By: Nancy Blackman on April 4, 2024
In 2013, I was bedridden for 6 months. Not only did I need to step away from my work as a missionary, I couldn’t do much of anything but lie in bed. The energy needed to sit up was sometimes too difficult. With so much free time, I began to search the internet for answers.…
By: Graham English on April 4, 2024
On December 18, 2016, the church that I was pastoring experienced a devastating church fire. The fire department fought valiantly but the building couldn’t be saved. Unfortunately, the fire was caused by a person in the church who was later charged with arson. As a result of the fire, we had to move a congregation…
By: Diane Tuttle on April 4, 2024
For the longest time, I thought multi-tasking was a great way to get lots done in a short time period. I am not sure, exactly, what changed my mind. It might have been the stacks of papers that were left unfiled on my desk or the mountain of work I had yet to do. Regardless…
By: Christy Liner on April 3, 2024
In March I went on a lovely vacation to Japan with my family. I am half-Japanese and my mother’s side of the family lives in Japan. My mother’s conversion to Christ and marriage to my father wasn’t well received from her family, so I didn’t have the opportunity to know my extended family during childhood.…
By: Daren Jaime on April 3, 2024
Reading the newspaper was a daily ritual in my household. In fact, we had the news delivered to us daily at our doorstep. Sometimes, my sister would wake up early before work just to get an early jump at the goings-on in the world. My parents were also affixed to the headlines, which would prompt…
By: Chris Blackman on April 3, 2024
The first chapter of this book, “Your Brain at Work,” got my attention. I loved the stage analogy and could relate to it. I have a very large stage in my brain, with way too many actors and a large audience. It is hard to stay focused. I never thought of it as a stage;…
By: Chad Warren on April 3, 2024
“Real men don’t eat quiche” is a phrase from the 1982 book Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche by Bruce Feirstein.[1] The book is a satire of masculine stereotypes. In a clever tongue-in-cheek approach, Feirstein explained what was acceptably “masculine” and “feminine” behavior according to the era’s societal standards. For real men, quiche was, apparently, a…
By: Jennifer Eckert on April 3, 2024
“My mother was an actress and when I was a kid, I wanted to act, too. But she didn’t want that for me. She said the lifestyle is so hard, it’s either feast or famine. Today, I am a businessman who acts,” Jess Akerman (not his real name). When my former boss posted this quote…
By: Noel Liemam on April 2, 2024
For the past few weeks, there were few unexpected happenings and people just dropped into my schedule and derailing it into various directions. Some family members living nearby that never visited decided to visit; others flew into town, and I have to make time to see them, while others were work-related stuff that decided to…
By: Shela Sullivan on April 2, 2024
In the beginning, I thought David Rock’s book, Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long[1] is yet another book that I have to read one sentence three times so that my brain can capture the outcomes. I felt this way because the title of the book…
By: Glyn Barrett on April 2, 2024
“Your Brain at Work” [1] by David Rock is a fascinating and thought-provoking book. The author’s exploration of neuroscience and its implications for improving workplace performance and personal effectiveness reminds me of another brilliant book called “The One Thing” [2] by Keller and Papasan, in which there are many similarities. I recommend that the duo are an incredible…
By: Adam Cheney on April 1, 2024
Looking at this book on my shelf did not excite me as I thought about reading it. However, I was pleasantly surprised that I found the information useful and relevant. I certainly did struggle to get through it though as I kept finding myself distracted repeatedly. We have a couple of house guests staying with…
By: Jeff Styer on April 1, 2024
“The kingdom of heaven is like . . .,” so begins Jesus in telling his parables in Matthew 13; using visuals to help his audience understand his teachings, threshold concepts.[1] David Rock in his book Your Brain At Work says that if you can, use visuals in an effort to “reduce the energy required for…
By: Noel Liemam on March 23, 2024
When I was growing up on a tiny Island in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean, I read and worked on my school assignments during the night in the light of a kerosene lamp; regardless of the low light it provides, I was able to see clearly and worked gratefully. After thirty-one years of…
By: Elysse Burns on March 22, 2024
Reading Bobby Duffy’s Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything felt like having a challenging conversation with a responsible and competent friend who encouraged me to “check myself.” It is never easy to hear, “You are delusional.” Duffy states, “The reason we get so many things wrong is a combination of effects of how we think…
By: Kari on March 22, 2024
As I write this, the last call to prayer of the day is sounding all around me. It is the eleventh day of Ramadan. The majority around me are fasting. They are not drinking, eating, swallowing their sputum, or smoking during sunlight hours (approximately 5:30 am until 7:30 pm). Thankfully, today was not very hot…
By: Akwese on March 22, 2024
I once heard it said that the greatest lie of all time is that we think we’re thinking, but in reality, most of the time, we’re simply operating off social conditioning and habit. Upon initially hearing this statement, I couldn’t help but pause and see its truth. I then began wondering how much of what…
By: Julie O'Hara on March 21, 2024
From Being Wrong by Kathryn Schulz and What’s Your Problem by Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg to Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow, I have been fully convinced that I, and everyone else is wrong. Already believing I was wrong made it seem pointless to read another book about being wrong. Wrong, again. According to Bobby Duffy, understanding ‘why’…
By: Diane Tuttle on March 21, 2024
I bristled when I started reading Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything by Bobby Duffy this week. After reading the first several chapters, my reaction was that it was just another book confirming what we already read, things aren’t always what they seem. I thought his reference to Kahneman’s book, Thinking, Fast and Slow was…
By: Chris Blackman on March 21, 2024
This text message was from two weeks ago. Doug was my old cellmate (hence his calling me “bunk,” (short for “bunkie”). He just entered rehab (an expensive one at that – $1000.00 a day!!) for the fourth or fifth time. Doug and I shared life together for about two years as bunkmates, or “cellies,” which…
