Only 3 essential qualities for writers? Just 3? Actually no, there are probably about 100 but this morning, there are just 3 essential qualities for writers that pop into my head this morning: The two paradoxical thoughts about just how well we write. I doubt that I’m the only writer who believes that on the […]
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The seduction of noise. Do an online search and you can see a 21st century way of conceptualizing our addiction to distraction: noise pollution. Researchers have studied the effects of noise pollution and discovered its surprisingly broad impact upon adults and children. But the subject of this piece is even more insidious. Truthfully, is there any
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The real reason we work: it’s the awe we’re after The real reason we work isn’t what we think, it’s the awe we’re after, not the money. If asked what our primary motivation to work would be, most of us say, “I work for money.” But are you sure that’s it? Money is good, right,
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Why do you pray? “Why do you pray?” “Because it is the only way I can figure out who I am.” My surprising response to my friend’s rhetorical question was heartfelt-perhaps too weighty to be understood by one who had not, like me, chosen to spend a large segment of their life without God. Being
Finding joy: pure luck or intention? Finding joy: Joy not happiness. They are different, aren’t they? Joy is personified by this running, grinning dog. Maybe he is running toward his favorite human or perhaps she is racing after a ball. Regardless of what the dog is going for, it’s evident that joy isn’t something he
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The four stumbling blocks to truth: For more years than I can count, these beautifully calligraphed four stumbling blocks to truth have been displayed prominently in a simple bronze frame, protected by glass. My friend Kathy and I memorized this list, making use of one or more during our frequent philosophic discussions. Laughing at the
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Sound familiar? A Life of One’s Own? Maybe you’re thinking of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, as was I until I learned more about a book published in the 1930’s. I’d never heard of Marion Milner, a British psychoanalyst and writer who embarked on a seven year experiment in living. One aimed at “unpeeling
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Culture of superlatives: What does that mean, exactly? Recently, I’ve become aware of my tendency to use superlatives both in my writing and in speaking. Consequently, I’ve been thinking a lot about word selection, both mine and that of others. The fourth in the Lindsey McCall medical mystery series, Malthus Revisited: The Cup of Wrath
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Bet you pride yourself on being a logical thinker. Most of do. We’ve been schooled in Descarte’s Cogito Ergo Sum- I think therefore I am. The same Descartes who performed autopsies on live dogs, the euphemism vivisection sounds far more rational, doesn’t it? He claimed that their screams were merely neurological responses by non-rational organisms who
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Why look back to Marcus Aurelius and Stoicism? Huh? Why would we want to return to one of the last Roman Emperors and a Greek philosophy which personified rigorous self-denial, extreme fortitude and emotional indifference? One of the very first books I devoured as a college undergrad was Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. A college professor I
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Lin Wilder has a doctorate in Public Health from the UT Houston with a background in cardiopulmonary physiology, medical ethics, and hospital administration
Book Author: LIN WILDER
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