List/Grid Tag Archives: Personal Development
The Only Piece Of Parenting Advice You’ll Ever Need
If you’ve paid a visit to the parenting section of your local bookstore recently or perused any of the multitude of parenting blogs, forums, or websites in the virtual world, you know that there is no lack of expert opinion on every imaginable child-rearing topic. There are big bucks to be made targeting parents, and that may not be such a bad thing. Personally, I can’t think of a better place to circulate my money than…
Who’s Raising Whom?
Before actually becoming a father, I knew exactly what kind of dad I was going to be: fearless, loving, appropriately stern, but most of all, wise. I would impart the knowledge of the ages, pointing up to the stars as my children gazed in wonder at the fountain of information that poured forth from my lips. It took less than a week of being a dad for me to realize that it was going to…
Embracing Mediocrity
Four years ago, the cheerios and raisins pooled in the crevice between Joaquin’s car seat and the edge of the door would have been vacuumed up. The six-month old credit card bills would have been filed alphabetically before they even hit the office desk. That crusty streak of who-knows-what obscuring the window overlooking the front yard would be history, wiped up with a swift flick of a Windex-soaked rag. Not nowadays. I’m happy to be…
Fatherhood As Hero’s Journey, Act II: Initiation
Having undergone departure from the know world, the hero undergoes Initiation in the unknown. According to the monomyth model, Initiation contains of six stages: The Road of Trials, The Meeting with the Goddess, Woman as Temptress, Atonement with the Father, Apotheosis, and The Ultimate Boon. Please note that, just as in my previous post in this series, I won’t examine every stage in detail, but will instead focus on those that resonate with my experience…
Fatherhood Is For (Inner And Outer) Kids
When we become a dad, we’re thrust into a position of parenting a child who is physically separate from us. We hold their tiny bodies when they cry inexplicably, help them contend with the challenges of learning to relate to others, and wax philosophical when they’re in the throes of confusion over why something just didn’t go the way they wanted it to. With all due respect to the importance of those tasks, after a…
Shame-Free Fatherhood
The first time I saw Joaquin, he was less than two centimeters long, just a squirmy little thing dancing on the sonogram screen. The first thought that popped into my head was, “How am I going to pay for this kid’s education?” That desire blossomed into a deep intention to teach him that there were no limits to what he could do or be as a human being. And because I’ve always strove to lead…
Fatherhood As Hero’s Journey, Act I: Departure
If you missed it, I shared my inspiration for viewing fatherhood as the hero’s journey last week. This post is the first of three that will cover different phases of the hero’s journey and how they relate to being a dad. Before going any further, however, there are a few issues that I’d like to address. First (and I hope this goes without saying), the term ‘hero’ is not a gender-specific. Historically, the journey of…
Fatherhood As Hero’s Journey: Prologue
When I was 11 or 12 years old, my favorite book was D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths. I have fond memories of staying up late into the night engrossed in grand stories of mythic beings whose personalities and (sometimes rash) decisions shaped the lives of “us humans.” Prometheus’ compassion, Athena’s wisdom, and what seemed to a lucky streak for the ages in the tale of Perseus were constant companions through my early teens. The mythology…
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