In a world of increasing Artificial Intelligence, are you missing the human touch? I am. In 1992, Bruce Springsteen penned a song titled “Human Touch”. I suppose he was ahead of his time.

image source; Unsplash by ThisisEngineering RAEng

These days, the human touch seems to be missing, a dreadful consequence of automated life. It’s not that I’m a super social butterfly–in some ways I am the opposite. I prefer to remain in my studio, as many writers and artists do, rather than host a party for example.

I used to post a quote of the week, every week! That was way back in 2012/13-ish. So I came across this quote on Instagram and it resonated. It was 3 am, but I don’t think that had anything to do with it. 🙂

source; unsplash by allef vinicius

Well, I’m sitting in a smokey haze. It’s not that I’ve taken up smoking but it’s the forest, wild-fire smoke that has blown into town this week. It’s cast a yellow tint to everything including my brain.

Maybe it’s a summer slacker thing, but I’ve been avoiding my blog.

In yoga class, often the teacher will ask you to “set your intention” for practice. In my first year of taking yoga class, this request would stump me. What is my intention for today’s class? Hmmm.

What do Forrest Gump and Donald Trump have in common? They both made it to the White House, for starters. So, if life is like a box of chocolates in Forrest Gump’s time then what is it now? Perhaps it’s like a bag of chips?

image-by-Creative-Commons-Ninha-Morandini

I’m not sure what chapter I’m in but I hope it’s somewhere in the middle. The saggy middle. That’s the part of the story where we have to continue the suspense and rising action or we’ll get bored and abandon the book. How many chapters will our life even contain? While we don’t know the answer to this, an unknown ending is what keeps us moving forward.

“Lisa, you’ve changed.” he said. I wanted to answer;

“Yes, you’ve changed me.” Instead, I simply stared and waited for him to finish his point, which he did not.

I won’t say who said it or when. I will say that it’s been said by more than one person. I will also say that it’s true. I have changed. Since when? I’m not sure…but I have changed. Here’s the thing, I’m a human being. I’m not an inanimate object. If I’m not changing then I must be dead.

It’s okay to change isn’t it?

I saw this quote on facebook the other day and I thought it was so beautiful:

“We rise by lifting others.”

I’m not sure who said it but it sounds very much like the late poet Maya Angelou. I was inspired to paint it on a small canvas to hang somewhere in my apartment…

We’ll lift one another up but when people push us down, we’ll lift ourselves first.

I wrote a post about how to tell the difference between a run of the mill A**hole and a Narcissist. I wrote it about six months ago and it has quickly topped my most popular blog ranking. Yes, there is a difference between an A**hole and a Narcissist and apparently many folks are interested in the subject. Next, I wrote about managing the narcissist in your life. I covered many tips and examples of how to handle the narcissist.

So, now let’s remind ourselves why we are foolish to continue relationships with Narcs and why sometimes even setting boundaries isn’t enough.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a quote of the week. I was going to review the movie “Cake” with Jennifer Aniston here at the blog but when I watched the trailer it looked too depressing. Don’t let the title fool you, it isn’t fluffy and sweet. So, I didn’t go.  If you’ve seen the movie let me know your thoughts on it in the comments. Instead today’s post is short & sweet. I want to share this quote: