By: Kari on November 14, 2024
“You’re a lady doing the worker’s job!” I looked up from my sweeping to smile at the neighbor passing. I shrugged and cheerfully told her it was good exercise. She laughed, agreed, exchanged a few more words, and continued walking. That exchange was in the local dialect of Arabic. I understood her. She understood me.…
By: Ryan Thorson on November 14, 2024
*Grit: (Noun) courage and resolve; strength of character:* What does it take to develop grit? Is grit really perseverance and passion, or simply perseverance with a growth mindset? Does Grit even matter? Angela Duckworth wrote the book Grit in 2016 after measuring success in various groups of students and people. Having gone from the…
By: Russell Chun on November 14, 2024
言葉はささやき、行動は雷鳴のごとく。Words whisper, Actions thunder (Japanese) Part 1 Introduction, a history lesson Part 2 What my peers are saying Part 3 What I learned Part 4 Epilogue Part 1 Introduction, A history lesson Soon after the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, effectively placing over 100,000 West Coast residents…
By: Adam Cheney on November 14, 2024
The little red dirt trail had become familiar as I walked between the tall grass and coconut trees. We had been living in a small village in Kenya for about a year and I had learned to always vary my route, never returning the same way I had come. Our arrival into the village we…
By: Graham English on November 14, 2024
“You can do anything you want”, is a mantra that I’ve heard parents often say to their kids, with the desire to see them maximize their potential. The concept of reaching one’s full potential has been a focal point in various fields of thought for centuries. Philosophers, psychologists, and theologians have extensively explored methods to…
By: Shela Sullivan on November 13, 2024
Introduction “True Grit,” is a 2010 American Western movie about a fourteen-year old girl, Mattie Ross,[1] who hires a drunken US Mashal, Rooster Cogburn to pursue her father’s murderer, Tom Chaney. Determined to see Chaney brought to justice, in two scenes, Mattie displays remarkable grit, such as when she crosses a river on horseback to…
By: Debbie Owen on November 13, 2024
Jesus asks many questions in the gospels. But the most powerful question he asks is, “What do you want?” For instance, he asks a blind man, Bartimaeus, in Mark 10:51-52, “What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus replies, “Teacher, I want to see.” Isn’t that interesting? The man is obviously blind, yet…
By: Pam Lau on November 12, 2024
“Good relationships will keep you healthy and happy, healthier and happier than anything–including being right.[12] Chris Voss, a former FBI hostage negotiator, recommends using what he calls a “late night FM DJ voice during a hostage negotiation, which is a calm, soothing, and slightly downward inflected tone of voice designed to create a sense of…
By: Chad Warren on November 12, 2024
In a world where social media glorifies instant success and extraordinary talent, the YouTube group Dude Perfect exemplifies how perseverance and consistent effort are the foundation of their remarkable achievements. Known for their fantastic trick shots, they easily achieve the impossible, captivating millions with their seemingly effortless displays of talent. However, behind the scenes lies…
By: Jennifer Vernam on November 12, 2024
I will come clean. I was the person who suggested to Jason that we read the book How to Have Impossible Conversations.[1] (HTHIC) After all, I am the person in our cohort trying to develop a methodology for leaders to facilitate conversations in which there are deep differences of opinions while maintaining community. Why wouldn’t…
By: Kim Sanford on November 12, 2024
Hi, my name is Kim. I’m an ideologue. At least, according to Boghosian and Lindsay, I think I might be. They define ideologue as “one who is unwilling or unable to revise their (moral) beliefs.”[1] And just to be clear, they portray an ideologue in, shall we say, less than complimentary terms. I found How…
By: Glyn Barrett on November 12, 2024
Jesus is GRIT! Not only does this book define the Christian life, but it perfectly summarises Jesus. Before discussing Jesus, I will highlight the central premise of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, [1] before drawing an analogy with a movie, Jesus and my family. Angela Duckworth’s work on grit is absorbing and, in…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on November 11, 2024
Let Them Be Wrong I have learned to let people be wrong. It is something that I have learned to do over time, after many failed attempts at trying to convince someone of something that they did not want to be convinced off. My sister is highly skilled at letting people be wrong. She and…
By: Mathieu Yuill on November 11, 2024
A few months ago, I found myself in one of those conversations you dread—an argument so loaded that it felt less like talking and more like defusing a bomb. A close friend of mine and I had stumbled into a political debate, one of those deeply divisive topics where both of us were convinced the…
By: Scott Dickie on November 11, 2024
My title is a bit over-the-top, but it captures the direction I’d like to go in this post. But first let me address what, I suspect, many of us will recognize and wrestle with in relation to this book: Peter Boghossian is someone firmly entrenched in the atheist camp and he seems motivated to use…
By: Jeff Styer on November 11, 2024
Reading Angela Duckworth’s book Grit: The Power and Passion and Perseverance reminded me of a bike ride I took this past summer.[1] It was a two-day 132-mile ride on a 71-mile crushed gravel trail in West Virginia that parallels U.S. Route 50. This was a trail that my wife and I began several years ago…
By: John Fehlen on November 11, 2024
As a Christian, I would find a conversation with Peter Boghossian nearly impossible. Hmm…I wonder if there is a book on the market that could help me with this? Oh wait, Mr. Boghossian wrote one called How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide. Allow me a moment of sheer snark: I think this…
By: Jenny Dooley on November 11, 2024
A Story After checking in with the apartment management office where I’m staying in Penang, Malaysia, I was asked to wait as ID cards were made. A few minutes later, I was greeted by a friendly gentleman who worked at the facility. He welcomed me to Penang and spoke of his upcoming holiday. A few…
By: Tim Clark on November 11, 2024
I was ready to be inspired when I started reading the book How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide. After the first couple of chapters, it seemed like the book might be more about “how to have any conversations” than only the impossible ones because the principles and practices I started noticing in…
By: Kally Elliott on November 11, 2024
I’ve sworn off conversations about politics with my father. I haven’t told him this but I think he’s taken the hint. I’ve witnessed him trying really hard to not talk about politics with me. I can see him squirming, beginning to say something divisive (at least it is divisive from my perspective) and then stopping…
