Donald Miller's Blog, page 145

A Mothers Day Reflection From Penny Gruener

My dear friend Penny wrote a small piece for a Mothers Day article on the Burnside Writers Collective site and for Relevant Magazine. I read it in a hotel room in Boulder and teared up. So grateful for people like Penny and her mom and for my mom as well. Technically, Mothers Day is actually today, so I thought I'd reprint Pensive's article (Pensive is my long-time nickname for Penny.) Penny, you are a saint! And by the way, happy Mothers Day to you. Quinn is lucky to have such an awesome...

Sunday Morning Music, Erin McCarley for Mothers Day

Happy Mothers day to you. I thought we'd do something a little motherly today, in honor of our moms. The first song that came to mind was Patty Griffin's song Mary, which is about Patty's grandmother, but also pays homage to Jesus' mother. My mom's name is Mary, too, so it's special for personal reasons. One of the great songs, regardless. Here's Erin McCarley covering Patty's Mary. If you've not heard Erin's original stuff, do yourself a favor and check her out. Terrific.

Call your mom. She l...

The Winner of the Million Miles Film Contest

A couple months ago I launched the Million-Miles Film Contest in which participants were invited to upload a 90-second film that told a story. A story is simply a character that wants something and overcomes conflict to get it. Many of the entries were great. Thanks so much for taking part. I'm pleased to announce the winner of the Million Miles Film Contest is Mark Nehrenz, for his film "Holding Out for Justice." Congratulations, Mark! We will be sending that check for a thousand dollars...

Are You a Slacktivist?

A friend of mine has a non-profit in which he raises money to provide academic scholarships to kids in South Africa. It's a terrific organization doing terrific work. He raises funds on the platform of Academic Equality, and mostly mobilizes college students to host parties and fundraisers then works closely with students who are being provided scholarships. As he started his organization, I couldn't help but notice it grew much more quickly than The Mentoring Project, an organization I...

Do You Find People Annoyed by Cell Phone Users Annoying?

Filed Under: Satire Seriously 

Are people who get irritated about public cell-phone use actually the selfish ones?

I think so.

I love using my cell phone in public. I come from Texas so I talk loud. I especially like talking to my doctor about sensitive medical information, spots where I have rashes and that sort of thing. We all have rashes. We all have to talk to our doctors on our cell phones. And sometimes those conversations happen inside of crowded elevators. We are human beings, for...

How to Not Really Win an Argument

As we all know some of the dialogue on the internet is less than constructive. While most of the conversation taking place on this site is on a level I would consider phenomenal (read: objective, open and respectful) elsewhere, and even sometimes here, civility is lacking. Recently I posted principles for civil discourse, so today I thought I'd post principles for non-civil discourse. Here are several principles for how to Not Really Win an Argument:

1. Take a persons argument to an extreme...

Five Principles of Civil Dialogue

Back when I was hanging out at Reed College, I was pleased to be in an environment where truth mattered more than ego, or rather where people didn't associate their identity with their ideas. What I mean is, finding truth was more important than being right. And because finding truth was more important than being right, students were able to learn.

At Reed, discussing a philosophical or even scientific idea around a conference table did not look like a debate. Rather, it looked like a group o...

Five Principles of Civil Dialogue

Back when I was hanging out at Reed College, I was pleased to be in an environment where truth mattered more than ego, or rather where people didn't associate their identity with their ideas. What I mean is, finding truth was more important than being right. And because finding truth was more important than being right, students were able to learn. 

At Reed, discussing a philosophical or even scientific idea around a conference table did not look like a debate. Rather, it looked like a group o...

Sunday Morning Music, Dave Rawlings

Good morning. Today I'm featuring Dave Rawlings Machine, doing "Monkey and the Engineer" and you'll also notice Gillian Welch playing and singing backup. Rawlings is best known as Gillian's backup, so it's nice to see them switching it up a bit. He produced the latest Old Crow Medicine Show, and you'll hear that flavor in this song. Here you go:

Writing a Storyline, An Alternative to the Mission Statement

In Million Miles, I talk about structuring your life like a story so that, when you're done living it, it will have been more meaningful. I also talk about how if you're life story were spelled out on the back of a DVD cover, what would it say. Something like:

"Donald Miller desperately wanted the new Volvo, but he didn't have enough money. So he got a job at a local grocery store and worked the nightshift till he could afford the down payment…."

Not so exciting. But change those elements...