The Way of Healing
That which restores health, promotes well-being, cures, alleviates––healing returns us to an earlier state free of hurt or harm. It’s almost as if healing reverses time. We turn back the clock to return to a place we once enjoyed of strength, vitality, and wellness. To promote healing, one would think traditional remedies will be cast […]
Thought as Design
Patterns exist in nature, in ideas and thought, as well as in human affairs. The trick is to recognize these patterns and make sense of them. Nature’s abundance, though seemingly chaotic, conforms to certain laws. It has long been recognized, for example, that Fibonacci sequences can be seen in the pattern arrangement of flowers and […]
Empowering Rules
Institutions, such as hospitals or large corporations, publish rules to be followed by their staff. One reason such standards exist is to promote some degree of certainty and uniformity. Also, these rules are meant to conform behavior to a more optimal level which, were it not for the rule, might not be routinely practiced. All […]
Learning and Healing
Webster defines health as follows: “The condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit; especially: freedom from physical disease or pain.” The World Health Organization defines health in these terms: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Both definitions define health […]
In Defense of the Center
We are exhorted to start strong—and to end strong. Beginnings and endings—these we are advised must be practiced and perfected. We are told of the importance of primacy and recency. We are urged to make a good—no, excellent—first and last impression. These things we know. But what about the center—that vast uncharted territory between start […]
Arguing Rules
Legal rules set forth certain requirements, but every rule is subject to interpretation and application to the specific facts of the case. Say you are seeking a ruling from a Court to depart slightly from the literal requirements of a rule. The rule says one thing, but you are urging some flexibility in the way […]
Always Advocating
I was in court recently and saw a lawyer and his client standing before a Judge. The Judge asked the lawyer’s client a question and the client gave an answer that was not to the lawyer’s liking. The lawyer, surprised at his client’s answer, appeared visibly upset and angry. The lawyer turned around and ostentatiously […]
Signet and Watermark
A signet is a formal seal, impress, or mark on an official document. It’s clearly visible. It can indicate the document to be original, authentic. A watermark is a pattern, figure, or design impressed on paper which can be seen only when held up to the light. It’s not clearly visible. But it too can […]
Emerson on Webster
“In a million you would single him out”—so wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson of Daniel Webster. Emerson admired Webster and wrote about him at length in his Journals. Emerson wrote that Webster was “[a] person of very commanding understanding with every talent for its adequate expression.” Emerson took note of Webster’s appearance, writing: “His external advantages […]
On Descriptive Language
Language is a method of communication: a way for people to share information and ideas. But language has other uses as well, including serving as a means of making sense of the world and providing a framework within which to think and dream, organize and create. There’s various types of language, of course. There’s instructional […]
