Opinions

How good are you at calming yourself?

Nervous, worried, anxious, stressed – call it what you will, each day offers moments that trigger our system. There’s no avoiding them: it’s simply figuring out how to manage them. And let’s be clear – stress isn’t all bad. Note the authors at calm.com: “One type of stress, known as...

What’s in a name?

Setting out from Hamburg, Germany, one day to give a concert in London, violinist Fritz Kreisler had an hour before his boat sailed. He wandered into a music shop, where the proprietor asked if he could look at the violin Kreisler was carrying. He then vanished and returned with two...

Learn to keep the peace at work

“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.” - St. Francis of Assisi What is the price and value of peace to you? To what extremes do you go to keep the peace at work or home? Are you, by nature, the peacemaker during a conflict? What do you...

Dig in and grow your inner peace with a garden

“Into the garden I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” – attributed to John Muir, environmentalist I love this quote. It captures the essence of what being outside in the garden means to me. A garden provides a place to escape the stress and worries of everyday life to the...

‘Don’t touch the thermostat!’

"Be a thermostat, not a thermometer." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The earliest recorded history of the thermostat dates back to 1620 when the Dutch inventor Cornelius Drebbel used mercury to control the temperature in chicken coops. Later, in 1830, Andrew Ure, a Scottish chemist,...

Are you Type A, Type B, or Type U?

Some notions seem to linger. The idea that you and I have either a Type A or Type B personality has lingered for more than 60 years. It’s probably time to let that go. The concept arrived in the late 1950s, courtesy of two cardiologists who bid to link personality types to health outcomes....

Readers offer support for shops impacted by Publix construction

It has been over six weeks since the Daniel Island Publix closed for demolition and renovation. The absence of a grocery store anchor for the shopping center is impacting the other small local businesses at the center. In general, losing an anchor grocery store can cause a ripple effect of...

D-Day: Operation Mount Pleasant

The sun had not yet risen. My Aunt Toogie and my lovely wife, Grace, were in the kitchen chatting softly in the darkness. When I reached to turn on a wall switch, Toogie whispered, “Ix-nay on the overhead lights. This is high-level secret stuff.” Grace turned on a small flashlight,...

Iron Horse basketball coach urges parents to get involved

After seven full seasons as head coach of the boys’ varsity basketball team at Philip Simmons High School, something that I have noticed about our school and our program that stands out is our team’s parents. I’ve been lucky enough to have incredibly involved and passionate parents who...

Readers share how they met their Valentine

We asked: In the rom-com genre when the main characters are introduced to each other it’s often under a situation they call the “meet-cute.” They reach for the same cup of coffee at Starbucks. They grab the wrong bags at the airport. They literally run into each other — driving, jogging,...