Read My Book for Free! - Promotion May 23-25, 2013

In celebration of Memorial Day and the upcoming summer travel season, I will be offering my book Sleeping in the Homes of Strangers: A Month-Long Journey of Trust for free Thursday, May 23 through Saturday, May 25.

Please click on this Amazon link during the promotion to receive your free e-book. If you don't own a Kindle, you may still read my book. Simply download a free Kindle app for your computer or mobile device.

I hope you enjoy my book, and I hope you, too, will consider a trip abroad this summer to discover a new culture.

Kids Don't Need Adult Friends - February 19, 2013

There seems to be increasing confusion within our classrooms about the distinction between the word “friend” and “friendly.”

It is certainly in the best interest of teachers to be kind and pleasant with students, rather than antagonistic, which is the definition of “friendly.” No one thrives with an ogre at the chalkboard, but “friendly” is far different from having a “friend.”

A friendship implies two people on fairly equal footing engaging in give and take, sharing the joys and struggles of their lives. Friends go to each other for counsel. Friends maintain confidences. Friends see other at their best and worst.

A 14-year-old is certainly not on equal footing with a 35-year-old. A teenager who is unable to even drive yet isn’t going to be able to give advice to someone experiencing marital troubles. Yet, there are still numerous teachers who want to be buddies or pals with their kids.

The desire to be liked is universal, but teaching, and leadership in general, isn’t a popularity contest. Leadership is lonely. The job of teachers is to guide, mentor, and educate kids. That requires an adult in a position of authority, not a friend.

The price of teachers striving to be friends with students is high. Show me a teacher who the kids say is “cool,” and I’ll show you a classroom full of chaos with little respect and little getting accomplished.

Maybe It's Time - Febuary 3, 2013

"There is a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go." – Robert Frost

Over the last couple of weeks, these words have been tumbling around in my mind like socks in a dryer. As a man of extremes, who loves to travel, it's easy for me to jump quickly to the conclusion that the quote is a challenge for me to quit my job and become a full-time traveling teacher, journeying to all stretches of the planet. 

One day that may well happen, but extreme thinking is often an internal excuse for maintaining the status quo. The logistics of selling everything and hitting the road is so overwhelming that I can just as quickly dismiss the idea and go back to my comfortable existence. I'll mull over Frost's words later when I have a better sense of how such a bold act would unfold.

That absolves me from considering that maybe there's another message in the quote, an invitation for me to depart from other stations in my life that aren't as extreme - a toxic relationship, a bad living situation, hanging on to lost dreams from the past.

However, doing so can be frightening when there's nothing new to take their places, when there's "no certain place to go."

Fear is part of what holds us back, but I also believe that we get sidetracked by looking for certainty before we act or, in my case, looking for signs. It's been my experience that in the past when I came to major crossroads in my life I seldom had obvious, Road to Emmaus type clarity but, instead, just rolled the dice and kept moving forward.

Since signs are often not forthcoming, we have yet another convenient excuse to not act. We have the justification to remain in a familiar place.

Over the next few weeks, I'll continue to mull over situations I need to leave behind in my life. Perhaps, it's a good exercise for us all in this new year.

The Neglected Art of Compliments - January 27, 2013

Book stores, pharmacies, and watering holes are full of products aimed at helping us feel better about life, but last night, I received a spirit-boosting gift that can’t even be seen, cost the giver nothing, and is still putting a smile on my face– a compliment.

The compliment, itself, isn’t important. What is important is that the person took the time out of her busy schedule to share a few kind words and acknowledge something I had done.

I’ll bet the e-mail she composed took less than five minutes, but the effects are still resonating. Immediately afterward, I felt a shot of adrenaline and slept peacefully throughout the night.

This morning, still in high spirits, I was moved to send a compliment along to another friend and to write this post, all because of the unexpected gift I received last night.

When I met my friend Umit in Turkey, she always stressed the importance of cultivating and surrounding oneself with positive energy because it leads to more positive energy and more positive outcomes in life, just as negativity tends to attract more negativity and more negative outcomes in life.

Sincere compliments are such an easy way to spread positive energy, and can mean so much to both the giver and receiver, but daily we tend to let the opportunities to distribute them pass by.

Maybe, part of the solution to our angst lies in the often forgotten compliment. 

Death is Waiting - January 6, 2013

We spend most of our lives trying not to think about it, but the unfortunate reality is that none of us can avoid death. Last week, I had a personal reminder that sometimes it comes a lot sooner than expected.

We can cease to exist at any moment, but we tend to act as though death is something that can be controlled, an event that can be put off indefinitely. How else can one explain the manner in which we utilize our precious, ever dwindling seconds on earth.

Instead of focusing on our dreams, we often settle for what’s comfortable or focus on what the world says is important like acquiring possessions. I speak from experience when I say that after you’re gone your loved ones with sort through those seemingly important possessions and throw a lot of them in the trash.

Rather than vowing to lose weight or watch less television, maybe our New Year’s resolution in 2013 should be to live more, to figure out our passions in life, to dust off our dreams and pursue them with gusto.

Death is waiting, and it could be waiting just around the corner. Why not start living now.

Read My Book for Free! - December 29, 2012

As part of a promotion through Amazon, I will be offering my book Sleeping in the Homes of Strangers: A Month-Long Journey of Trust for free on Sunday, December 30, 2012, and again on Tuesday, January 1, 2013.

Please click on this Amazon link to receive your free e-book.

I hope you enjoy it.

Happy New Year!

The Book is Now Out in the Universe - November 22, 2012

Originally, I had planned last year on releasing my book about my adventures in Turkey, but life always seems to get in the way. I guess the book is better late than never.

My experiment in benevolence began on-line, so it seems fitting that it wrap up on-line, which is why I decided to sell my book on Amazon. Here is the link.

I hope that all of you enjoy reading it, and I hope that in some small way it might inspire someone else to pursue his or her own dreams. After all, as I learned during my magical summer of 2010, anything is possible.