Category Archives: Personal Growth

Living Richly Together: Perspective, Certainty, and the Ancient Problem We Keep Pretending Is New (Psychological Richness, Part 4)

Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction In the third part of this series, I teased the idea of psychological richness applied beyond the individual. If richness is a mechanism to pursue personal growth, perspective shift, and learning, what if it is applied on a larger scale? Can richness be a mechanism to approach...

Living Richly: Music, Travel, Discomfort, and Growth in Tuscany

Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction Greetings and Salutations! Welcome to the third installment in the psychological richness series. In Part 1, I introduced Shigehiro Oishi’s concept of a psychologically rich life—one filled with interesting, perspective-changing experiences. In Part 2, I put on my skeptic hat and reengaged the theory: praised what works, critiqued what doesn’t,...

Time does not heal… it is what you do in time that heals.

“That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.” ~Khaled Hosseini “Don’t turn away. Keep your...

Psychological Richness Part 1 – Defining the Good Life: Happiness, Meaning, and Richness

Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction I’d like you to consider a deceptively simple question: what makes a life good? This isn’t a new question. Plato warned that an unexamined life wasn’t worth living. Aristotle proposed that the good life was one of virtue and purpose. The Epicureans, by contrast, believed happiness came from...

Running Without a Map: Why Change Needs More Than Good Intentions

Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction Feedback is a mirror. Over the past two posts, we’ve looked at two ways leaders stumble with feedback: ignoring it altogether (Ignoring the Mirror) and overreacting to every reflection (Trapped in the Mirrors). Both leave you stuck. But there’s a third trap, and it’s sneakier because it...

Trapped in the Mirrors: Why Leaders Can’t Please Everyone

Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction Feedback is a mirror. Last time, we talked about what happens when you refuse to look—the cost of ignoring feedback that is valid, actionable, and desirable. But that was a single source of feedback, or multiple sources showing the same reflection. Another trap emerges from multiple mirrors...

Ignoring the Mirror: Why We Resist Feedback and Growth

Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction We previously defined feedback as the key enabling behavior of true mentorship. Good feedback acts as a mirror, reflecting something about us that we may not see on our own, and provides a pathway to change, grow, and improve.  But what happens when you don’t like the reflection?...