participation Archives - Blocks of Life

March 16, 2024February 15, 2024 by Pete Wiley

Keeping your Sense of Self with Others

I just returned from an annual weekend in the woods with my college friends. We do this every year, and this year was our fortieth!! I (obviously) love spending time with those guys, and we know each other as well as friends can. We spend time catching up, “reveling,” making chili, and playing cards (pitch). For the duration of the event, we are with each other every moment. There are few people I would be able or willing to spend this much time with all in one go, but these guys are in that category. It is still a challenge, not because of anything they do, but because being with people generally is challenging for me—especially when it’s constant and for an extended time. The introversion voice is strong.

May 27, 2023April 6, 2023 by Pete Wiley

Breadth of Experience—the Benefits of Dabbling

Throughout our lives, we have the opportunity to encounter an enormous variety of activities and experiences. Some may seem out of reach—either because we feel we’re not talented enough or because it would be too hard to become proficient. Maybe we feel we wouldn’t enjoy it or that it’s out of our comfort zone. But the fact is, these reasons are just excuses. We won’t really know if something is possible unless we try.Trying something doesn’t mean making a long-term commitment. We can try activities in the short term and see if we have an aptitude for it or if we enjoy it. On the other hand, we shouldn’t stop doing something without giving it a chance—it might grow on us or we might enjoy it once we get some experience and get even a little bit better.Ultimately, the more things we try, the more likely it will be that we will find our passion.

October 29, 2022October 21, 2022 by Pete Wiley

Awestruck—How to Keep a Sense of Childlike Wonder

When we are children, so much of what we experience is new and exciting to us. Childlike wonder is a marvelous thing, and no other feeling is quite like it. It is excitement in the very heart of our being. Part of the feeling is due to the newness of childhood experiences—we’ve never previously considered them as a possibility. As we get older and have a range of experiences behind us, our ability to recapture that feeling falls off dramatically. We may still have new experiences, but they have familiar elements—they aren’t completely foreign to us. When we get to this point in our lives, we risk becoming jaded—not even being open to the kind of childlike wonder that we experienced in our youth. Can we keep the ability to find wonder in the world?

in Open Mind / Proactive / Uncategorized 0 comments

September 17, 2022September 16, 2022 by Pete Wiley

Wanderlust–Exploring Your World and Yourself

I love to travel. I’ve done a good bit of it, but I’d like to travel a lot more. What is it about travel that makes people so excited? It can certainly have its share of headaches and hassles. But when people think about or plan their travels, they’re exuberant. They can’t wait to go, hassles and all. The great thing about being on the road (or in the air, or on the water, or on the rails) is the sense of adventure, of exploring something new or unknown. The same feeling can happen when we stretch our boundaries of our experiences, our outlooks, and our thinking. By exposing ourselves to new experiences and new ideas, we can grow in much the same way that we do when we travel. And growth is part of any meaningful life.

in Mindful / Open Mind 0 comments

March 5, 2022February 24, 2022 by Pete Wiley

Hanging in There—Joy and Pain from Long-Term Relationships

New people are easy. You meet them, you chat, you get to know each other—there’s no long-term baggage or expectations. There’s also no lingering bad blood or long-term irritants. It’s a fresh canvas and you’re both painting. But as time goes on, you develop a history. Much of that history is likely very good—you wouldn’t stay connected so long if it wasn’t. You may have periods where you don’t see each other that much, but when you do get back together it seems that no time has passed. You pick up right where you left off. You have a true and solid connection with each other, and it’s part of who you are. But there are also elements of the relationship that aren’t ideal. It may be a personality quirk that irritates you (and irritates you more over time). It may be a certain belief or opinion they have that doesn’t jibe with your worldview, and they have to bring it up. It may be some incident in your past that’s hard for you to let go. The relationship is not all wine and roses, but ultimately, no relationship is.

in Emotions / Open Mind 1 comments