Category Archives: Truth

If It’s Not a Clear Yes, It’s a No

If it’s not a clear yes, it’s a no. The phrase tests our clarity and commitment. It doesn’t apply in every situation that might be answered, “maybe, maybe not.” Not everything can be or should be clear cut. But the phrase may have distinctive value when it is a way of asking ourselves about situations […]

January 31, 2020 – 2:59 pm | By Dan Oestreich | Posted in Openness, Self-Knowledge, Truth | Comments (0)

On Blind Spots

If you must be strong, you’ll react every time you see yourself being weak. You will stamp out weakness by being especially strong, displaying what your strength looks like so even you can see it. This may well have side effects, including looking especially weak and self-centered as you beat up on others. If you […]

March 18, 2019 – 4:41 pm | By Dan Oestreich | Posted in Conflict, Reflective Leadership, Self-Knowledge, Truth | Comments (0)

Do You Know Who You Are?

Take your basic interpersonal conflict as an example. The issue is the way she treats me or he treats me. Why doesn’t he or she treat me better? On the surface, it’s not at all about what I might do differently, but what the other person ought to be doing or not doing. This is […]

July 25, 2018 – 1:07 pm | By Dan Oestreich | Posted in Choices, Grief, Listening, Self-Knowledge, Truth, Wounds | Comments (0)

On Not Waiting for Superman

Michael Meade, mythologist and storyteller, says there are three layers of human interaction: “If the First Layer of human interaction is the common ground of manners, kind speech, polite greeting, and working agreements; if the Third Layer is the area of deeply shared humanity, the universal brotherhood and sisterhood of all people, of the underlying, […]

February 11, 2017 – 6:34 pm | By Dan Oestreich | Posted in Choices, Conflict, Truth | Comments (3)