by Monica A. Coleman | Apr 12, 2011 | Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
My favorite slogan of the environmental movement is the edict that we should: “live simply so others can simply live.” It’s a basic truism that most of us who are living in the world’s wealthiest nations find incredibly difficult to enact. The everyday components of...
by Monica A. Coleman | Apr 5, 2011 | Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
While many individuals around the world play harmless pranks and jokes on their friends and colleagues, April first marks a different kind of celebration for me. April first marks the beginning of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. April first is also the anniversary of...
by Monica A. Coleman | Feb 16, 2011 | Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
This is part three of three parts. See part one “cry it out” and part two “falling” Human beings have long admired and envied a bird’s ability to soar through the skies. I imagine that this initiated the design of the kite, and reaches its pinnacle in space...
by Monica A. Coleman | Feb 9, 2011 | Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
This is part two of three parts. See last week’s part one, “cry it out” In 2001, the rock band, Creed, released their album Weathered that featured a song that climbed into the top ten of the Billboard music charts. “One Last Breath” has stayed with me in the...
by Monica A. Coleman | Jan 31, 2011 | Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
I experience one of life’s greatest pleasures when a child hugs me. Warm fuzzies head to toe in less than two seconds. When I was a child, hugging adults usually conveyed a familial or extended family relationship, and joy for the adult’s presence. And like many other...
by Monica A. Coleman | Jan 19, 2011 | Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
I’ve long felt that the Christmas season begins too early and ends too soon. This is not a religious complaint. It’s a commercial complaint. In the consumer culture of the United States, Christmas decorations appear in drug stores and grocery markets before Halloween....
by Monica A. Coleman | Dec 17, 2010 | Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
The American holiday of Thanksgiving kicks off a season where a spirit of gratitude pervades society. From the media to faith communities, the notion of thankfulness abounds. I’ve always found it problematic that the value of gratitude is so closely tied to an...
by Monica A. Coleman | Nov 19, 2010 | Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
I’m not a big fan of self-help books. It’s not that they don’t contain any wisdom or truth. It’s just that I prefer – perhaps even need – more human interaction. But let’s be honest, a book is far cheaper than a life-coach, therapist or weekly lunch with a good...
by Monica A. Coleman | Nov 5, 2010 | Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but I’ll never forget what you said.” That’s the truer version of the playground retort bullied children are supposed to use when maliciously teased. Although the original – “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will...
by Monica A. Coleman | Oct 25, 2010 | Monica's Blog, The Beautiful Mind Blog
Physics was my most difficult class in high school. Every time the teacher posed a question and asked the class for an answer, I got it wrong. I did the equations and exercises and pushed around those little wooden carts, and still never really got it. Even...
