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  • Admiration Over A Lifetime

    Who do you admire? Who do I admire? 

    It’s not as easy to answer as it is to ask.

    There are people I have admired over my lifetime each for a very different thing. Many of them I have forgotten about unless I actively sit and recall who they were and why I admired them at the time. 

    Who do you admire? Who do I admire? It’s not as easy to answer as it is to ask. So I ran back through my life and thought about a specific for people who probably had the most impact on me. At least these are the ones I can think of now. I’m sure tomorrow and the day after I’ll come up with a longer list – but this is it for today

    In order oF appearance In My LIFE

    5th or 6th grade teacher

    One I admired was a teacher from grammar school – who I really admire to this day but I don’t remember her name. She encouraged all of us, but especially the girls in the class, to show our smartness. A rarity back then!

    professor/friend/colleague

    There was a professor in graduate school who became a good friend and colleague and we remained such until she died several years ago. She was the person who got me very involved in politics, in psychology and writing, and many other things for which I will always be thankful.

    my son

    I have always loved my son but now I can admire him as well. He is a very brilliant person and I love having discussions with him, mostly about politics and life but about other things as well. He turned into a super great adult. Sometimes I wonder how that  happened with me as his mother but hey he did it.

    my daughter-in-law

    Many years ago while visiting me, my son met a woman and they have been together ever since. I admire her because she is so generous to all she considers family and now that they are living near me, that includes several of my friends and neighbors..

    Comments? Thoughts? Thank you. Comment section is down at the bottom of the page….


  • What’s Your Niche?

    My Niche of Niches

    When asked the question “what is your niche” I am reminded of the question “what do you do?” – it’s the same kind of question and it usually implies there is one and only one answer and one you are expected to  be able to give in a few seconds –  i.e. the elevator pitch

    My reply instead may be: Let me think about that

    Depending on what day it is my niche may be different than it was the day before or the year before.

    I am a person with a lot of interests and a lot of areas of expertise. I’ve been like that most of my life and I assume I’ll be like that the rest of my days. It’s me and I won’t change it.

    Or my reply may be: Let me think what time it is 

    I may chop up my day or days into segments. Each segment may be a different niche or it may be a different aspect of a niche.

    I tend to go with my mental flow. I do have some control over it. I know I can stick with some thing I am not ADHD although there’s nothing wrong with that. I do have a few major degrees that took a lot of perseverance so I know I can do it – I just choose not to not be doing that all the time.

    Or I may say hmm let me think about that.

    I do have the ability to plan ahead and decide what niche I wish to be working on and when and that is what I’m doing right now.

    For the next month or so I am working on finishing two books, doing a webinar, maybe starting a podcast, and taking time to go snowshoeing.

    You still might be wondering what is my niche? I ask myself the same thing all the time 

    and I have decided that my niche is a niche of niches.

    Comments? Questions? Thoughts?

    Thank you.

    .

  • Restarting [fill in this space]

    image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

    I have often said I go into hibernation from about Thanksgiving 

    until my birthday, which is near the end of January.

    In retrospect, I think my hibernation started in early November with the election. It was high stress, getting dark out early, and light out late, plus all the political events that were like watching the train wreck that I could not take my eyes off.

    Around inauguration day, I decided that there was no point in trying to do very much in January. I thought I’ll just let the month go on and not try to focus on anything in the way of writing or teaching – or anything-ing until February. It just seemed to my brain that January had to run its course and go away. It did. On January 30 I made a sticky note for my desktop and it says:

          2021 RESTART = INGING

    • Yogaing
    • Walking
    • Biking
    • Writing
    • Teaching 
    • Podcasting
    • Webinaring

    It’s a lot of ing words. And not all of them are English as I made some up by adding ing – but you get the point

    Ing words are movement oriented – they are about something in motion, something that is going to happen or is happening. That’s where my mind went about February 1. January was ending and I could restart …

    As I said in the title fill in the blank – is it a restart of 2021? is it a restart of my professional life? or a restart of ??? 

     image by StockSnap from Pixabay

    I started my day with yogaing – which I used to do regularly but have not during my hibernation. It felt good to do that kind of stretching. Then I started doing some writing. I also went through my emails and unsubscribed from several that I have not been looking at as I’ve just been deleting as they arrive in my inbox. That felt good too and it is an ing that was not on my list.

    Soon it will be February 2, 3, 4, etc. –  and I will continue this restart as it feels like my brain can get wrapped around it and enjoy it. I’m thinking that once I start getting into more of these ings, I will be adding to the list and doing more and more restarting.

     image by Arek Socha from Pixabay


    Comments? Thoughts?

    Thank you!

  • A Word, A Concept, A Plan!

    many ideas

    How do you plan for your business projects?

    It’s hard for those, like me, with many interests, many skills, and many ideas!

     My accountability partner and I felt like we had gotten into a bit of stagnation – we were not getting things done and we were jumping from idea to idea – so we decided to shake things up a bit. She, like me, is filled with ideas! Then – voila – this idea popped up!

    We each need a big project, one that takes time, and creates the bigger income. BUT that gets tedious to work on as an only project – at least for me and for her. So we figured we each also needed a project that was FUN – and was easily done – while also working on the big project. And for any project, we need to market it – and we both dislike that part… but it is necessary!

    Hence, the trifecta! My work needs all 3 parts, as does hers [we are very alike – which has it’s good and not so good points. But that’s why we are friends, neighbors, and now – accountability partners!] And we have fun at our weekly accountability meetings because many years ago when we were both active with a local non-profit, we decided that whatever we did had to be fun! We had fun and we still do!

    During my work time, I start with the big project and when I run into issues and/or just don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere, I go to a fun project – and for me that may be playing with graphics and images for a fun project, marketing, more ideas for my big project, outline yet another big project but not do much work on it, etc. And marketing? I am finding ways to make it fun!!

    So my word is TRIFECTA – it is a concept as well – and it encompasses what has become my work plan!! 

  • Here Is One Easy Way To Feel Happier

    unhappy

    We all have days where we are not as happy as we would like to be.


     Or we are very unhappy.


    Sometimes we are bordering on feeling depressed or really crappy and just not in a good place. 

    We want to be HAPPIER!!!

    We know we have to leave that negativity, that negative space that we are living in, and do something more positive because that is better for us.. It’s better for our health, it’s better for the people around us, and we need to do something simple to help us leave that space. And leave it as quickly as possible.

    I know from experience, personally and as a former therapist, that DOING SOMETHING is the hardest thing to do when we are trying to get out of that place when we are in it. 

    There are lists of things that you are “supposed” to do “to feel better” but in talking with some friends is that the easiest thing to do – something that takes no effort or little effort, no money, and very little of our selves in it is to do something nice for somebody else.

    What is the easiest and nicest thing to do? 

    smile

    Just smile at the next person you see. 

    And if that makes you feel happier, smile at the person after that. You don’t have to talk to them you just have to smile at them.

    They will probably feel happier unless they walk away thinking who’s that idiot that smiled at me – and you might feel happier because you’ve actually moved your mouth muscles into a smile.

    Try it!

    It takes very little effort. It takes absolutely no money and it doesn’t require you doing anything other than moving the muscles around your mouth.

    There are other things you can do to feel happier, but they take a bit more effort and those will be mentioned later and in the happiness course I am creating.

    If you would like more information about the course, fill out the form below

    Questions? Thoughts? Thank you!!

  • Being happy IS harder

    tired and unhappy

    For many people, trying to get happy, or trying to stay happy, is trying [and tiring.]

    Especially now.

    We live in a climate of negativity, unhappiness and high stress. It’s gotten worse in the past few years and even the research is showing that it’s taking a toll on people.

    In the United States, people don’t take vacations. They’re afraid they will lose their job or be seen as replaceable if they take even a day or two off. 

    negativity cycle

    We live in times where television news is filled with negativity: about politics, about trade, about world events, etc. 
    And that is unsettling for many.
    And it becomes cyclical.

    More negativity leads to more negativity.

    In many cities, the cost of rent is skyrocketing and the ability to buy your first time house or even maybe your second time house is almost out of the question. So people are faced with salaries that don’t rise much, rents that do food costs that do and other living expenses that keep rising. Wages do not keep going up like inflation does. All this leads to higher stress and less happiness. And as it has gotten worse over the past few years. 

    It is getting harder for people to try and stay positive and happy in the face of this kind of environment.


    creting hapiness

    But you can be happier. You can learn to be happy you can learn things to do to keep yourself feeling happy. To get yourself out of the doldrums if you are there by doing activities that make you happier.And if you are not yet in the doll drums some of these activities will keep you from getting there.

    How do we do this?  I am compiling some information and putting together a course on the topic. as I work along doing things for the course I will be posting information here. The easiest way to keep track of what I’m doing is to sign up below for information about the course so that you will know what is going on.

    below

    Comments? Thoughts? Thank you!!

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