 THE UNDEFEATED MIND Fall 2012 |
 Photo: oskay I often wish I could snap my fingers and make people do what I want. I wish I could speed up the pace at which I achieve my goals and slow down the pace at which pleasant things fade. I wish I could write blog posts and books that everyone loves, that I could have solitude and company whenever I want and not when they’re thrust upon me, and that when I’m in a bad mood I could simply decide not to be. What I wish for, in short, is absolute control over my life. Continue reading…  Photo: Stephen Brace This last summer, my wife and I had a fight. As with many fights between married couples, the surface issue was inconsequential but housed an important issue underneath. I’d accidentally burned the hamburgers I was grilling for our dinner (because we hadn’t cleaned our barbecue for some time, grease had accumulated, which increased the barbecue temperature as it burned). When I placed the charred hockey puck burgers in front of her, she became annoyed (having warned me about the grease). When I apologized, she said nothing, and I became angry that she was still annoyed with me. Continue reading…
I left their apartment that night thinking about life stages and transitions and found myself wondering why I wasn’t married yet. I’d always felt I’d wanted to be and had certainly had a number of opportunities. But I’d passed them all up for one reason or another and at 34 remained single. Learning one of my brothers was going to be a father triggered something in me—a sense of urgency, a greater interest in moving my life forward, a need to shake things up—I’m not sure what. But the next morning I began a campaign to find my wife. Continue reading…  Photo: darkpatator Years ago, a hulk of a man came to see me with a lump in his neck. He was as big as the lump was small, standing at least six and half feet tall with shoulders that seemed almost as broad. His lump, in contrast, was only 2 cm wide. Wide enough, however, to warrant concern. It was firm rather than rubbery, fixed rather than mobile, and non-tender rather than painful—all hallmarks of something potentially malignant. He’d noticed it only one month prior to coming to see me, which made me think it had grown rapidly, another bad sign. He’d had no infection during that time that he could recall. Continue reading…  Photo: Jule_Berlin When I was a resident I was given the opportunity to participate in a series of seminars designed to improve my teaching skills. In one discussion group the discussion leader asked us a question to which no one had an immediate answer. He waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, one of my colleagues offered an answer that happened to be incorrect but that sparked a lively discussion we all found quite valuable. After the seminar, I had a chance to talk with the discussion leader and remarked how unfazed he’d seemed by the silence that had greeted his question, which had seemed to stretch on for what I’d figured to be almost five minutes. He replied the silence had only lasted 30 seconds. Continue reading… |
|
|
Copyright © 2012 Happiness in this World - All Rights Reserved
|
||
