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A Grain of Salt Posts

What if Christmas doesn’t come from a store?

Who hasn’t seen this classic Christmas Story about the Grinch and all its editions? While The Grinch gets his own answer to his question, the question, “Where does Christmas come from?” still begs us to pause, reflect, and answer for ourselves. Where does Christmas come from? Christmas comes from a story, not a store. A Christmas Story by Charles Dickens features another stingy Christmas character Ebenezer Scrooge. Scrooge is faced with a journey through his…

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Come to your Senses

One of the easiest things I know to do to celebrate anything is to consider how to engage as many of my senses as I can. It’s why I ask my children what they want for their birthday dinner. Often it is a meal that in taste and aroma recall something happy and familiar to them. I may not get the gift right but the meal is always a win. This Christmas season I hope…

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Wrap it up with a bow

Tis the season for packages tied up with ribbon and string. There is something charming to a beautiful gift finished with the flourish of an artfully tied bow. When I made my first attempt at turning a length of ribbon into a bow I just remember feeling my hands and brain couldn’t cooperate to make anything with ease. It was a fumble of slow going mistakes. The results were less than satisfying. Many times I…

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How does counting help?

What does it take to get to happy? To content? To enough? Sitting on Sunday reviewing the Thanksgiving break I had this uneasy sense that I had wasted the four day weekend. I had made big plans for the work I’d get done. The books I would read. The family projects accomplished by the willing volunteers at home. You see I wake up with thoughts flooding my mind of action items. I only recently discovered…

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Give Thanks!

Enjoy this short video that I recorded a little while ago (pre-COVID). Whether you are a member of the Institute, a teacher, a parent, or an adult who cares about growth, thanks is a major habit we seek to develop in all our leaders no matter their age! Enjoy the turkey talk. I’d love to share more with you about developing a thanks habit not only during Thanksgiving but year-round. Sign up here to receive…

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Six degrees of separation.

Do you know the concept of “six degrees of separation“? This idea posits that any two people on Earth are six or fewer acquaintance links apart. I imagine that this assumes that our linkage is with the living but I wonder what would be our linkage if we could consider as well the departed? Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with the Institute for Cultural Communicators student interns who have been serving with us…

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