Yesterday, during our daily phone call, my mom and I started talking about the birth of babies. My mom said:

— Humans are the only babies that scream when they're born. Calves don't scream when they're born.

— Maybe that's because no one is slapping a calf on the ass to make sure it's breathing. Babies probably think, "Hey! What the hell! That hurt! I'm alive. I'm alive."

— And they're probably thinking, "It's so cold out here."

— Yeah, and they'd say, "Put me back in."

— And "It's so bright."

— "Someone turn off the lights."

— And "It's so loud."

— "I went from hearing 'swish, swish, swish' to all this noise."

We laughed and laughed—the kind of sustained belly laugh I experience only occasionally.

It reminds me of another funny incident just a few weeks ago. As my husband, daughter and I were doing dishes after supper one evening, Chris looked around the kitchen and said:

— Why do we have so many dish towels on the go? What were you using them for?

— Oh, you know, this and that!

For some reason, hearing those humble words come out of my mouth made me start laughing. My daughter looked at me with a confused expression, which made me laugh only that much harder.

If you're smiling at the world, it's surprising how often it smiles back at you.

Sometimes the role we think we were supposed to fulfill is not the one we are able to play. As my friend said, we must surrender one identity to take on a new one and, in doing so, find new ways of making a contribution.

Grief is not just about when you lose a loved one. We can face grief whenever we experience loss, including loss of employment, status, financial security, routine, human connection, and—as in my case—health.

I realized, in that moment, how lucky we are to be together, as a family, after almost three decades.... While we spend time in duos and trios doing other activities—such as walking, shopping or doing dishes—it's food that brings us all together. That's when the four of us most enjoy each other's company.

As successful as I was in my career, I held myself back at times. I thought that I couldn’t accept or apply for a particular job if I didn’t meet every single requirement, and I shied away from at least one opportunity out of fear that it might involve a greater commitment than I felt I could give at that point in my life.... Later in my career, I decided that if half the requirements of a prospective job were familiar and the other half scared the crap out of me, I would give the assignment serious consideration, knowing that it would offer a significant opportunity for growth.

In [his TED Talk] The happy secret to better work, researcher and writer Shawn Achor shares what he has learned through his research on happiness. He says that despite our assumptions to the contrary, only 10% of our happiness is dependent on our external world. In fact, 90% of our long-term happiness is predicted by the way our brains process the world. For example, our success at work is three times as likely to be predicted by our level of optimism, our social support and our ability to see stress as a challenge than by our IQ.

It's not that optimism solves all of life's problems; it is just that it can sometimes make the difference between coping and collapsing.

~ Lucy MacDonald

Lose hair, but don't lose hope.

~ Cancer patient

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.

~ Elizabeth Kübler-Ross

I've just one ambition in life: I aspire

To go on and on being boring.

~ Wendy Cope

So when someone comes to you with a problem, the very first thing you need to do is validate their experience. Acknowledge how they’re feeling. Be team them for...just a second. Sit with them in the experience long enough for them to know that they’re not alone.

~ Dr. Allison

One of the only true shortcuts in life is finding an expert and apprenticing under them.

~ James Clear

How did someone's teaching accelerate your learning?