2-18-2022

 

Mary’s Minute

“No matter how educated, talented, rich or cool you believe you are, how you treat people ultimately tells all.” 

                                                                          ~ Anonymous

Like many parents, my sister, Amy, often posts first day of school pictures of my adorable niece and nephew.  It makes me smile seeing Jack and Ellie over the years.  What really makes me smile is the advice that my sister gives them each year, “Work hard and be kind.”  Aunt Mary may be a bit biased, but Jack and Ellie are quite accomplished 13 and 15-year olds.  They do very well in school and excel in their current extra-curricular activities:  Ellie in dance and Jack in swimming and water polo, but what sets them apart is that they take their mom's advice and they are kind and hard working!

Much in life is a matter of circumstance.  Some people are born with natural athletic ability or superior intellect.  Some people are given more opportunities than others.  Whether we call it being blessed or fortunate, we must admit that many of us have advantages that were in a sense gifted to us by the universe.  There are advantages (and disadvantages)  that are out of our control.

What we can control is how hard we work and how we treat people.  As Amy says to Jack and Ellie, “Work hard and be kind.” 

How we treat people – all people – matters.  I appreciate educated, talented, rich, and cool people, but what I notice and what counts to me is how we treat people. 

We do not have control over many aspects of our life, but we have power over how we treat people!  It is exciting to know that while we may fall short because of our circumstances, we all have the opportunity to shine by treating each other with kindness.

                                                                       Have a great week!

                                                                                                 Mary                

2-11-2022

 

Mary’s Minute

 I know some people make fun of Valentine’s Day for being a commercialized coup to boost the economy.  I have to agree the estimated $24 billion that is expected to be spent this year for gifts seems ridiculous, but the idea of a holiday devoted to love seems divine to me. 

Of course, love is associated with romantic feelings, but it is so much more than that.  When I think of love, I think of my dad who in our family had phrases that we quote often nearly 30 years after his death.  He often said, “Treat the people you love the most the best.”  He also said, “Remember what Jesus said, ‘Love one another.” 

I also think of Mother Teresa who said, “Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”

Ahh… love!  Treating people with genuine care and concern is a gift.  Love is forgiving -- love is selfless.  As parents, there truly is no limit to what we would do for our children – because of love.  Imagine if that same feeling could spread to all areas of our lives.  Maybe we won't change the world, but Mother Teresa also said, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

We do not have to be in a romantic relationship or to buy into the commercial hype of the holiday to appreciate love.  Love is a very special way of feeling – both to love and to be loved.

And, so on Valentine’s Day and always, I wish you LOVE!

                                                       Have a great week!        

                                                            Mary

                                                          

2-4-2022

 

Mary’s Minute

Have you heard of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)?  Admittedly, I don’t understand how it works or what it will do.  I do know it is a really big deal, considered a successor to the great Hubble Telescope.  My son, Bill, is very fired up about it, and I recently had conversation with him about it. 

One of the things about the JWST that makes it special is that it has a coronagraph, which allows it to block out light from stars in order to see the planets around the vert distant stars.  Since Bill is really passionate about exoplanets, this feature has him really excited! 

Another advantage that Bill explained to me about telescopes in general is that they collect light so that we can see in dark places.  In other words, sometimes we need more light to see objects in space, and sometimes we need to block the light in order to see objects around the bright light. 

And if that isn’t enough about light, Bill also explained that another feature of the JWST is that it sees a different wave length of light, using infrared.  In this way, it can see a different class of objects than what we have been able to study in the past.    

I know I am rambling about a topic I know very little about, so I will get to my metaphorical pondering about light.  Often when we are trying to figure things out, we use the strategy of traditional telescopes by collecting more light to see the same things, but more clearly.  The JWST reminds us that sometimes we need to block out the brightness or the obvious in order to see things we might not have otherwise seen.  And finally, there is yet another metaphor that the JWST provides.  Just like the JWST is using infrared light to see things not visible to regular light, we may need to imagine things that are not even visible from our current vantage point. 

To summarize my thoughts, in order to see things in our life clearly, sometimes we need to look at it more closely in the same way (more light) we have been looking; other times we need to block out completely what we thought was helping us (blocking out the light from the bright start to see the tiny planets around it); and finally, sometimes we need to look at it in totally new way (with new light).

Keeping with the space analogy, the sky is the limit!  Keep dreaming and thinking of the world and your potential in new ways in order to do more and be more, just like JWST will help us discover things we may not have imagined in space.

                                                               Have a great week!

                                                                                  Mary

1-28-2022

 

Mary’s Minute

I am a big fan of romantic comedies.  I love a light-hearted movie that makes me laugh and has a happy ending.  I not only love happy endings, but I also am enough of an optimistic that I believe in happy endings!  Dramas take too much energy for me, and I despise horror movies.

I realized that life is not always tied up with a pretty bow at the end of a set amount of time, like rom-coms.  I do believe that when we see the good in what we do and in others, that things work out. 

The fictional philosopher Ted Lasso said that rom-coms remind us that it will work out.  It may not be the way we wanted it to work out or occur in the way that we thought it would work out, but it will work out.  Our job is to let it go!

I know that I can’t totally treat my life with the carefree spirit that is allowable in a 1 hour and 50 minute fictional love story interspersed with some laughs.  I still need to plan.  I need to put in the work.  I need to spend time thinking about hard topics and devote my energy to being productive. 

I do love treating life -- at least my philosophy of life -- like that of a romantic comedy, where I believe that good things will happen, and that laughing is good for the soul.

We all have our favorite movie genre, but if you want to choose a philosophy from a movie type, I encourage you to choose to see the good, choose to laugh, and choose to let it go, with a good rom-com! 

                                                                    Have a great week!

                                                                                                 Mary

1-21-2022

 

Mary’s Minute

 “Recognition is a reward in itself. Any form of appreciation, even a small word, is important.”

                                                                                                      ~ Vikrant Massey

Last week to start the weekend, I received an unexpected text from a teacher, expressing appreciation.  It meant a lot – it really meant a lot.  (I won’t say the name of who texted me, but I hope the person reads this!)

When you ask employees what they crave, they almost always list being appreciated at the top of the list. 

We all like to be tough at times and say that it doesn’t matter what other people think, or being truly altruistic, we may say that we do what we do for the right reasons and not for the recognition.  Still, we all like to be appreciated. 

As employers, as friends, as teachers, as family members, showing appreciation is an easy way to make others more satisfied.  Speaking from personal experience, I know it should be easy to do because in my heart I have tremendous gratitude, but I don’t do the job I should in expressing that appreciation.  Life goals!  I want to write more notes, send more texts, say more kind words of appreciation. 

Showing appreciation is indeed important!  I want to do better in letting the people in my work and personal life know that they are indeed appreciated.  If you are reading this, please know you are appreciated!  (Honestly, just you taking time to read MM is so appreciated and humbling.)

                                                                              Have a great week!

                                                                                          Mary

1-14-2022

Mary’s Minute

Fill in the blank:  Life is too short to __________________

Be unhappy, hold grudges, sleep on a bad mattress, sweat the small stuff, be miserable, not eat cake, and the list of serious and silly goes on and on.

Thinking about the brevity of life can feel depressing, but it also motivating and invigorating.  If you think analytically, you probably occasionally do the math based on longevity statistics and think that each day or year represents x% of your life remaining.  The reality is that there are many variables, even the keenest mathematician cannot fill in. 

Ultimately, whether life is cut way too short with the heart-wrenching death of a young person or a person has the honor of living into a second century, life is short. 

All we have is each day to live our best life, fulfilling whatever our personal purpose of life may be – to be happy, to make the world a better place, to help others, to leave a legacy, to have a good time. 

Every day counts.  Every day we have a chance to fulfill our purpose – being happy, helping others, leaving things a little better than we found them.  It is a big responsibility, but also a bit liberating in that we have the chance to fulfill this great opportunity.  Because of life’s briefness, even the smallest things matter.  Waiting a single day to fulfill your purpose is a very long time.

                                                                     Have a great week!

                                                                                     Mary

1-7-2022

Mary’s Minute

“Every problem has a solution; it may sometimes just need another perspective.” 

― Katherine Russell

I pride myself in being a problem solver.  We all have problems and use different strategies to solve them.  I am drawing blank about a solution for my challenge du jour, so I decided to focus first on problem solving methods that are helpful to me:

Flux capacitor – In the movie Back to the Future, Doc came up with the idea of the flux capacitor after hitting his head.  It was an “aha” moment.  Sometimes the solution just comes to us.

Synergy – Two (or more) heads are better than one.  As we bounce ideas off of each other, new ideas emerge.

Forest for the Trees – Sometimes we need to take a step back to look at the big picture in order to see a solution.

Trees for the Forest – Other times we need to dig deeper and look closely at the situation, looking very closely at the data for a solution.

Sleep on it – I have been amazed at the times that an answer comes to me in my sleep or at least after I have stepped away from a problem.

I hope this doesn’t sound like a lecture on problem solving methodologies.  I appreciate the chance to step back and think about how an answer is possible.  For now, I definitely am choosing the last approach!

                                                                         Have a great week!

                                                                                    Mary