The other day, I overheard Susan reading a much-beloved children’s book to a young grandson. Over the years, between reading to our own children and now to the next generation, she has probably read this book and many others hundreds of times. With each reading, she gains pleasure from affirming a relationship with the child...
A business professional in Michigan named Ken Lingenfelter owns about 230 cars. Entertainer Jay Leno has about 170 and Jerry Seinfeld owns about 150. Each of those avid car collectors has a list of a few more cars that he’d really love to acquire but knows he probably won’t. Healthy people eventually recognize that nobody...
Dale Carnegie’s book How to Win Friends and Influence People appeared years before Mark Zuckerberg elevated the importance of acquiring friends on Facebook. Yet, most healthy people realize that collecting “friends” only to further your own interests or in a fake world has nothing in common with establishing authentic relationships. Let’s see if we can...
One of the big reasons that some people flourish while others just remain frustrated by their painful circumstances is shame. Shame about failing or about having failed. The mortification is painful enough to prevent any further attempts. Of the hundreds of world cultures identified and studied by the great social anthropologist, Joseph Daniel Unwin, by...
When I was a teenager, my parents sent me to study Torah in Israel with my great-uncle, Rabbi Elya Lopian. Watching and listening to a man who was a giant of ancient Jewish wisdom opened my eyes to spiritual reality. Large numbers of young men from around the world flocked to study with him at...
Try persuading today’s university students that making money is both dignified and moral. That’s what I did last week when I addressed 13,000 students at the Liberty University Convocation in Virginia. I not only told them that making money was a virtuous activity but I proved it. And they whooped, hollered and cheered. But remember,...
A few years ago, a large construction company was uneasy about having to change managers in the middle of an important project. They consulted me after they placed Jennifer in charge of developing the new financial controls system. I soon discovered that though she was familiar with the work plan and project definition, she was...
There are several ways in which people communicate with me. Some call in to my radio show on Sundays (415) 808-5600 at KSFO San Francisco, while others email me from either www.rabbidaniellapin.com or from www.towardtradition.org Either way, I do get the email, read it all, and respond to about 25% even if the response is …
