I spotted a fat black spider sitting in chaotic web in the corner of our kitchen. In order to remove the animal, I picked up the spider with my hand and proudly showed it my lovely wife Idske. She dryly remarked “honey, you are holding a black widow.” I walked over to...

When my plane arrived at Amsterdam airport, the gate was occupied and our plane had to wait at the apron for the gate to open up. Once we deplaned and cleared immigration, we waited a long time for our luggage. My brother Janwillem picked me up, and I felt bad for him...

A sharp pain radiated into my leg, walking was extremely painful, and my walk had turned into a pathetic shuffle. I could not believe this happened to me, a fanatic runner who ran an ultra-marathon a year before! It is true that my daughter Julia told me for years to...

Whenever we say something, whenever we meet somebody, whenever we go somewhere, we leave a trace in the sense that after our encounter we have changed something. That change may be obvious and lasting, for example when a person that we talked to has an aha-moment. But...

This is what my daughter Julia asked me when we were preparing to run an ultra-marathon. I did not understand her question, and she explained that one can train at three levels: red, orange, and green. Training at the red level involves going all out, it is a...

On a bike ride in Evergreen, Colorado, I encountered the elk shown in the picture next to the statue of Saint Francis of Assisi. This was an amazing encounter because Saint Francis is the patron of animals. I wanted to take a photo of this scene. Since I am clumsy...

This is not a post about running as a physical activity, running is a metaphor for the way in which our life unfolds. We can run the course of our life in different ways, we can run from something, we can run in circles, or we can run to something. These are different...

Stacking firewood by placing logs on their side allows logs to dry because the water does not infiltrate along cut ends. The image shows the woodpile of one of my neighbors. Since I love stacking and splitting firewood, I was intrigued by her woodpile and asked why...

I was a junior professor, stressed and working myself to exhaustion yet still feeling inadequate both at work and at home. So, when three students from my introductory programming course came to my office at the end of the semester with concerns about their grades, I...

This is what Eve Mozur, one of the teachers in the Teaching with Heart program, wrote in her intention for how she wants to show up in the classroom. Do you recognize the experience that you drive somewhere, and after you arrive at your destination you realize that...