Menu

Posts tagged with “bonding”

How to Make the Most of Our Time with the People We Love

By

“Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” ~Robert Brault

With only a few more months until my son leaves for college, I am a mindfulness teacher wrestling with my own heart and mind.

While avoiding the frequent mom conversations about “empty nesting,” I’m struggling to admit that my last child leaving home may be harder than I thought. Ironic, since working skillfully with difficult emotions is exactly what I teach.

Every school event I attend feels like a heavy, steady march toward graduation day. Yesterday in the …

From Professional to Personal: The Unexpected Joy of Workplace Friendship

By

“Chance made us colleagues. Fun and laughter made us friends.” ~Unknown 

A year into my new job, I realized that the hardest part wasn’t the complexity of the work—it was the culture. The office felt like a maze of silos, each person isolated in their corner. The hierarchy was more than just a structure—it was something everyone was constantly reminded of. I was used to navigating high-pressure, competitive environments, but this one was different.

As a woman in STEM, I had learned early on to keep my personal life separate from my work life. This boundary helped me maintain control, …

Connect Without Complaining

By

“Instead of complaining the rose bush is full of thorns, be happy the thorn bush has roses.”~Proverb

Complaining can be a bonding experience.

You meet up with your friends after work and immediately start rehashing frustrations with your boss. You have dinner with your siblings and commiserate about confrontations with your black-sheep uncle. Or you release tension on a blind date by noticing the wait staff’s shortcomings.

Commiserating is a great way to immediately establish rapport. In that moment you feel connected—you  both have grievances, problems, and wishes for a better world.

It’s even easier to do in a challenging …