joeycope.com

The 3 Most Important Words

For years, I’ve been passing on the three most important words in mediation to my students. I say “passing on” because I was taught these three words by my professors, Randy Lowry and Peter Robinson. In those special moments when I share this valuable advice, I’m met with one of three reactions. The most prevalent [...]

Foster Dog Revisited 14

These are past tweets from Foster Dog’s venture into Twitterdom — through my account. She’s been asking for her own Twitter account. What do you think?   So how did you talk Foster Mom into the organic dog food? I asked. Have you never gazed into my lovely blue eyes? Foster Dog queried. In the [...]

Brain Freeze

Growing up, I had an aversion to ice cream.                 Don’t get me wrong, I loved it — perhaps too much. I loved it so much that I ate too much, too fast. And the result was always brain freeze. You know what I’m talking about. That intense [...]

The Survivor of Bethlehem – Part 1

As the cart made its way up the rutted pathway, Andy sat, balancing precariously on the sack of grain that topped the load. Early that morning, his mother had told him that they were “going home.” From the conversations around him, Andy knew that their destination was Bethlehem. He was puzzled. In his six years, [...]

A Passing Year

I’m intrigued with what’s happening in Samoa today  . . . or perhaps tomorrow. As you probably know, the Samoan government decided to skip across the international dateline this year. So, by government decree, December 30th, was outlawed this year. Thus, today, in Samoa is actually tomorrow, December 31st. What would it be like to [...]

Holiday Tradition & Clean Up on Aisle 43

Holiday Tradition (click to hear an audio preview of this post) I knew better. But I had a cup of coffee that I didn’t want to leave in the car. And this was my traditional trek to Wal-Mart to work the Christmas magic that only I can in finding semi-useful, yet unique, items for stockings. Despite [...]

The Creeping Creature of Crudeness

Time zones were about to shift two hours. I had three hours of flying, an hour grabbing my bag and a rent car, and another hour’s drive ahead of me. I would be teaching class tonight in Malibu. Having made this same trip 2 weeks ago, my expectations were pretty clear.  So, rather than settle [...]

Foster Dog Revisited 13

Another look at Foster Dog tweets from the past — winter 2010.  You can follow Foster Dog and me at http://twitter.com/joeycope. Pressing for a recall of that ball I chase, Foster Dog confided. Problem? I ask. Sometimes it just lies there, she says. When told that Phil Schubert was new ACU president, Foster Dog quipped, [...]

How Could She Think That?

“How could she think that?” We are often amazed by the reasoning or perhaps the lack of reasoning of those around us. I’ve been an avid student of conflict for a little more than a decade. But I’ve been a practitioner all of my life. Only in recent years have I come to realize the [...]

Tune-ups and Foul-ups

Tune-ups and foul-ups . . . not necessarily in that order. For months I have been telling myself that I needed to improve some things about my website. For example: I should write more. (Granted, some readers won’t see this as a tune-up.) I should encourage my readers to subscribe to my website by email [...]