Parents Lead

Have you gotten a robocall that turned into a scam? There are endless robocalls and many if not most are scams. Some time in Scam School may be just what is needed to scam-proof yourself. This session includes three scams and a chance to think about how you would handle them. Press play and join the session.

Whatever the job, not everyone has the juice to get the job done. The question is then, "Who has the juice?" More to the point, do you have the juice or is this one of those times when you just think you have the juice. Press play and check it out for yourself.

Have you had any experience with looking for someone and not being able to push away that emptiness that comes from not finding the one you are looking for? If so, you will relate. If not, lucky you. Either way, press play and come along.

What if I were to tell you that if you make only one little adjustment you will be perfect? Is that you i hear saying, "I'm all in with that?" You do recall that someone once said,"Fools rush in…," don't you? At least press play and listen before you commit.

Charlie and Carol are moving to Texas, or are they? It's a big decision. Press play and listen in as they discuss their choices.

This scaredy cat is not in a nursery rhyme but most of us can identify. Press play and come along for the trip.

I don't believe this but maybe you will. Probably you won't believe it either. The time is now, and the place is a yet undiscovered planet toward the edge of the Milky way. Of course, the beings who live on this planet know who they are and where they live. By undiscovered, I mean that other than you and I, no one who doesn't live on the planet knows about it; and even if they did, it and the people living on it would be of little to no interest. Neither they nor their planet is anything special in the scheme of the universe, at least the universe where they find themselves. On this insignificant planet, there are areas and divisions that seem fairly arbitrary but are of great significance to the planet's people. For the sake of simplicity, let's refer to these arbitrary areas as countries. The current count is 195 countries, with seven and a half billion people inhabiting the 195 countries. If each country got its fair share of the planet's people, each would have nearly 40 million citizens, but not much

This is a little vignette with two college students working on a writing assignment, or are they? Press play and decide for yourself.

Have you ever had an experience that just defied any attempt to reduce it to a few words? Well the incident that goes with the play button comes pretty close. It’s one of those frustrating encounters we have all had in one version or another. There is nothing for it but for you to have a listen and see if there isn’t something there that you have personally suffered through. I’ve been there to and didn’t like it much either.

This story starts when I was seventeen and if the truth be told, even more full of myself than most seventeen-year-olds. There I was a senior in high school and on an airplane flying from Columbus to Cleveland. It was a very big deal; but before I get too far ahead of myself, a little perspective is necessary. At my high school, I had some status: class president, a good student, a drummer in the marching band and teacher's pet, at least for a couple of the teachers. Life was good, at least as good as it gets when you are seventeen. Let me sharpen the perspective. My senior class had a grand total of 63 students and my hometown had 900 residents, assuming everyone was home. We did have one traffic light and a courthouse, if you were thinking there was nothing special about the place. It happened that one of those couple of teachers I mentioned was responsible for the plays that were presented by students once or twice each school year. My teacher's pet status partially depended on having a role whenever it

I was already running late when I downed a quick cup of coffee, snagged my keys on the way out and automatically pushed the button to open the garage door. As I hesitated to make sure the door from the kitchen locked, I more sensed than noticed that something was not right. The garage door rumbled up about halfway and the outside light was replacing the darkness. That's the instant I was very sure that something was not right but making sense of the picture was beyond me. The lawn mower was in the corner where I keep it. The gas can was there too. The trash ben was along the inside wall and the back of the garage was cluttered with the usual collection of disorganized stuff. I even had the passing thought that I really should get around to straightening up the clutter. But still, something was not right. I knew what was not right, but nothing computed. For that instant, I didn't want to know what was not right, I didn't want it to compute. I just wanted the picture to change, wanted the video to move along

How clever is it to start a story with "Once upon a time?" I doubt if that opening would ever be confused with cleverness. Even so, it may be as good as anything else if I have no interest in being clever. Some people can pull off being clever but I'm not among those (Dare I say?) clever types. I'm more aligned with those who just say what they have to say and let it go at that. A few years back, I had the notion that I could teach myself to play the organ. I'm not talking about the kind of organ that fills a church or great hall with powerful music. I am just referring to a little organ that is smaller than most pianos. It wasn't a toy but definitely less than the real deal. I know. "A few years back" is pretty close to once upon a time but I've already admitted that something more clever is not in the cards for me. My only goal is to get you into the picture where I'm trying to play the organ. Are you there with me? I'll just assume you are so we can move on. Every day for nearly six months, I spent an h

The Great Mouse has returned and our intrepid hunters are again on the chase. Press play and join in as a neutral observer.

Once upon a time there was a wannabe podcaster. It doesn't matter whether you insert he or she or perhaps even me. Wannabe was as far as it had gotten so far. Every day our wanna be podcaster connected the microphone to the mixer and plugged that into the computer, with the recording software ready to capture wise words and clever banter. But the wise words and clever banter never emerged. Our wannabe podcaster was stuck, waiting on an inspiration that stubbornly refused to inspire. One day, an inspiration of sorts was unexpectedly just there, astonishing our wannabe podcaster. The mute switch on the microphone accidentally or perhaps magically shifted from mute to record. The microphone started serving its intended purpose; the mixer joined into the signal chain; the computer started computing; and the recording software started recording. This all happened when our wannabe podcaster was just getting into what had become a daily rant about how hard it was to podcast and how much easier it would be to just

I think an alien voice is trying to contact us. Listen and see if you agree.

Consider this from Katharine Butler Hathaway, "If you let fear of consequence prevent you from following your deepest instinct, then your life will be safe, expedient and thin." The implication here is that fear of consequence is pretty normal; so having some, or maybe even a lot, isn't that much of a big deal. The big deal is having a life that is safe, expedient, and thin. What the problem with this actually is remains hidden; so you are simply expected to intuit it, it seems. The rub is that you have little faith in your abilities and less faith in your basic grasp or understanding of situations or circumstances. Since you don't believe that you can trust your judgment or instinct, you don't take a chance on yourself. You likewise don't have much faith in your ability to anticipate or predict the behavior of other people. Your belief is that you cannot predict if a specific action of yours will lead to good or bad outcomes. Usually, you think the likely outcome of following your judgment will be bad. You

William Arthur Ward argued that "If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it." This isn't altogether true but is definitely a popular, self-affirming message for most people, most of the time. One can easily imagine being faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and perhaps even leaping one of those tall buildings in a single bound; but no matter how much you dream, you still aren't turning into Superman. It's also true that you may find that you have achieved things you never imagined and have become someone you didn't think it was possible for you to become, in your wildest dreams. Unfortunately, that can work in both positive and negative directions. The reality is that imagining and dreaming can lead to achievement and becoming, but only within limits. Exploring those limits is instructive. Imagination and dreaming can assist in avoiding bad outcomes and finding oneself in undesirable circumstances. Think about what you don't want to happen, w

Horace said, "He has the deed half done who has made a beginning." Indira Gandhi also thought that getting on with getting on is the way to go, "Have a bias toward action - let's see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away." John Fitzgerald Kennedy joined the get your get up and go up and going chorus when he said, "There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction." And perchance you think that people will simply assume that you have good intentions without your actually needing to go for it, the famous Anon pointed out, "Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold -- but so does a hard-boiled egg." There you have it, the argument for not sitting around twiddling your thumbs; but, as with most ideas, there is an alternative point of view. One might suppose that it's now time to dig in, go for the gusto, strike w

The psychology of success and failure is complex but not particularly hard to understand. It starts with personal responsibility. Unless you accept the responsibility for failure, you can't take the credit for success. Either you are the agent of your life outcomes or the victim of people who are pushing you down. Here's the point. If you blame others for pushing you down, people other than you deserve the praise for pushing you ahead. Separating yourself from what you do comes next. As William D. Brown put it, "Failure is an event, never a person." Your success and failure aren't who you are. They are merely what you do. S.I. Hayakawa expanded on the same theme, "Notice the difference between what happens when a man says to himself, ‘I have failed three times,' and what happens when he says, ‘I am a failure.'" The key is in how you manage life's events, not in the events themselves. Robert Allen expressed it like this, "There is no failure. Only feedback." Now consider what you do with the feedback life pr

You are about to learn the secret recipe for the tie that binds. The ingredients and how to lovingly combine them have been protected and tenderly passed down, hand-to-hand, through the generations. Acceptance is the first ingredient. It lets your beloved know that you accept him (or her) as is, don't want to change him, don't want him to change. You then blend in affection, knowing that "too much" applies to many things but never to affection sincerely offered. As you mix the ingredients with love and sincere good will, gentleness is the secret technique the masters have perfected and you refine in ways that convey the uniqueness of your loving touch. It's the perfect complement to being fully involved in the moment, without distraction, without reservation. You have almost got it just right, are nearing perfection; but it still needs a dash of this and a pinch of that, the special spices that bring out the rich flavor of the tie that binds. They are spontaneity and playfulness. Your loving touch is alway