Life Cartography is written by Charles Porter.

Tag: life skills

  • Honest reflections on Unhealthy Relationships part 2: complaints

    We can often find outselves hiding our needs in a complaint. We haven’t had a date in a week. You never listen to my ideas. You never take initiative. All these can easily be reframed as a simple request to have your needs legitemately met. Could we go out on a date tonight? Can we […]

  • Life Lessons: 49 Life Lessons. Lifecartography, 9 years later.

    49 Life lessons learned by age 49. As I approached 40 years old, I decided to sit down and write. I wanted to write things I had learned, so that I wouldn’t forget them. Well, research says that you don’t forget as much as your library gets bigger. But that’s beside the point. So those […]

  • 7 Mistakes you might be making using PowerPoint

    PowerPoint. Some see it as a necessary evil. Some see it as just evil. But most of us, at some point in our lives, are going to have to give a presentation. Even if you fear it more than death. Though I would encourage you to not use PowerPoint (visuals like stand alone pictures and […]

  • Learn to talk to a human. Life Lesson #24

    Learn to talk. (credit to my older, wiser brother, Stephen Porter, on the original idea here). I speak 6 languages. Not fluently, and I have an accent in most of them. Swahili was the most recent one I learned and what a fun, challenging experience. My sixth language though? Digital media. You may be a […]

  • Why the way you apologize is wrong. Life Lesson #23

    Learn to apologize. Saying “I’m sorry” takes practice. For some, the process is akin to extracted impacted wisdom teeth. For others, the words flow out so quickly you wonder if there is any meaning associated. Ever had someone apologize to you and afterwards you felt worse? “I’m sorry you are such a jerk and I […]

  • Everyone is interesting #22

    Everyone is interesting. This is an idea that takes some time and some effort. Skip till tomorrow if relationships don’t interest you. I count as good friends a number of guys who are web coders. Add in some photographers, a UN diplomat, a number of Tanzanian and Kenyan maids and housecleaners, a couple big shot […]

  • Have someone edit you. Life Lesson #20

    Everyone needs an editor. I may have mentioned before that I like to tell stories. I make them up easily. In 8th grade, I figured out how to help a good friend, “D” edit his report card story for his irrate Dad. D hadn’t been studying or doing his homework. D was also the best […]

  • Why Starbucks gifts certificates are better than Amazon Gift Certificates. Life Lesson #19

    Don’t give gift certificates (except to Starbucks) My wife loves cards. When we were dating, I’d frequently be the recipient of a lovely, love filled card which I would read and promptly discard, much to my wife’ consternation.  She learned that cards aren’t really my thing. You might find it interesting then that among my […]

  • Your emotions are a lie (sometimes). 40 Life Lessons I learned before I turned 40: #18

    Emotions are real, but not necessarily true. Doug Lowenberg has both a  DMin and is currently finished a PhD and teaching at a school in East Africa. He also taught many of the classes Tahnya and I took in our degree program in college. But his greatest statement to Tahnya and I was made in […]

  • Scuba diving makes communication difficult. Life Lesson #17

    Keep your communication above the water line. This one is a bit cultural, so you may have to contextualize. Some background might help though in understanding cultures. Culture, we often see as a geopolitical thing. Tribes in Africa, countries in Europe, regions in America. Barbeque versus Vegan type thing. But culture goes deeper than that. […]