Then I worked in foster care, and got a crash course in why that's not ok. Yes, sure, I also did extensive therapy, but my foster babies were the motivation I needed to change. I had to meet their rage with love and be oh so very consistent about it, because kids will take one inconsistent moment and turn it into a lifetime of trust issues. I had to love them hard enough to overwhelm my first angry instinct.

Now I have an abundance of empathy. Someone is uncomfortablly possessive? They must feel so insecure inside. The lady who apologizes so much it's irritating? I have to wonder who made her feel so inconvenient and unimportant that she needs to do that. My micromanaging boss the control freak? Wow, a lot of bad must have happened to her that she only feels safe when she's got such tight hands wrapped around things.

A Galapagos sea lion (Zalophus wollebaeki) in Galapagos, Ecuador

a rare closeup of a black swift, found throughout north america and small parts of south america. swifts are rarely seen up close; they spend more of their life in air than any other species of bird - they eat, drink, mate and sleep while in flight. they are incapable of perching like other birds; they must cling to vertical surfaces.