Back in the day, there was a businessman from out East Texas named B.J. Williamson. He was about a pure bred a Texan as they come. He knew a little ‘bout a lot; he could run you clear off a straight with a pair of deuces; when it came to making a deal with him, [...]

My son did not go to college until he was twenty-seven. Instead, he had diverse experiences working in Antarctica, creating art, learning languages, being a computer engineer, and many others. He recounted that recently he was waiting for an examination outside a classroom, where many students were apprehensively questioning each other. Confident [...]

“I’m afraid I might find out something I don’t want to know.
Can you give me a hand? Can you help me?”
“Ninety-nine percent of getting help for you would be asking for it. You are very much attuned to your wish for help but unaware of your help-rejecting side.”
“I am totally aware of my help rejecting [...]

I’m always acting. I can’t stop acting.
What’s in it for you to act?
I don’t want anyone to know me.
Ah, I see, that’s the problem
What is?
Many years ago I played poker with a man who had a tell. Do you know what a tell is?
No
A tell is any gesture, mannerism, noticeable physiologic response that gives one [...]

From the moment of his birth, they had gazed at him. He was a genius. He was wiser than his father. He was good. He did no wrong. They radiated delight. Such a special boy.
There he lay, three months old, on display in the middle of the room. [...]

Humility is not taught by means of humiliation. Humiliation instills only a behavior that gives the outward appearance of humility. True humility teaches itself, over time. A failure to learn is the evidence of its lack. Humility is not a virtue, but it is a necessary means to learning.

He entered into the conversation saying he experienced himself as “tense and dense,” and didn’t know why. He couldn’t shake the feeling since the previous day. He felt that he couldn’t bear it any more and wanted to rid himself of it.
I said, “You have a multitude of assumptions.” I shared [...]

Assumption: You can never do what you should.
Assumption behind assumption: You can do what you should only when you are convinced that you can.
Ignore all evidence that shows you can do it.
Look for all evidence that shows you cannot do it.
Find what you are looking for.
Be fearful of the frustrations you might encounter in doing [...]

Contemplate these:
I will always be my parents’ son/daughter
I am no longer my parents’ son/daughter
Both of these statements are true.
There is seeing things from ‘both sides.’ Then again, there is seeing things in the round.
When I want to learn something, nothing can stop me.
When I don’t want to learn something, nothing can make me.
When I think [...]

“My life is a mess.” This phrase, so often spoken, took on new meaning after a friend wrote it. Having invested her life savings with a contemporary con artist, she lost it all. His pitch was the usual assured gain without contribution. Hers had been with her all of her life. She had worked twenty [...]