Big fluffy animal. All cute and adorable. Just a little bit over a ton of death. I wasn’t feeling very confident. — By Shannon Carpenter “Please remember that while you’re feeding the buffalo,” the lady at the front of the rickety wagon said, “not to touch the big bull. He will get aggressive and charge.” I looked around at the 16 kids and 4 other dads I had with me. Some were…

I decided to engage the ChatGPT bot on the subject. — By James Hazelwood Most likely, you’ve heard about ChatGPT, the online Artificial Intelligence (AI) computer that’s recently been in the news. ChatGPT can generate text responses to questions, compose essays, and engage in dialogue. This one-minute video is a basic summary. As Noam Chomsky recently described ChatGPT, “roughly speaking, they…

Crossing the line into toxic communication. — By Corinne Farago What is Contempt in Relationships? Last week I wrote about Stonewalling, which is one of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse, as researcher John Gottman refers to them. In his findings, studying thousands of couples, the 4 Horsemen are the behaviors that most strongly indicate that a relationship will end in divorce…

Hubris is a Greek word that originally meant defiance of the gods, nearly always resulting in divine retribution. — By Jed Diamond Ph.D Hubris is a Greek word that originally meant defiance of the gods, nearly always resulting in divine retribution. Its modern meaning is “extreme arrogance, a combination of foolish pride and dangerous self-confidence. It aptly describes mankind’s attitude towards the natural world.”

She went from being just another player on a team to one of the most important players on a team. — By Jeremy Barnes Maybe it’s just me, but time seems to be a bit weird over the past few years. At this time last year my daughter was finishing up her first season of rec league basketball. She was on a pretty stacked team, with coaches that we knew from…

The mind and body, despite having separate labels are never separate; they are two words for ways to view one reality. — By Ira Rabois Since COVID, it’s clearer than ever that illness is a lot stranger than we might think. Illness isn’t just a matter of catching a bug or being a victim of a pandemic or exposure to environmental pests or pollution, or of aging⎼ although pandemics, bugs, aging, and…

I just don’t know if I believe anymore — and I don’t know what to do about it. — By John Pavlovitz I just don’t know if I believe anymore — and I don’t know what to do about it. I hear words like these every single day from people from every corner of the planet, from every strand of the Christian tradition, from every conceivable segment of society…

If the marriage isn’t working for one spouse, IT ISN’T WORKING. — By Lesli Doares The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little. ~Thomas Merton She said, “My husband asked me last week if I still wanted to be married to him. My slightly too long pause gave us both the answer.” I overheard this conversation while waiting for my…

When you’re a parent, you make the best of a bad night. — By Shannon Carpenter Like all good stories, things go wrong when you give a thumbs up. It’s an open invitation to karma to come and wreck your world. In the hotel shower, I stood and let the water wash over my bald head. The pressure was great, which can be…