Browsing category: Stories

01 Aug 2022

The Problem with Problems

By Cal McDonnell / No Comment

As we move through our lives we will encounter problems. A large part of navigating life is our ability to problem solve. Being an adult means being a problem solver, and many of us might indulge in a secret satisfaction at our abilities to problem solve at rapid pace. For some, our work is all about the speed and accuracy with which we solve problems. If you're a parent, raising children is about showing them how we solve life's problems from learning to ask for what you need, becoming skilled at different tasks and managing the

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31 Jan 2021

Zugzwang: Herald of the Endgame

By Cal McDonnell / No Comment

In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus must pass between Charybdis, a treacherous whirlpool, and Scylla, a horrid human-eating, cliff-dwelling monster.

And so was born

that cliched term, ‘caught between a rock and a hard place’, implying the difficulty of choice when no outcome appears to be advantageous. In fact, at times, the choices available to us are blatantly awful and our thoughts are consumed with what we know will be lost. We don’t always know when something is going to turn out positively for us, but we tend

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27 Jun 2019

In the Company of Stranger Emotions

By Cal McDonnell / No Comment

“This being human is a guest house, every morning is a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all. Treat each guest honourably. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.”

- Rumi Using this analogy of your consciousness as a house and your emotions and feelings being guests who visit, there are

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24 Sep 2018

Relationships Matter

By Cal McDonnell / No Comment

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” Ralph Waldo Emerson When we relate to something or someone it means we have made a connection to that object or person; we feel sympathy for or identify with it. And when we are in relationship with someone or something then we are describing the way in which the two objects are connected and are in sympathy with each other and helping to reflect their identities back to one another. To be human is to be in

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