Author Archives: Brandcasters

The Elephant in the Room

“Being half-assed doesn’t work, no matter which cheek’s left.” -Werner Erhardt I remember hearing this metaphor for the first time decades ago and thinking it was brilliant. Two people ignoring the tension between them; leaving some big secret unspoken…like trying to ignore an elephant in the room. It’s crowding them out, but they pretend it’s not there. All the while, it’s sucking the oxygen out of the room. An unsustainable recipe for relationships. Well, there’s …
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What the heck is transmutation?

“Awareness is the alchemy that transmutes fear to power, labor to laughter, and anger to love.”          -Dr. Steve Taubman I don’t usually take requests…but a wonderful and devoted fan of my work asked if I’d say a few words about my understanding of transmutation; a fascinating power we all possess yet seldom use. I jumped to the task, because this is a topic that lives at the core of my teachings. …
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Sometimes it pays to give in

“The highest form of intelligence is the ability to observe without evaluating.”   -Jiddu Krishnamurti One of my Living in the Present attendees recently wrote me about how to overcome the habit of sleeping through his alarm. When the clock is close, he hits the snooze button. When it’s far away, he just covers his ears and ignores it. Even a chorus of multiple alarm clocks won’t get him up. When he finally does arise, …
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The Day I Learned to Reserve Judgment

“Every criticism, judgment, diagnosis, and expression of anger is the tragic expression of an unmet need.” -Marshall Rosenberg  When I was sixteen, a teenage fantasy came true. My friend, Shelly Silver, with whom I’d been flirting at school (doing a pretty good job of sounding sophisticated and knowledgeable despite my woeful lack of experience with the opposite sex) came over to my house for lunch, and let me “fool around” with her. It started abruptly …
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Do you have a code?

“Choosing not to act on an angry impulse and to feel the pain that lies beneath it is a very courageous thing to do.”     -Gary Zukav I’ve got a dear friend who has a very patient husband. He’s there when she’s sweet and loving, and he’s there when she’s petulant and argumentative. My friend, and I say this with love, is moody. She’s lucky to have found a man who rides the wave as he …
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