Archive

Greatness

During the 1990s and early 2000s I taught courses on leadership and creativity, and one of the texts I used was Dean Keith Simonton's Greatness: Who Makes History and Why. Events of the past week, especially the losses of Dolly Parton and Wendell Berry, have gotten me thinking

Solving for Pattern: Pattern

In the previous post, Solving for Pattern: An Analysis, I introduced my current concern, which is to take a deep dive into the concept of Solving for Pattern. There I mentioned that although Wendell Berry's essay is a great introduction to the concept, his essay is just that

Solving for Pattern: An Analysis

I have finished sharing some thoughts regarding courage and discipline, and am ready to return to the main themes of this blog, namely, Solving for Pattern, Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®), and Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). What I would like to do in this post, before picking up where

Discipline is Destiny

If you have been following this blog, then you will know that for past half-dozen or so posts I have been reporting on a self-guided journey towards regaining the self-discipline that I had lost in six or so months. I had framed this journey both as the

It All Turns on Affection

In a previous post – "Courage Before Discipline" – I pointed out that there are three parts to Ryan Holiday's book, Courage is Calling: Fortune Favors the Brave: * Part I: Fear * Part II: Courage * Part III: The Heroic In the previous post – "Love Thy Neighbor" – I

Love Thy Neighbor

In a previous post – "Courage Before Discipline" – I pointed out that there are three parts to Ryan Holiday's book, Courage is Calling: Fortune Favors the Brave: * Part I: Fear * Part II: Courage * Part III: The Heroic In the previous post – "Agency is an Effective Truth&

Agency Is an Effective Truth

As I mentioned in my previous post, Ryan Holiday's Courage is Calling is divided into three sections: 1. Fear 2. Courage 3. The Heroic This post focuses on fear, and more specifically, focuses on an idea that Holiday presents in two (short) chapters of the first section: * Agency

Courage Before Discipline

As I described in my previous post, I find myself emerging from a personal crisis – a journey into Joseph Campbell's "Belly of the Beast." In that post I also described how a trip to Virginia – where my wife, Trudy, and I got to hang out with

Lost and Found

As I have mentioned in previous posts, after starting off strong with this blog, I stumbled around the holidays and then went AWOL in January of 2026 – I lost my mojo. In restarted in June of 2026, so now I have found my mojo, at least for now. I promised

Being Outside

In my previous post – Solving for Pattern Redux – I shared two lists, one of which was from the Neuroscience & Wellness Substack article (September 13, 2025), "Non-Negotiable Habits as a Neuroscientist": * Move before the world wakes up * Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate * Sunshine every single day (get outside) * Travel

Solving for Pattern Redux

Well, I am back at it, after being AWOL for several months. In subsequent posts I will address my absence – and my return – but in this post I would like to share some ideas I had while lounging in my bed this morning (remember the "three Bs of creativity&

The WilCo Story Illustrates the TBRI Practice Principles - Part 1

Let me begin by apologizing for taking so long to get this post published ... I really have no good excuse, but the last two months have been challenging, in a number of different ways. Some challenges were positive (finishing our book, preparing for the holidays), whereas others were negative (illness,

The WilCo Story: Just the Facts, Ma'am

As I said in my previous post ("Here's the Plan"), I will share the "WilCo" story in three posts: (1) Just the Facts, Ma'am, (2) TBRI Practice Principles, (3) Cycles of Expansive Learning. This first post focuses on data, and is based

Here's the Plan

Greetings! Here's what I will be posting about over the next month or so: 1. My first series of posts will focus on the "WilCo" (Williamson County Juvenile Justice) story, which I had covered in my fourth Solving for Pattern essay. In what I think will

A New Beginning

As you will know if you have read my previous posts, in early summer I wrote a series of posts describing and analyzing Wendell Berry's important essay, "Solving for Pattern." Then, at the end of July, in a post titled "Interlude," I said was

Interlude

Due to a variety of factors, including deadlines, symposiums, and (most importantly) vacations, my productivity will take a dip – and may disappear altogether – between now and the beginning of September. I have a couple of ideas I would like to post, but I am not making any promises. In the

Standards for Good Solutions, Part 2

This will be the last post that focuses specifically on Wendell Berry's essay, "Solving for Pattern," so let me summarize what has been done so far: 1. In Bad Solutions, I introduced Berry's essay, and discussed two types of bad solutions: unintended consequences and

Zones of Proximal Development

The roots of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) go all the way back to the the work of the philosopher of language and psychologist, Lev Vygotsky. One of Vygotsky's core ideas was that of the Zone of Proximal Development, or "ZoPeD." According to Vygotsky, the ZoPeD

Cycles of Expansive Learning

In my previous post – Activity Systems – I introduced Yrjö Engeström's Theory of Expansive Learning, which is a version of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). In that post I focused on the notion of an activity system, using Earl Spencer's dairy farm as an example. From Engeström&

Activity Systems

Thus far in this blog there have been five posts: Introduction. I introduced who I am, what I intend to do, why I am doing it, and how I will do it. Bad Solutions. I introduced the article that inspired this blog – "Solving for Pattern" by Wendell Berry