Changed for the better?

Take time out to reunite with loved ones, reflect on this year and recharge for the year ahead. Have a blessed Christmas and happy holidays!

I've heard it said

That people come into our lives for a reason

Bringing something we must learn

And we are led

To those who help us most to grow

If we let them

And we help them in return

And now whatever way our stories end

I know you have re-written mine

By being my friend

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?

But I know I'm who I am today

Because I knew you...

I have been changed for good

See Sam Tsui and Nick Pitera's cover of WICKED's "For Good" below. Full lyrics here

Baby, It's Cold Outside

The latest cast addition to Glee gives me much glee! Here's hoping Blaine aka Darren Criss sticks around for a good long while (and the writers do his character justice...)

Doesn't this just warm your heart? Great vocals, adorable choreography. At least this redeems the awkwardness in the previous ep somewhat!


I didn't even LIKE this song till Darren and the Tufts Beelzebubs put their spin on it:


Get more Glee music here!
Updated: Dec 8 with BICO video clip.

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

"Why is it so hard to make lasting changes in our companies, in our communities, and in our own lives? ... The rational mind wants to change something at work; the emotional mind loves the comfort of the existing routine. This tension can doom a change effort—but if it is overcome, change can come quickly....

... The duo's tension is [best] captured by an analogy used by University of Virginia psychologist Jonathan Haidt in his wonderful book The Happiness Hypothesis. Haidt says that our emotional side is an Elephant and our rational side is its Rider. Perched atop the Elephant, the Rider holds the reins and seems to be the leader. But the Rider's control is precarious because the Rider is so small relative to the Elephant. Anytime the six-ton Elephant and the Rider disagree about which direction to go, the Rider is going to lose. He's completely overmatched.

The authors share some insights on overcoming this tension via this framework:

1) DIRECT THE RIDER: What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity. So provide crystal-clear direction. (Think 1% milk.)

2) MOTIVATE THE ELEPHANT: What looks like laziness is often exhaustion. The Rider can’t get his way by force for very long. So it’s critical that you engage people’s emotional side—get their Elephants on the path and cooperative. (Think of the cookies and radishes study and the boardroom conference table full of gloves.)

3) SHAPE THE PATH: What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem. We call the situation (including the surrounding environment) the “Path.” When you shape the Path, you make change more likely, no matter what’s happening with the Rider and Elephant. (Think of the effect of shrinking movie popcorn buckets.)

Want to know more? Get the book! Meanwhile, here are links to a one-page summary of this framework and handy resources for work or personal use.

You keep us

You keep us waiting
You, the God of all time
Want us to wait for the right time in which to discover
Who we are, where we must go,
Who will be with us and what we must do
So thank you ... for the waiting time

You keep us looking
You, the God of all space
Want us to look in the right and wrong places
For signs of hope, for people who are hopeless
For visions of a better world that will appear
among the disappointments of the world we know
So thank you ... for the looking time

You keep us loving
You, the God whose name is love
Want us to be like you
To love the loveless and the unlovely and the unlovable
To love without jealousy or design or threat
And most difficult of all, to love ourselves
So thank you ... for the loving time

And in all this, You keep us
Through hard questions with no easy answers
Through failing where we hoped to succeed and
making an impact where we felt we were useless
Through the patience and the dreams and the love of others
And through Jesus Christ and his Spirit, You keep us
So thank you ... for this keeping time

And for now and for ever
Amen

- Iona Community, Scotland

Stay hungry, stay foolish

Making any new year's resolutions? Steve Jobs shares three life stories at his Stanford commencement address back in (pre-iPhone) 2005. (1) Trust that you can connect the dots in the future; (2) Keep looking for what (and whom) you love - don't settle; and (3) Your time is limited so don't waste it!



If you're up for more advice, here's my shortlist of words of wisdom.