How Exercise Makes us Smarter and Think Better

If I told you there was a new brain-enhancing drug and it’s free and available to everyone, would you take it? Actually, this drug has been around forever, we just didn’t know our brains were susceptible to it. We thought the brains we were born with were all we had to work with. We were wrong. Now we […]

What is your place of abiding?

“Jesus came for a far more radically transforming purpose than to serve as a role model. Jesus came to invite us into a living relationship with him, to abide, live and move in his spirit, as the branch abides in the living vine. Just as the bird does not imitate the air or the fish […]

The Pygmalion Effect: Believing in them can help them succeed

It’s not just myth. Expecting them to succeed can increase the chances they will. It’s called the Pygmalion effect and it’s real. Here’s how it played out for me. *** “Wish me luck! I’m headed out to play nine,” I call to Penny, the assistant golf pro, as I turn toward the door. The day […]

Coming Out of My Own Closet

Two hours down and I have only gotten through half the stuff in my closet. At the urging and with the help of my youngest daughter who conveyed handfuls of items to try on, each piece of clothing received a yea, a nay or a “second chance.” The pile of “no’s” grew precipitously, demanding a second bin even […]

My Creative Process

Here goes: Begin with “You are loved, whether you produce anything today or not.” Your offering is already acceptable. You have brought yourself to this day. Surround yourself with the things you enjoy, people you love and the things you love to do. Begin. If it flows, continue. If not, set it aside and begin again. […]

When Chemistry became Biology

What are we made of? the stuff of starsthe elements of the periodic tableconcocted of chemicals that explode,ions that interact,molecules that relate. We are the stuff of life.No more, no lessand yet. Yet,we think, and moveand have our being. Somehow we animated,went from sketch to living color.Our chemistry became biology,we moved from dead in our […]

If we let them

When they’re young, children need to learn how. How to tie a shoe. How to make their letters. How to ride the bus. How to strike the ball. How to throw the pass. How to swing the bat. How to greet a friend. How to get themselves to sleep. How to decline politely. These, they […]

walk the walk and let ’em talk

After three long days of sitting in scientific meetings telling me Americans don’t get enough exercise, I skip out the front door of the convention center and into a city I don’t know and turn right. Weaving my way around pedestrians, past store fronts, around tree stumps, over uneven cobblestones,  I swing wide to navigate past a woman […]