FREE! Sign up to receive a free copy of “Restorative Powers of Community Support Systems”

DAVID B. BOHL

Relinquishee, Adoptee, MPE
Author, Speaker.
Person in long-term recovery.

Linkedin Facebook

Living Around Principles vs. Living In Integrity

After I titled this post “Living Around Principles,” it occurred to me that might sound like I mean living by getting around your principles, shoving them aside and living the life you’d be leading if you didn’t have any principles.

Uh, no. I left the title alone because I wanted to go ahead and bring up that idea, and then talk about why it doesn’t work and what I really meant.

Getting around your principles will not create the kind of life you want.

Read More »
October 23, 2007

Experiencing Life: I’m a Rubbernecker

Have you ever driven past an accident scene and craned your neck to see what happened? In life, I’m a rubbernecker. I want to know and do everything. I want to be as informed and active in life as possible.

Read More »
October 22, 2007

Personal Fulfillment: Why Hobbies Matter

In my previous life, before I threw up my hands (and my career as a financial trader), moved to Wisconsin and started living a life I truly enjoyed, I didn’t have time for a hobby. I was like the guy in the recent New Yorker cartoon lying on the beach with his laptop. He says to his wife, “It’s not that I’m a workaholic. I just work to relax.”

If anyone had asked me if I had a hobby I would probably have said, “Yeah, I work. That’s how I spend my free time.” Well, as you probably agree, working between eighty and one hundred hours every week is not exactly conducive to having a hobby, and no, I don’t think working really counts as a hobby.

Read More »
October 19, 2007

Mastering the Art of Living: Happiness, Success, and Fulfillment

I have been giving some thought to what it means to be a master of life. I think “mastering” life breaks down into four areas, and I want to give some attention to each of these areas. I hope that people will think and talk about these ideas. We can all benefit from discussing what it takes to live the life we want, and these are some areas I think are really important.

Read More »
October 18, 2007

The Evolution of Dad Column: My #1 Life’s Lesson

I was recently asked by Dana Glazer, Director of The Evolution of Dad (“A Documentary-In-Progress about the Evolving American Father”), to write about something I’ve learned through my experience as a father.

Dana has graciously included this in his blog The Evolution of Dad Project.

This really got me thinking, as I’ve learned so much throughout my years of making mistakes, correcting them, learning from them, and attempting to change my habits and behavior to create a better life for myself and those around me.

Read More »
October 17, 2007

Your Beliefs and Values: Compassion is a Verb

I love the saying that love is a verb. I believe it’s true, first of all, and I think there’s something very powerful about a phrase that almost everyone seems to recognize or remember hearing.
Lately I’ve been thinking about compassion, and I wondered if it could be a verb.

Read More »
October 16, 2007

Achievement: Chasing the Big Score

o you spend a lot of time chasing the next big deal, the next big success? Some people call it the Big Score. You probably know exactly what I’m talking about when I say ‘Big Score’ because most of the movies these days are about some big score – some big challenge.

In real life, as opposed to movies, many of us are always chasing the next big score, but in reality most of us don’t catch it. I spent years as a financial trader, working ridiculous hours and, admittedly, making ridiculous money. But I was always living in the future. It was always going to be different and better. I was always going to get what I wanted when I got “there.”

Read More »
October 15, 2007

Are You Addicted to Sugar and Caffeine?

When you think of addictions you probably think of alcohol, drugs, gambling, etc. But sugar and caffeine can be habit-forming in their own rights, although to not as strong a degree and not in such a strong physical way.

Read More »
October 12, 2007

A Messy Desk is the Sign of a Messy Desk

I was amused recently to see that one of the major office supply stores now carries not only filing supplies but also, believe it or not, “piling” supplies. These consist mainly of plastic envelopes and folders where you can put everything regarding one project together and leave them on your desk. I haven’t talked to anyone who uses them, but I find it interesting that someone is finally noticing that we don’t always even want to keep our desks clear.

Read More »
October 11, 2007

Happiness and Fulfillment: How to be Childlike (not Childish)

I ran across an article recently that mentioned the difference between ‘childlike’ and ‘childish,’ and called someone to task for childish behavior. The gist of the article was that we want to be childlike, but not childish.

That got me thinking about what childlike is for me, and how it fits in with my goals for personal growth. I also gave some thought to how childishness gets in my way, and how I can keep that from happening.

Read More »
October 10, 2007

Is Going Solo a Career Option for You?

Just about everyone, at some point in their lives, dreams of starting their own business, getting “out of the rat race,” “being the boss.”

If you’re thinking about going solo, either as a freelancer or consultant, or as a business owner in some other type of business, that’s great! I really believe there is a lot to be said for owning your own business and running your own show.

However, I would caution you that things are not always black and white.

Read More »
October 9, 2007

Conflict: Difficult People We Can’t Avoid

I’ve often been asked the best way to deal with difficult people. My answer is that the best way is to avoid them altogether. Of course, that’s not always difficult, so I also have given some thought to how to deal with the difficult people we can’t avoid.

These are people who are part of our lives, at least now, not by our choice but by circumstance, and we just have to learn to get along. We do have the option of not getting along, but that rarely feels good or works out well, so I highly suggest learning to deal with these people in a way that causes everyone involved the least amount of damage and turmoil.

Read More »
October 8, 2007

New Perspective: How About A New Pair of Glasses for Everyone!

If you wear glasses or contacts, or if you’ve ever seen someone put on a new pair of glasses, you understand that when you don new glasses, the world looks fresh and new. You notice things you’ve never seen before, and even though you may see flaws like dirty windows or cracks in the sidewalk, you are so excited just to see everything that you don’t even notice these imperfections.

Putting on new glasses gives you an automatic positive outlook. You may not have ever thought about it like that, but isn’t it true? Don’t you feel better about everything, all the time, for quite a while after putting on new glasses?

Read More »
October 5, 2007
relinquishment and addiction
Publisher
Amazon
parallel universes
Publisher
Amazon
Post Categories
addiction addiction recovery adopted adoptee adoption alcoholism bluemind Coaching coronavirus covid-19 covid19 family fostered grief healing centered engagement naam NAAM18 naam19 newreality orphan recovery recovery capital recovery coaching recovery management Relinquishee relinquishment resilience sober soberlife sobriety spirituality trauma trauma informed care