Parenting or should we say mothering teenagers has been a challenge through ages. We prefer to use mothering, as generally dads are busy with making moolah while the moms, even though working, deal directly with their teenage children. Now talking about challenges, it’s a bigger challenge in a country like India with its ever evolving culture and society. As we open to global (read western) ways of life, our teenagers are becoming more independent and liberal. Though there’s also a culture of more teenagers picking up vocational jobs, but that’s just vocational, limited to a couple of months. For the rest of the year, they depend on pocket money to take care of their ever increasing needs. In such a scenario, it’s not wise to deny th...

When I first started writing this, it was about dealing with disappointment and moving through it. Today, I had to erase what I originally wrote because of a tragedy in the life of Karen, one of my dearest friends. This morning her five year old grandson, Matthew, died from complications of a bone marrow transplant. His little brother, Andrew, died from the same thing last August. Both children had a genetically transmitted blood disease, very rare--only a few children in the world (as far as I know under twenty) had manifested this particular strain. They were being treated by specialists in Cincinnati who did everything humanly possible to save their lives. Sadly, that didn't happen. I had the honor of getting to know Matthew ...

I recently was reminded that great achievements involve great risks.  So what really constitutes a great risk? I'm thinking that it is anything that pushes us out of our comfort zones and requires extra effort to put into motion.  That may seem too minor, but after working most of my life in personal development of one sort or another, I know how difficult it is for human beings to change the way they do things. The other side of this is what constitutes a great achievement? I am acutely aware that being in my sixties, I have a tendency to look back at my life and forward toward my future and question whether I have been or will be of any true value to my world.  I can see that I was less conscious of this when I was young...