Personal Growth – Page 18 – Perpetual Adoration

March 21, 2015

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Eradicating Weeds

In the early summer of 1975, one of my cousins decided that he wanted to try his hand at gardening. For the purpose of this article, I’m going to call him “James.” At the time, James and I were both 18 years old. I knew quite a bit about gardening because I had been in charge of taking care of our large family garden for the previous five years.

February 28, 2015

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A Ritual Worth Considering

Last week, one of my clients asked me if I would say some prayers for her and her family. For the purpose of this article, I’m going to call her “Julie.” After asking for prayers, Julie said that she’s been having problems at home with her teenage daughters.

February 21, 2015

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Trash Compactors and Depression

On a Friday evening in June 1977, while I was in the family room of my parents’ home, the evening news came on the television. The news opened with a teaser announcement about a movie that had recently been released that was surprising all of the critics and was wildly popular among viewers. Of course, if we wanted to know what that movie was, we had to sit through 20 minutes of the news before the newscaster would tell us about the movie.

February 14, 2015

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Love Letters, Marriage, and Valentine’s Day

On the day before Valentine’s Day (Friday), I stopped at Walgreens to pick up something that I needed. As I was walking through the store, I passed the aisle with the Valentine’s Day cards. When I saw the cards, it occurred to me that I had not yet purchased a Valentine’s Day card for Georgette.

January 17, 2015

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The Vanishing Pause

If you read my article last week, you know about the May 2013 Internet Trends Report that revealed that the typical smartphone user checks his or her phone 150 times a day. I finished writing the article on a Saturday, and the following Monday I met with “Tim,” a 27-year-old man who was in need of legal assistance. During the first five minutes of our meeting, Tim received four text messages on his iPhone. Since he was holding his phone in his hand, he immediately read the messages. On two occasions, he stopped talking to me so he could respond to the messages.

January 3, 2015

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Insulting The Dead

December 20, 2014

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A Special Christmas Gift

Earlier this month, I had a conversation with a judge who recently retired after serving as a state court judge for more than 20 years. For the purpose of this article, I’m going to call him “John.” John is in his early 60s, and during our conversation he asked me how many grandchildren I have. I told him that after adding three new grandsons last month, my wife and I have 10 grandchildren.

December 10, 2014

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Turning Conflict Into Personal Growth

I want to share with you a very powerful technique for changing the way you respond to offensive or critical comments. This technique has the potential of turning what is usually a very painful and unpleasant experience into an opportunity for personal growth and wisdom.

December 6, 2014

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Writing and the Spiritual Life

I recently stumbled across an old article that Fr. John Hardon had given to me more than 20 years ago. The title of the article was “Writing and the Spiritual Life.” He gave the article to me after telling me that I had an obligation to influence other Catholics through the written word. After rereading the article, I decided to republish it here so you could also benefit from Fr. Hardon’s wisdom. Here’s the article: