Mark McMinn
The Day after Thanksgiving
A hand is “a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm.” Biologically true, yes, but lacking the poetry...
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Grace Swirls Blog
Mark McMinn
Oct 304 min read
The Case for Community
Twenty years ago the word "community" started showing up everywhere and, to be perfectly honest, it annoyed me. It seemed like a fad, and...
Mark McMinn
Oct 134 min read
Lions and Tigers and Bears
I'll start, you finish: Lions and Tigers and Bears... In one of the most famous lines from the 1939 classic, The Wizard of Oz , three...
Mark McMinn
Oct 64 min read
How to Sell Quiet. And Not.
Rachel Feintzig is the Work & Life columnist for The Wall Street Journal . The WSJ bio blurb about Ms. Feintzig notes that she focuses,...
Mark McMinn
Sep 163 min read
The Bejeebers Profanity Incident
Attending the Wendell Berry Reading Group gathering last month, I discovered I may have stumbled into unintentional profanity. While...
Mark McMinn
Aug 313 min read
Saying More about Saying Less
Authors have a tinge of arrogance. Well, maybe more than a tinge. It takes some hubris to believe we have something important to say to...
Mark McMinn
Aug 162 min read
The Grace of Gentling Places
Angry has its own verb (anger). Judgmental also has one (judge). Doesn't it seem that gentle should have one, too? It turns out it does....
Mark McMinn
Jul 314 min read
Facing the Shadow of Shame
This post breaks the rules. Rule #1: Keep everything simple. It's a good rule for blog-writing and reels where we only have a moment to...
Mark McMinn
Jun 304 min read
How to Make a Grown Man Cry
I’ll answer, but circuitously. Several decades ago, I failed my first attempt at a board certification exam, so I arranged supervision...
Mark McMinn
Jun 153 min read
Let it Be
I was once in a band called Salt. Okay, it wasn't a great band, and I was definitely the weak link. Put a guy with no rhythm on rhythm...
Mark McMinn
May 174 min read
Nothing to Fear. Really?
If you’re a psychologist, counselor, or in another helping profession, do you ever wonder why we do this work? So much of it comes down...
Mark McMinn
Apr 273 min read
Wrapping Up a Quiet Ego
Those iconic sweaters Fred Rogers wore on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood were hand-knitted by his mother, Nancy McFeely Rogers Flagg. She...
Mark McMinn
Apr 163 min read
Grow Thyself
An ancient Greek inscription from at least 2600 years ago reads, “Know Thyself.” This notion captured the attention of many early Greek...
Mark McMinn
Mar 113 min read
Rediscovering Compassion
What's happened to us? In the past week an elected U.S. Representative heckled the President during a nationally televised speech with a...
Mark McMinn
Mar 23 min read
High School Speeches, ChatGPT, and Quieting the Ego: Interdependence
Every couple who has been married a long time has stories they repeat. One of ours has to do with me being salutatorian in high school...
Mark McMinn
Feb 183 min read
Hearing over Goats and Quieting the Ego: Detached Awareness
Lisa, my dear spouse, tends Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats who often show up in her blog posts. I may have rolled my eyes at that a few...
Mark McMinn
Feb 72 min read
Be Still, My Ego
You know that thing where you're in a crowded restaurant and it's hard to hear the people you're with? So you talk louder, and your...
Mark McMinn
Jan 231 min read
Yearning for Grace
In three separate conversations today and yesterday, I have been reminded of how deeply we long to be seen. Beneath our various...
Mark McMinn
Jan 162 min read
Thawing
In northwest Oregon, as with much of the country, we've been enduring some Very Cold weather in recent days. One of my tasks is to swap...
Mark McMinn
Dec 20, 20233 min read
Why Are People So Mean? (and the Grace of the World)
Lisa Graham McMinn and I are each memorizing poems this Advent season, trying to push against the inevitable cognitive slippage of life...
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