Leaning Toward Wisdom

It's a question. Not a statement. Here in Texas, our "stay at home" order (issued by the governor) ends tomorrow, Thursday, April 30, 2020. Starting Friday, May 1st, stores can open up at 25% capacity. The exceptions are hair salons, bars and health clubs. If things continue to improve (some argue that they may not be improving), then the governor said he'll modify his executive order to elevate the capacities to 5...

It's been about 5 weeks since this whole stay-safe-at-home began. Today, it's a rambling-mess documenting my effort of continuing to cope with Covid. You can judge how well or how poorly I'm holding up. Early on, I know many of us, including me, thought this might be much ado about nothing. But there are real people behind the fatality numbers. Here's just one example that happened more than 2 weeks ago... I wis...

Today's show is a video. I decided against live streaming 'cause I'm just not a live streaming guy. Okay, mostly I'm a chicken. I'll give some words that distill today's episode: Compassion Understanding Judgment I'm coping with COVID by trying to better understand. I hope you and yours are safe, and well. Links you may want to check out (mentioned in today's show): Ed Sheeran's looper...

Happy Friday the 13th. No, I'm not superstitious. The best definition I ever heard of overthinking is creating problems that are never there. Today let me encourage us to just do stuff while avoiding thinking of all the things that could go wrong. Today it's about thinking what if it goes right. What if it goes well. 'Cause it could. It might. But we'll never know if we don't try. Fear stops us, but today nee...

“If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will think it’s stupid.”  - Albert Einstein Let's personalize it. If YOU judge yourself by your inability to do something, you'll think you're stupid. There are many things you're not. Many thing you cannot do. That doesn't mean you're a failure or stupid. It merely means those aren't likely the things you should pursue. Those aren't your elem...

How are those New Year's resolutions working out for you? Have you given up on them yet? The odds are you've already quit. And if you haven't, you will. Almost everybody does. Sad, huh? Maybe. Maybe not. There's good news and bad news. Let's start with the bad news. You won't do anything you don't want to do. Well, actually that can be good news if you think about it in more positive ways than most peo...

I'm working on a new episode, but in the meantime, I thought I'd produce this special episode answering some of the questions I get. A number of these questions come fairly regularly. Enjoy! When did Leaning Toward Wisdom begin? What got you started in podcasting? What happened to Project #CravingEncouragement? Do you make money podcasting? How much? What was the point in starting Leaning Toward Wisdom? Where i...

“So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their endings.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again Some years ago Dr. Henry Cloud wrote a book entitled, Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward. Experience has taught me that this isn't easy for some. They struggle to say, "No." Or to quit something, even if they know ...

Welcome to a new season of Leaning Toward Wisdom. It's season 2020. Surely a year of clarity - at least we hope so - for many of us. I've got some new things in store for you this year. The first is something you're hearing, a different microphone. It's a mic made by a company I'd never heard of before (neither had anybody else), TechZone Audio Products.  I won't bore you with the minutia, but you're ...

"I’m sorry I can't, I just don't want to." I've long known that "NO" is a complete sentence, but it doesn't mean I've practiced it. Largely because people can be very impolite. And pushy! Not long ago I told somebody I would not be present at an event. Pressed I truthfully said I had some things that required my attention before heading out of town. The pressing and ridicule began. A common tac...

Photograph of Ronny F. Wade by Andrew Weaver We were little boys. Stanley and me. Best friends from our beginnings. A "Halloween" ;) costume party. All the friends of our folks were there. Dressed in garb where hiding one's real identity was the goal. We were gathered inside the garage, sitting in a circle with folks mingling...watching all the new arrivals. Up the driveway walking like Frankenstein was a gray robot. ...

Jim Collison Today's Project #CravingEncouragement story comes from Jim Collison. Find him at The Average Guy website. Thanks, Jim for the encouragement, friendship, and support. Jim was one of the very first financial contributors to helping me get the Rode Rodecaster Pro here inside The Yellow Studio. You'll hear Jim's stories at the very end of the episode.   "Old men are dangerous: it doesn't matter to...

"Steal a little and they'll put you in jail, steal a lot and they'll make you king."     - Bob Dylan That's a line from his song, Sweetheart Like You. Life has many thieves. Yes, many of them are people - robbers and thieves - but that's not the subject today. Today it's about the things that rob us of much more than money. Even though the thieves in the illustration for the show-notes have bags of m...

me and Stanly inside The Yellow Studio - June 17, 2010 Today's show mostly features audio that was recorded here inside The Yellow Studio on the weekend of July 17, 2010. My lifelong best friend Stanley came to visit. I want you to lean more heavily into the close friendships you've got. Make more of them. Do it today. The moments are precious. Randy   Heb. 11:4 "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacr...

Twice this week I got phone calls. From two separate people. People I care about. Not family. But people I love just the same. Two different people. Two different circumstances. Different challenges. Two people who trust me enough to lean on me for support. Two people who know me well enough (and who have let me know them well enough) to understand I'm a judgment-free zone. This week was a rather slow week. ;) I almost neve...

 Music fuels a lot of episodes around here. Today's show is no different. It was sparked by a song that Drew and Ellie Holcomb recorded on their last record, Dragons (August 2019). Track 3, "But I'll Never Forget The Way You Make Me Feel." Drew and Ellie met in college. They're both 37. They've been married for about 13 years. I don't know much more than that, except what we can discern from th...

The Yellow Studio circa September 2019 It only took one day. To dismantle the Yellow Studio. It took a small generous community of podcast supporters. To help make it become a reality. Rode Rodecaster Pro now residing inside The Yellow Studio The donors are now on a special email list where I've been keeping them updated. This group will continue to remain special and enjoy some inside updates. It's just one small way I...

I pulled the trigger on the Rode Rodecaster Pro. You're listening to it now. I'll update you on what's happening here inside The Yellow Studio at the end of the show. Thanks to everybody who contributed. I'll be reaching out in the next few weeks to get the Skype calls scheduled. Randy   Some nights ago. I don't remember what day. Or night. It's 2:15 am and I'm wide awake. Not uncommon. I fire up ...

“It is better to be alone than in bad company.” ― George Washington Good stories have villains. Enemies. Antagonists. Good stories have a protagonist. A champion. One hated by the villain. One constantly under besiege of the evil. Which are you? Do you know? “You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.” ― Winston Churchill In my insomnia, I've recently been binge-watching the M...