I still believe Ordinary People is one of the finest films ever made. Adapted from Judith Guest’s novel of the same name, Robert Redford’s masterpiece earned the Academy Award for Best Picture by offering a devastatingly intimate look at a wealthy family unraveling after one son dies in a boating accident and the surviving son…
Surprising Comfort
Some of the best human attributes—gratitude, generosity, and thankfulness—cost nothing and require no physical or intellectual strength. They simply require a mindset. Yet, they remain surprisingly rare, because we live in a culture consumed by the word “mine.” We draw hard boundaries around possessions and status, but ownership is a fiction—a story we tell ourselves…
Pull-Back Moment
You can be quietly sipping your morning coffee when a single phone call yanks you back into a world you thought you had left behind. An old but absent friend has passed away, a distant relative has fallen gravely ill, or the high school that once anchored your youth has been demolished. These are what…
The Most Difficult Thing
A person asked me recently, “What is the most difficult thing you’ve ever had to do?” Her question took me aback. It wasn’t something I could answer spontaneously; it required a sudden, deep audit of my past. It also required a level of vulnerability I wasn’t entirely prepared for. The true answer to a question…
A Grateful Life
To look back on one’s existence and acknowledge that it has been, in the final balancing, a good life requires us to confront a truth that is both liberating and terrifying: that while success is a pleasant companion, our mistakes are often our truest architects. There is a distinct difference between taking responsibility for our…