Survivability – n The ability to remain alive or continue to exist The capability of a person or system to fulfill its mission in the presence of threats, failures or accidents Survivability is more than staying alive physically during or after an experience of failure, calamity, injury, hurt or loss. It is also about being […]
Sometimes in life, we find ourselves in situations unplanned, dark and without hope. We feel a lot like one particular donkey who found himself down in his circumstances and fighting for his life. How he responded to his despair and hopelessness is a lesson worth pondering. The Donkey’s Choice One day a farmer’s donkey fell […]
You might be in a storm right now, have a storm on its way, or see your storm in the rear-view mirror. Regardless of the relationship you have with adversity, your attitude towards it makes a world of difference. Since adversity is unavoidable, why do we have such a hard time accepting it as the […]
Fear if allowed to dominate, holds us back and paralyzes us from action. If fear warns us of a legitimate threat, it’s our friend. But if fear is unfounded in reality and comes as an emotional disturber of the peace, it’s a different story. What exactly is fear? FEAR – noun a distressing emotion […]
Nelson Mandela tells a story of a hope inspiring visit he had with his daughter while in Robben Island prison. The visit occurred shortly after his daughter Zeni had married into the Swazi royal family to the prince Thumbumuzi. Once married to a member of the Swazi royal family, it gave Zeni diplomatic privileges and […]
The story of Nelson Mandela is a story of courage, tenacity, and transformational leadership. His book Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela is a journey describing both his formative years and his long struggle to bring freedom and equality to his people and to the nation of South Africa. One theme that […]
An old Eastern proverb says: The fox has many tricks, but the porcupine has one big trick. In his book, The Gift of Adversity: The Unexpected Benefits of Life’s Difficulties, Setbacks, and Imperfection, Dr. Rosenthal suggests when dealing with adversity, we are better off being more like the fox than the porcupine. In other words, […]
While on the Big Island of Hawaii [which explains why you haven’t seen a blog post for a while], we came across a bale of Green Sea Turtles hovering on the ocean’s edge. Seeing these turtles, I was reminded of the dangerous journey new born turtles face when starting out in life. The cycle of […]
One of the areas where I scrape my knees and bang my head is around failure. The way I’m defining failure is simple: “the inability to meet an expectation.” Why can failure be such an emotionally devastating reality? Why do we say “I’m a failure!” when it’s more accurate to say “I failed!” The greatest […]
On February 24, 1948, one of the most unusual operations in medical history took place in Ohio State University at the department of surgery research. A stony sheath was removed from around the heart of 30 year old Harry Besharra. As a boy, he was shot accidentally by a friend with a .22 rifle and […]