Our names are an incredibly important part of our identity. They carry personal, cultural, familial, and historical significance. They also give us a sense of who we are and the community we each live in. A person’s name is the greatest connection to their own identity. Some might say it is the most important word in the world. Our names are a way to get someone’s attention, it’s a sign of courtesy and a way to recognize them. Where does your name come from? Along with our gi

“Hey, I’m leaving the company I am at, and they need someone to provide some legal services on a temporary basis. Are you interested?” The call could not have come at a better time. I had just started out on my own as an attorney and was looking for clients. I hadn’t talked to the individual who called me for quite a few years, and I wondered what had made him think of me after that amount of time.   As I thought about how I met him, I reflected back to the apartment complex

As an attorney, I still often feel saddened or overwhelmed at many of the conditions my clients find themselves in. A mother with cancer who also has young children is left by her husband, even though she is unable to work. A father caught in the middle of a business partner’s theft of client funds. A daughter not being allowed to bury her mother next to the mother’s infant daughter that died at birth because the daughter’s brothers refuse to consent to the burial due to bein

Life is full of opportunity. Most of us can relate, though, to passing up on an opportunity, thinking “I will get to that tomorrow.” Tomorrow can be a powerful illusion that tricks us into thinking that at some future point in time, we will have more energy, time, money, or something that will make us do what we should have done today.   Perhaps tomorrow’s illusion is more powerful because it feels so close, so within our grasp. Perhaps it is powerful because it is an easy wa

You’ve felt the whisper. You know the truth. You are more than your past and your current situation. You came here to do something important. You know you have the capacity to help shape and change this world. That whisper within pushes us to be someone we are not now. It prompts us to start on a journey, one whose destination we do not know and one whose path we do not fully see.   You are not an average person. You are not here by mistake. You are the change the world needs

Jim stared at Steve, the company’s vice president. “Really?” he thought angrily. “You really want us to double sales before the year ends? It took twenty years to get sales to where they are, and now you think it’s possible to just double that in a little over five months?”  Glancing around the room, the reaction of his co-workers appeared mixed. Dave looked tired as usual. Cindy looked excited and Gerald looked as angry as he felt. A mixture of the same emotions appeared in

Your Story Can Shape Others Our stories matter. Our experiences can shape the future, if we take time to record the things that actually helped make us who we are. The things that we thought about, cared about, and worked to achieve. We can leave a legacy through the records we make, and this can help our posterity or family at future points. I have always struggled with journal writing, as I have often viewed it as a record of mundane tasks that I did that day. However, I am