Morning Briefings

When Maurice Johnson was laid off a year ago from his six-figure salary it wasn’t his future he was worried about. It was his children’s. Mr. Johnson’s two oldest are attending Johns Hopkins, at an annual cost of $50,000 a piece and his youngest daughter recently began her own college search. Johnson isn’t sure whether he’ll be able to help her go to college, or even to get the older kids to graduation.

– Mary Pilon
Bank of Mom and Dad Shuts Down Amid White-Collar Struggle

Life is much more than coping and adjusting. Mysterious as it may be, there is something wonderful at the heart of our existence, and it is about nothing other than love: love for God, love for one another, love for creation, love for life itself.

– Gerald G. May, MD
The Dark Night of the Soul: A Psychiatrist Explores the Connection Between Darkness and Spiritual Growth

Connecting people to fix the world over time is the deepest spiritual value you can have.

– Craig Newmark, Founder of Craigslist

If there’s one piece of wisdom that this simple pilgrim would like to impart upon you: have the courage to start with the customer. My biggest regrets are the moments that I let a lack of data override my intuition on what’s best for our customers. This leadership change gives you some breathing room to break bad habits and deliver sustainable customer happiness – don’t waste the opportunity!

– Andrew Mason, from Nicholas Carlson’s
Groupon CEO Andrew Mason’s Honest, Charming Goodbye Memo: ‘I Was Fired Today’, Business Insider

I leave from where the Apostle arrived.

– Pope Benedict XVI

Pray for our enemies. I’m telling you it really works. You’ve got some guy busting your chops day after day, you can’t stand it any longer. Start praying for them because I swear it’s about a 90% chance that they’re coming right up to you in about a month and saying, ‘hey you know, I don’t disagree with you as much as I thought I do.’

– Fr. Robert Spitzer
from a November 2009 speech before Orange Coast Legatus

Things do not change; we change.

– Henry David Thoreau

Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.

– Abraham Lincoln

The devil finds work for idle hands. Unemployment we long ago learned creates severe psychological disturbances, not because of economic deprivation, but primarily because it undermines self-respect.

– Peter F. Drucker
The Daily Drucker: 366 Days of Insight and Motivation for Getting the Right Things Done

As uncomfortable as our life might be, as painful or even desperate at times, the life we’re living is the life we know, and we cling to the old rather than try something new. It’s unbelievable how tenaciously we cling to what we’ve prayed to be released from.

– Marianne Williamson
A Return to Love