Author Archive for Sue
How To Turn Back After A Bad Decision
In her column on HuffPo today Sue Smalley writes about turning back:
Sometimes the choices we make are wrong and the outcomes - despite all our good intentions - do not match the image of their creation. Recognition of such mistakes in judgment are not to be a source of guilt and criticism of oneself but rather a kind acknowledgement that the path chosen might just be a cul-de-sac or a dead-end or a road to nowhere and turning back is the only option.
Reason and emotion in politics - Sue Smalley
Sue Smalley talks about the role of emotion in this election in her column this week on HuffPo:
I’ve noticed since the conventions that we have slipped completely into emotional politics. There is anger, anxiety, pride, cynicism, shock, fear, and panic attached to our blogs, our words, the candidate’s ads, the candidate’s rhetoric, and seemingly everyone in America right now. At least with apathy, the mood was steady but with the population engaged in the election as never before, emotion seems to have moved to the fore and reason to the back of the line.
Finite and Infinite Games
Sue Smalley applies James Carse’s uber-intellectual and way cool game theory to this election on Huffington Post.
“A finite player is one who plays the game to win or lose and sees it as having a beginning and an end; an infinite player is one who tries to keep the game going with the objective of engaging as many players in it as possible.”
Guess who’s the infinite player?
Why change is just a breath away — Sue Smalley
Perhaps death can be seen as another ’sort’ of experience. Religions provide a shared belief that can help each of us find a comfort zone for this inevitable experience, yet for many the experience itself (its naturalness in every moment of life arising and falling throughout all of existence) can be enough.
What is your pace of life? — Sue Smalley
Children and adults with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) are often moving at a different pace than those around them, and that can be a source of difficulty. Recognizing your pace (and ranges of comfort and discomfort) can be an important part in discovering how to sync with the world around you.
Four Steps Towards Peace — Sue Smalley
So what can we do to address our varying levels of ignorance and create a more peaceful and compassionate world? I believe there are four steps we each can take everyday to promote a more compassionate world.
You Can’t Handle the Truth - Sue Smalley
James Carse in his new book, The Religious Case against Belief, writes of various types of ignorance differing in the degree of effort present with each. As the flip side of ignorance is awareness, it also comes with various shades of effort. It does take effort to direct my eyesight inward and see the 1000+ regions of mind (good and evil) and to realize that perhaps the greatest purpose in in life is the discovery process.
When a work ethic conflicts with fun - Sue Smalley
Scientists are showing that play is important for health and well-being, having fun makes us live happier and healthier lives. So what stops us from having fun?
Teach your children well: they’ll be gone before you know it. Sue Smalley
At 53, I play the game of life from an ‘infinite’ perspective, where the only goal is to keep the game going and engage as many players as possible.
Meditation, the seat-belt of mental health - Sue Smalley
We all know that the road of life is bumpy with unexpected drop-offs, accidents, and only the occasional smooth-sailing highway. I believe that meditation — a practice for increasing awareness — is truly a seat belt of mental health. . .
Mystic Mom - Sue Smalley
All moms are mystics by virtue of experiencing this moment of self-transcendence, experiencing a moment where “I” doesn’t exist, where “I,” the objective I, and “Am,” the subjective “being,” blur together as one. . .