When we were little we used to make bets by crossing our pinkie fingers. These bets were binding, social contracts that we honored religiously (especially if they involved morning loaf in boarding school), and are one of my earliest lessons on honor and keeping my word. I’d never questioned why we used our pinkie fingers […]
Einstein’s Theory of Relativity Think of a drop of water in relation to a puddle in the ground. Then think of that puddle in relation to a lake. Now, think of a lake in relation to the ocean, and the ocean in relation to planet earth. Earth is a fairly big planet yet when compared […]
It’s a fast, fast world we’re living in now. We barely have the time to stop and breathe. You can see it in the cities, people rushing like rats in a maze, cracking their knuckles, urgency in their voices when they’re talking on the phone. Every deal is a once in a lifetime deal. It’s […]
The carpenter I hired to help me restore an old farmhouse had just finished a rough first day on the job. A flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric saw quit, and now his ancient pickup truck refused to start. While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. On arriving, he invited […]
In Japan, in a village near the capital city, there lived an old samurai. One day when he was conducting a class for his students, one young warrior, who was famous for his rudeness and cruelty, approached the samurai. His favorite technique was provocation: he would make his opponent so indignant that, blinded by rage, […]
I have found the hardest part about anger is being angry at someone who is oblivious to how much they hurt you. You see them going about their lives, unperturbed, unaware of the hurting going on inside you, and even when you don’t, it plagues your thoughts. You feel the rage burning inside of you […]
It is just as it sounds – vague and confusing. Ambiguous loss is one that occurs without closure or understanding. It leaves a person feeling upset and searching for answers. It is a difficult kind of loss, because more often than not one’s feelings of angst are invalidated either by family, friends or community. For […]
Ah yes, rejection. It starts early in life, but no one actually tells us how to deal with it. In our early lives our caretakers may try to shield us from it, but they never actually tell us how to get past it. It is the kind of thing that we learn as we go […]
If you have ever felt ashamed, then you know just how severely it withers you. It makes you feel small. It bores into your self-esteem and corrodes it fervently. Shame takes away your self-worth. It persuades you to agree with other people who deem you unworthy. Sometimes good people do bad things. That doesn’t make them […]
The Hooting Owl uses cookies to personalize content and ads to make our blog easier for you to use. We do also consume that information for advertising & analytics. If you continue to use this blog we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok Got it!More info
