Category: advice
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Comedy of Errors
Yesterday I finished writing, proofreading, and scheduling my first newsletter of the new year. I was pretty happy with it, and one of the things that excited me most about it was that I was going to share the first chapter of my memoir with readers. That first chapter has…
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Eight Minutes and the Best Thing I’ve Done All Day
What’s the best thing you’ve done today? Don’t think too hard about it. What’s the first thing that came to your mind? For me, the answer came as I was doing it and even though it was only about half past noon, I’m pretty sure that at the end of…
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Belief and Proof
A few days ago Brett Stephens published an op-ed piece in the New York Times that began with a very reasonable statement. He said that he had no idea what happened in the room when Dr. Blasey Ford alleges she was attacked, and he points out that, unless we were…
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#WhyIDidntReport
Opting not to report our sexual assaults to the police does not prohibit us from telling our stories in other forums and at other times. . . . Storytelling is a transformative method for driving social change and may get us farther by sparking the kinds of ongoing conversations needed…
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Name Yourself
Have you ever received a gift that took you totally by surprise because it was exactly what you needed even though, until you opened it, you didn’t know such a thing existed? On Thursday when I got home from work there was an unexpected box in front of my door.…
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Death Desires
What kind of death do you want? That’s not a question many of us probably want to think about. It presumes that we want some kind of death when many of us would simply prefer not to die. The inevitability of dying doesn’t make it easier to think about desire…
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Do Good Things Come To Those Who Wait?
Yes! Absolutely they do. But here’s the catch: Those good things that come while you’re waiting? They aren’t always the good things you were hoping for. The vacation you patiently waited for someone else to arrange was lovely, but it wasn’t the destination you’d had in mind. The promotion at…
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Two Mantras To Help You Make More Time For Yourself
How often do you find yourself looking at your calendar and wondering how it got so overwhelmingly full? How frequently do you look at an item on your to do list and ask yourself “Why did I agree to take this on?” One of the biggest time management challenges –…
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Buffy, The Medical Advocate (or, some helpful thoughts on role conflict)
“Be the daughter,” the oncologist told me as I sat with her, the chaplain, and the oncology social worker. We were sitting in the family waiting room and they were helping me navigate a difficult moment about five months into my mother’s lost-cause battle with cancer. These women felt like…
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How Will You Know When You Have Enough?
Enough might just be the most radical word in the English language. It’s certainly one of those slippery words that many of us have a hard time really getting a handle on. Even it’s meanings can be confusing. “I have had enough!” is a very different statement than “I have…
Elizabeth Anne Wood, Ph.D. 