“It’s always something” as Mom used to say. A simple mishap of exiting the train in Amsterdam at the wrong stop resulted in Jim and me exchanging bewildering looks and silently thinking the same thing-- “Now What”? and hoping someone in that scant group of riders would recognize confused…
ruthjimward@gmail.com After writing Essence of Impressions, I was struck with the integral part that gratitude plays in our lives and thought it would be a good reminder for you as it has been for me. Expressing gratitude to those who have gone an extra mile to make our…
As I continue to read the book on Abe Lincoln, I’m enamored with the wisdom of paying attention to the essence of impressions and the vital connection with dealing with people and decision-making. Research produced this definition: “Of the greatest importance, crucial, as in ‘Time is of the essence.…
For generations, people-watching has been a common pastime, from a husband, who prefers to grab a Dr. Pepper, sit on mall bench and quietly enjoy the people-parade while his spouse shops, to our maternal grandfather who in his retirement years in the 1930’s and 40’s chose to sit…
What’s the difference between being humble and having humility? I wondered. From a resource: Humble is an adjective that means not arrogant; unassuming, while humility is a noun that means modesty. Humility is the quality or state of being humble, which would imply that it’s not a trait…
The importance of a blog on Pay Attention occurred to me several weeks ago when I wondered why as I drove to appointments and classes, about the time I passed the fire station, that I would hear clearly in my head Jim’s silent voice saying “pay attention”. It happened…
Choosing a title for examining the use of the powerful personal pronoun ‘you’ was not a piece of cake. ‘you’ is in the middle of every squabble. All by itself, ‘you’ is a good “guy”, but the ‘company’ it keeps causes ‘you’ to vacillate between being a prince/princess to…
Have you been with a group when the majority chooses Chinese but you counted on sinking your teeth into a filet mignon, but you say nothing and order Chinese? That describes acquiescing. My informal research of asking “Is acquiesce a word you know or use?” revealed that the majority had…
