading →

Posted in inspiration, writing | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Going where the story takes you

Posted on August 14, 2013 by stillalife

Hear the word “research” and what comes to mind?  Laboratories teeming with pink-eyed rodents? Spreadsheets filled with statistics? Undergraduate student volunteers taking tests to predict how likely they are to do x or y when faced with an impossible choice? … Continue reading →

Posted in humor, inspiration, personal reflections, writing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

High school reunions

Posted on May 17, 2013 by stillalife

There’s nothing like a high school reunion to take you back to the past, and in my case, way back. I’ve been to two of my reunions and figured those would be enough to satisfy me for the rest of … Continue reading →

Posted in aging, inspiration, memories, personal reflections | 1 Comment

Parable of the Chinese pot

Posted on April 25, 2013 by stillalife

Thanks to college students willing to undergo a variety of tests and challenges, (without knowing the real purpose), for the price of a pitcher of beer, researchers have collected volumes of data  about human behavior. I don’t remember why I … Continue reading →

Posted in books or movies, inspiration, personal reflections | Tagged | Leave a comment

Changing habits

Posted on January 23, 2013 by stillalife

Hundreds of habits allow us to live successfully through the weeks and years of our lives. Except when they don’t. That is, when they hurt our health, our relationships, or our careers. If you think that habits are difficult to change, … Continue reading →

Posted in books and movies, inspiration, personal reflections | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Introverts in a gregarious world, Part 2

Posted on December 31, 2012 by stillalife

Our admiration of extroverts (see Introverts in a gregarious world Part 1) causes problems for those who of us who would rather curl up with a book than face a crowd of strangers at a party. Susan Cain, the author of Quiet, … Continue reading →

Posted in inspiration, personal reflections | Tagged | Leave a comment

War and politics

Posted on November 15, 2012 by stillalife

It’s getting harder to distinguish politics from war. Participants in both talk about campaigns, battlegrounds, and victors. I imagine that those candidates who are complaining they lost because their national parties didn’t send money consider themselves collateral damage. A week … Continue reading →

Posted in current events/themes, inspiration, personal reflections | Tagged | 1 Comment

Cultivating flexibility

Posted on September 8, 2012 by stillalife

Many of us lose flexibility as we age. We know that unless we stretch, our spines become more rigid. But what about flexibility in our attitudes? I’ve  been thinking about both kinds of flexibility lately.  I’m working with a Feldenkrais … Continue reading →

Posted in aging, inspiration, personal reflections, travel | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Pasta + sangria = winning combination

Posted on August 30, 2012 by stillalife

Buddhists call it dukkha, or the state of mind that makes us cling to our possessions and want more when we quickly grow dissatisfied with what we have, or always wish our circumstances were different from what they are. Psychologists … Continue reading →

Posted in inspiration, personal reflections | Leave a comment

Happiness and success

Posted on August 21, 2012 by stillalife

Hooray for a friend who recommended The Happiness Advantage, a book by Shawn Achor about the connection between happiness and success.  Achor, who became interested in the topic when he worked as a teaching assistant for a Harvard course called … Continue reading →

Posted in inspiration | Tagged | Leave a comment