Resilience

Storytelling as an effective tool in teaching the skills and the attitudes that build and maintain resilience. These are often family stories. Reaching Home contains a number of mine. One of my family stories that I have heard throughout my life but did not include in Reaching Home was the story of Felix “Bush” Breazeale. [...]

Emotions often act as a filter on our thinking. Anyone who has been in love knows that we often do not think very clearly about the person that we are in love with. We may minimize or deny the differences that we have with them. And when it comes to such emotions as anger and [...]

A few days ago, I found an obituary that had been given to me by one of the Maine Resilience coaches, Tony Strodel. The obituary had been given to Tony by a friend of his and was the obituary of the friend’s brother. The obituary began by saying that Donald Wallace had been told throughout [...]

A couple of weeks ago, the Police Poetry Calendar for Portland, Maine, was released. The program is sponsored by Art at Work which is a national initiative to improve municipal government through strategic art-making projects with city employees and elected politicians. Marty Pottenger was the driving force behind the Police Poetry Project which is in [...]

Barrett Nichols of Falmouth, Maine, celebrated his 108th birthday recently. Mr. Nichols was a child when Henry Ford made his first Model-T. He has lived through two World Wars and the Great Depression. His friends say he is an avid golfer, has a good sense of humor, and still loves his cigars and rum and [...]

Recently a friend of mine gave me a copy of an article that appeared in Oprah Winfrey’s magazine, “O” in November of 2007, entitled “Love At Last.” The article reviewed six lessons the author had learned from her investigation of those who find love late in life. Two of the lessons, keeping an open mind [...]

As we all are aware from the headlines, the percentage of people who are unemployed in our society has continued to grow. The rate remains over 10 percent and will most likely be that high or higher for the immediate future. For so many, this is a personal tragedy that can devastate an individual but [...]

We need to value and reassert these skills and attitudes from the past and the present, but most importantly, we need to practice them. Research in the social sciences and our own experience tells us that: 1. Connecting with others is better than isolating ourselves. 2. Flexibility works better in most situations than rigidity. 3. [...]

If we look with clear eyes at the past and our present, we can see what works and what does not. In the past many would argue that we were better at acting on our values and beliefs, and at being optimistic and confident about ourselves and the future of our country. Indeed, we may [...]

Duct Tape Isn’t Enough does not focus on blaming the bad guys for our problems or finding the right good guy to act as our savior. There are no messianic good guys or demonic bad guys in the book. Many of those who survive the tragedies of 911 and Katrina, and who will be able [...]