Having "Me" Time

It's a new year and I'm getting older.  Yes, these are two facts that one cannot avoid. Especially the painful truth of getting older.  You sense it more when some of your colleagues no longer recognize the songs you listen to nor recognzie the ones that were famous years ago when you were still in school.  No matter, I believe there is still always a child inside each of us and age are but numbers. Amidst the different New Years present I received this year, I have to say one of my favorites was a box of 120 crayons.  Of all the stationary and art supplies I've accumulated over the past few years, I have to say crayons are something I just didn't have. Never thought of buying. Now I have them. Thank you :)  Ever since I could remember I have loved to draw and colour and cherished my box of coloured pencils and markers.  To this day I still have my complete set of coloured pencils and do occasionally still take them out to use, although those times are no...

As summer is coming to an end in the northern hemisphere, I thought about summers past.  Then an interesting thought came to mind.  Memories that I remember most vividly from childhood usually occur in the summer or involved something new, something unexpected. Why summer?  Why do memories from these two to three months a year are the ones that remain so vividly in my mind?  What happened with the rest of the year?  Why do new, unexpected events leave marks upon the brain? Of course, memories from the other nine months of the year, which is not summer, also appear now and then, however, I noticed that they are usually memories of time with an "event" to remember.  For a kid, that meant traveling, new experiences, birthday parties or playing with the dog and somethng happens.   I remember seeing Chantilly in France for the first time as we rounded a bend in the road and suddenly before us appeared the magnificant castle....

The other day I got this fascinating Forward from a friend about decision making. It tells the story of a group of children playing on railroad tracks. One child is playing alone on the unused railroad track, while five children are playing on the active rail. Suddenly, a rain is spotted on the tracks heading straight towards the five children. You have to decide what to do. 1) Do you divert the train onto the unused track to save five children while sacrificing the lone child on the other track? or 2) Would you let the train continue on its path towards the group of five children? What would you do? Most people would in an instant answer that they would sacrifice the lone child to save the group of five children. Sacrifice one in the name of saving many. It's the rational and logical solution. It's for the better "good" of society. One death is better than five. However, there is more. There is a dilemma. The great critic Leo Velski Julian (do you know ...