Brian Allain

From “Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life” by Henri Nouwen with Michael J. Christensen and Rebecca J. Laird Small, seemingly insignificant events, ideas, and life circumstances can become occasions to discern God’s will and calling in your life. Both inner and outer events and circumstances can be read and interpreted as signposts leading to […]

From “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol S. Dweck, PhD Aside from hijacking people’s abilities, stereotypes also do damage by making people feel they don’t belong. Many minorities drop out of college and many women drop out of math and science because they just don’t feel they fit in. To find out how

From “Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation” by Steven Johnson The pattern of “competition” is an excellent case in point. Every economics textbook will tell you that competition between rival firms leads to innovation in their products and services. But when you look at innovation from the long-zoom perspective, competition turns

From “Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner” by Frederick Buechner OH LORD, THE coolness of the river’s touch! The way it mirrored back the clouds as if I bathed in sky. I waded out to where the water reached my neck, my beard outspread, my garments floating free. I let my hands

By Mark Shaefer Read the free article here

From “Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life” by Richard Rohr The second insight about steps and stages is that from your own level of development, you can only stretch yourself to comprehend people just a bit beyond yourself. Some theorists say you cannot stretch more than one step above your own

From “The Language of the Soul: Meeting God in the Longings of Our Hearts” by Jeff Crosby  In the years since first reading The Grand Essentials I’ve worked with Patterson on other writing projects and shared meals with him. In a recent conversation, he conveyed his late-career reflections on Chalmer’s “grand essentials of happiness,” distilling

From “Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most” by Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun, and Ryan McAnnally-Linz It can be surprisingly difficult to keep the Question clear. For a moment, it seems we’ve got it. A moment later, it’s slipped through our fingers. A conversation about what sort of life is truly worthy of

From “Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust” by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith Writing everything online, where it’s eternally visible to everyone, forever, has value. Even if each video you post or each article you write convinces only a few people, that’s a pretty great way to build

From “Sacred Compass: The Way of Spiritual Discernment” by J. Brent Bill Put your spiritual imagination to work: Why does God use you? What good qualities can you place at God’s disposal? What quirks? Using our imagination and spirit enables us to see ourselves as pilgrims entrusted by God to do noble work.