Monthly Archives: September 2011

Harvesting Happiness: What is Your Happiness?

By Lisa Cypers Kamen. Happiness starts with you. It is all about your attitude toward life and the situations you face in daily living. You have to look at what you have accomplished in a day, a week, a month, etc. - not what you haven’t accomplished. If you are having trouble finding happiness in your day and it seems like your attitude is shifting to negative things, here are a few tips for you: Try to change the way you look at things by looking at the bright side. Focus on solutions, not the problems. Listen to music that…

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Where Do You Find Balance?

By Gail Lynne Goodwin. Balance. It's something that we all aspire to maintain in our lives, but many times we fall a bit short of our desired outcome. In this day and age where always increasing pressures simultaneously pull us in multiple directions, it's critically important to take the time to reconnect and add balance to our lives. The question is, how do we do that? For me, balance starts with an intention to separate "me" from what's going on around me. It's making the time to recognize, acknowledge and appreciate the inner "me", and knowing that the world will…

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Post a Note – Sentiments That Stick

By Michele Howe. I was telling a good friend how much I had been appreciating reading two books on gratitude - the kind of gratitude that is not dependent upon having good things happen or experiencing favorable circumstances. In other words, developing an attitude of gratitude that “sticks” no matter what. This friend (whom I am always so grateful for…) recommended another book on the same theme called 365 Thank Yous by John Kralik. The timing of this book was perfect because this author, a lawyer, discusses his 15 months of sending out 365 thank-yous to different people who touched…

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Birthdays and Bone Density – How One Should Remind Us of the Other

By Michele Howe. Making the most of every birthday (every day)...aging strong (and healthy.) I love birthdays...my own and everyone else's! Call it a hangover from childhood memories and those early traditions...but birthdays are the single one day of the whole year when it's just fun to pick what you where you want to go (sitting on a warm beach) and what you want to do (sitting on a warm beach with a great book and playing my favorite music) and what you want to eat (sitting on a warm beach with a great book and playing my favorite music…

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Share Your Best/Worst Pregnancy Moments with A Million Moms

By Gail Lynne Goodwin. I'm in New York City today, taking part in the Million Moms Challenge. It's a cause to unite a million moms with a million moms in developing countries around the world. The best thing about this program is that you don't have to be a mom to help a mom. You just have to be "one in a million".  Join us to make healthy pregnancies, safe births, and children who survive and thrive a basic right around the world. As a part of this project, I've been asked to answer the question, "What was the best…

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Embracing In Between

By Brittney Schering. Life comes with a little secret: Every plan will not always unfold effortlessly. It is important to know that THIS IS OKAY. It is all a part of becoming who you dream of being, doing what you’re destined to do, and living that life that you’ve always wanted to. This is a lesson that I have recently come to realize, and am currently in the midst of grasping. So, I started a new blog to document what I call my in-between experience: coming back to Michigan after living a glimpse of my dream, writing for the summer…

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Loving Everyone

When Brittany was only 5 years old she ran in front of a bus to save the life of her friend. Badly injured herself, these are Brittany's recollections as to 'why' she did such a heroic act. After the bus accident, I was in the emergency room, and my dad asked "What would make a girl be so brave?" Then suddenly my eyes opened, I took ahold of my daddy's hand and said to him, "You always said we were supposed to love everyone, and that's what I was doing, daddy - I was just loving her!" All the nurses…

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Join the Million Moms Challenge

I'm proud to be one of the Team Leaders for BlogFrog, to help launch the Million Moms Campaign. I'll be flying to New York City on Monday, to attend the Social Good Summit. I'll share more details about this exciting campaign with you next week. In the meantime, for those of you in NYC who would like to be on TV, here's your chance! Good Morning America will be covering the launch of the Million Moms Challenge campaign on Monday, Sept 19th. If you are going to be in NY and would like to have a cameo on the show,…

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Little Notes of Appreciation and Words of Thanks Make a Difference!

All of us like to feel valued and appreciated. However, it is easy for most of us to go through our day forgetting to complete simple acts of kindness. My husband is in sales, and much of the time he travels. I try to find little ways to tell him that I appreciate his work and that I will miss him while he is gone. I might stick little handwritten notes in different parts of his suitcase. One time I made him a set of note cards with numbers marked on the front to show him when he should open…

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The Power of Choice

By Roslyn Franken. My name is Roslyn Franken. I was born to a mother who survived the concentration camps of Nazi Germany and a father who survived the atomic bomb in Nagasaki, Japan, as a prisoner of war. The only thing they said kept them going was their hope and courage to face each new day with a renewed determination to never give up. This attitude was their choice. When diagnosed with cancer at age 57, my mother told the doctor, “Hitler didn’t get me, my cancer won’t get me.” Doctors gave her two years to live. She died 21…

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Good Manners Are NOT A Sign of Weakness!

By Stephen Simon. A few days ago, my wife Lauren wrote a wonderful blog about the disappearance of manners that really resonated with me. Her blog focused on the lost art of writing handwritten "thank you" notes for gifts, rather than just taking the easy email route, which in turn got me thinking about the loss of manners in movie theaters and  almost everywhere we turn. The "me" years seem to be signaling that common courtesy, admitting mistakes,  and polite behavior are not only no longer necessary, but are actually "corny" or, even worse, a sign of weakness. Recently, I…

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End Malaria- The Book Making a Difference

We're proud to be a part of Seth Godin's Domino Project and feature Michael Bungay Stanier as our Luminary today. Here is more information on their project. Today the Domino Project releases End Malaria, not just a book, but a cause fueled by 62 business thinkers pushing you to rethink the way you work. $20 from the purchase of every copy of End Malaria goes directly to Malaria No More, an international advocacy organization dedicated to ending malaria by 2015, and to send a mosquito net to a family in need and to support life-saving work in the fight against…

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Small Moments, Great Things

By Gail Lynne Goodwin. My father often forwards inspirational emails to me. This morning he sent one that touched my heart.  As with most internet forwards, there's no author listed, so I can't give credit where credit is due. So to the unknown catalyst of inspiration, thank you for sharing your story with us. (And, thanks Dad!) ------------------------------------------- The Cab Ride I arrived at the address and honked the horn. After waiting a few minutes I walked to the door and knocked... "Just a minute", answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor. After…

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Manifesting Your Desires with the New Moon

When I was in my late teens, the universe connected me with my mentor Cindy. She is the one who guided me to use my intuitive gifts on such a deep level. Because of her I am able and grateful to help thousands of people all over the world and know how to harness these intuitive experiences that have been happening since I was a young child. This spring 2012, the first book of a “faction” (fact and fiction) series will be released that I co-authored with my dear friend and amazing fiction writer Lorna Schultz Nicholson. This series is…

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In Honor of Trey Pennington: Share Love NOW!

Tears are falling this morning for the tragic loss of our friend, Trey Pennington. Trey and I met years ago on line and I could always count on him for friendship, advice and support. With more than 100,000 Twitter followers and nearly 5000 friends on FaceBook, Trey was alone last night as he took his own life, outside of his church. He was a successful husband, father and businessman, but dealt with depression for some time. Those of us who knew Trey, even just online, loved him. But it wasn't enough to prevent this tragedy from happening. I was a…

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Something Beautiful This Way Comes

By Stephen Simon. While I was waiting in line at the post office, a wonderful gentleman and I exchanged "Good mornings" to each other. When I asked him how he was, he answered "Well, I'm 90 years old today, young fella, so I would say I'm doing pretty great." At 65, no one has called me "young fella" in a long, long time, so, obviously he made my day and I told him so. "Congratulations", I said. "I'm 65 so you're actually old enough to be my father, right?" Smiling slyly, he responded with a wink. "Nah...I was always way…

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