Meaning

I am so in awe. Awe ô/ noun 1. 
a feeling of reverential respect We just completed the first cohort of CAPP in Philadelphia. Wow, what an amazing bunch of extra-ordinary hu/man be~ings. Really. Wow. I always knew they were special. In fact, when we started the class in March, an intuitive told me that many of us traveled together in former lives. For some of you, this sounds funny. For us, though, it resonates. Just imagine the good travel buddies (I hope) you have in this life (you know, the ones you have that make “vacation” easy breezy and funnnn) and multiply that...

I will share with you an essay my brother, Todd (1971-1991) wrote as one of his personal statements for admittance to college in 1989. Todd was always attuned to environmental causes and even founded and named the club which still exists in our high school alma mater today, SOPE (Save Our Planet Earth). I love how he begins the essay with the Stevenson quote on love and ends with a call-to-action for SOcial-eMOtional leaders to "give a little more care" to the environment, our responsibility. He says, "These things can be measured only in terms of the satisfaction of living." Without...

The field of positive psychology lost a great friend and contributor today: Dr. Chris Peterson (1950-2012). [caption id="attachment_934" align="alignleft" width="321"] RIP CP.And thank you.[/caption] You may know Dr. Peterson as the guy who researched the VIA: the character strengths inventory we use often in SOMO Leadership Labs. (We're also using his book in SOMO 300!) He put a lot of work into this tool, combing the world's many moral texts for a ubiquitous classification of strengths and virtues. I know him as Chris, one of my professors in grad school. What an amazing teacher: humorous, zestful (in his own way) and wise -...

The following prayer was written by General Douglas MacArthur and I post it today for my father, Louis T. Alloro, who does not live in vain. I love you, dad. "Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory. Build me a son whose wishbone will not be where his backbone should be; a son who will know Thee...

If God Invited you to a party And said, ‘Everyone In the ballroom tonight Will be my special Guest…’ How would you then treat them When you Arrived? Indeed, indeed! And I know There is no one in this world Who Is not upon His Jeweled Dance Floor Khwajeh Shams al-Din Muhammad Hafez-e Shirazi was a Persian mystic and poet. He was born sometime between the years 1310-1337 in Shiraz, Persia (now Iran)....

[caption id="attachment_2060" align="alignright" width="224"] RIP Todd Louis Alloro (1971-1991)[/caption] --twenty years ago today. I was weeks shy of my 13th birthday and Todd had just turned 20. I remember waking up that morning to voices in the kitchen below. "Too early to be nana's pinochle game," I thought (She was watching us because as my parents were away for the weekend). Half asleep, I walked downstairs to hear the tragic news that changed our lives forever . . . I remember parts of that day -- awful and heart wrenching -- especially seeing my parents return home & get out of their car,...

[caption id="attachment_283" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Rocco always has to sniff for just the right spot."][/caption] It’s all about animal instinct. My one-year old dog, Rocco, has been reminding me of this lately. When I hear him bark at a foreign noise in the stairwell – or when he has to pee atop another dog’s urine, as if to signify, “I am here, I am best.” It reminds me of bullies, those who piss on other people. Bullies are animals. Animals are not always bullies (Rocco is sweet, just like his dad). Bullies exist not just on the playgrounds, but in the workplace too....

➢ Use your VIA Strengths (measure them free by clicking here) to build energy and create momentum for how you be in the world. If you’re high on gratitutde for example, find innovative ways to use your gratitude, express your gratitude, be your gratitude. This will fuel your fire. ➢ Try not to let the pressure of time be against you. Time is highly paradoxical. It is not linear the way we have set it up to be. Love exactly where you are. After all, where else can you be? ➢ Remember the importance of clearing space to gain clarity and enlightenment - ending your...

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