In a world awash in websites and screen time, the value of IRL (In Real Life) connection will become more apparent in the next year. At the same time, new habits have formed, and how we do business may have become forever altered.

“How can I be bored when I’m so busy?” A friend of mine asked this provocative question last week. Here we are experiencing a different kind of GDP (Great-Delicious-Pause), and he was lamenting how full his calendar is and how he’s becoming a “Zoombie,” with all the never-ending video calls.

My children are my favorite teachers. The other day, we were coloring when I mentioned to Summit that he should try to draw inside the lines. He replied, “Dad my lines are perfect,” and it stopped me in my tracks.

It has been a little more than nine months since my MEA experience with my fabulous cohort, SEAN. Like a healthy pregnancy, I’m giving birth to some new thoughts. In my cohort, there were three of us over 70 years old. I could have been the mother of the rest.

When in doubt, watch “It’s a Wonderful Life.” While some might see it as just another schmaltzy Christmas movie, if you look a little closer, the film can generate a psychological strength based upon many of the virtues Jimmy Stewart portrays as George Bailey: loyalty, selflessness, resilience, and, ultimately, community hero.

Thank you so much for your plentiful contributions of great books to read during this global pause. It was hard to select a top five given more than forty recommendations. So, here’s a top five along with an extended honorable mention list.

Uncertainty has never been on my guest list. He’s unpredictable and shows up whenever he wants. He’s also rude, ungrateful, and never offers to help with the dishes. Quite frankly, he takes up way too much space at the table.

“In time we will be given the opportunity to either contract around the old version of ourselves and our world—insular, self-interested and tribalistic—or understand the connectedness and commonality of all humans, everywhere.

Happy Cinco de Mayo! In this era of social media, a good brand can go south in a heartbeat. Remember, the cell phone video of a passenger forcibly being dragged through the aisle and removed from a plane because the airline was oversold.

You ought to be upset. That restaurant where your honey popped the question or the tavern where you and your friends watch Monday night football isn’t opening its doors again. And, it didn’t have to be this way.