Inspiration Archives

Depth and the Universal Beauty

Throughout my career as an artist and speaker at conferences, team building events and creative workshops, many people have asked me what's the secret to working on many different creative fields and still reach a good level of quality in all of them. The secret is simple, depth. Imagine you are sitting on the rocks in front of the ocean, looking at the waters. You think you can see something moving down below, some shapes maybe, some colors. You can guess as to what is living down there, what behaviors, events, patterns are beneath those boundaries. The truth is, as…

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Today’s Brilliance from Maddie Bradshaw

My inspiration was during second grade at Hockaday School. I wanted magnets for my locker and then I took a class where we learned how to start a business. They taught us how to take out a loan at the bank, market and sell a product. Our class made stationary. Each of us applied for jobs. The positions consisted of a business manager, design team, advertising, etc. I became the business manager. They taught me how to write a business plan. This whole idea inspired me. That summer, I had my Mom take me to the library to search for…

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Are You Over-thinking the Mystical Realm?

The main problem modern thinking people have with the mystical realm is... over-thinking. We're often not quite intelligent enough to realize that it's the "logical" parts of our brains that insist on "logical" explanations for everything. This is like banks insisting on their own bailouts, to which I say: duh. Thus are many bright spiritual-minded folk calling for something smarter. Let us, for instance, follow the didactic brilliance of India's old Brahman priests who used to debate the divine until there was nothing left to say, knowing full well that the real answer lay in what religious scholar Karen Armstrong…

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Abundance or Vision… Which Comes First?

Sometimes I wonder which came first, the chicken or the egg. Recently I had an experience where a woman, Sue, visited our home and saw our vision board hanging in our bedroom. Sue was the wife of a contractor who was doing some repair work at our home and stopped by to visit with her husband. Sue works as a cleaning lady and in her mind, had already categorized us as "rich people".  I know what that's like, for I spent my childhood and the early part of my adult life thinking that I too was separate from the abundance around…

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Watch What You Ask For…. and Be Specific!

The Law of Attraction states that what we focus on will show up in our life.  The Bible teaches, "Ask and ye shall receive". Recently, I've also learned that we also need to be specific. My office in our new home has become my sanctuary. I love being in the space, surrounded by artwork, photos, and mementos from friends and travels worldwide, along with a wall of windows overlooking a beautiful Montana forest. Over the past week I've been thinking about adding the color green to my office. Just yesterday, one of our upcoming Luminaries, famed astrologer and feng shui…

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Top 10 Things I’ve Learned from Bejeweled

Recently, I learned yet another lesson from a game called Bejeweled 2. I blogged about this game some time ago, but find I'm compelled to write about it again. For me, this game is a form of meditation as it requires great focus. I play it in my spare time, like when I'm waiting at the dentist's office or at the airport. Some days that may be 15-20 minutes and sometimes life gets too busy and I won't play for days. However, I always come away from the experience with a lesson. So, I decided to share my Top 10 Things…

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Meditation – the Cure for Winter Blues

How many of you are waking up to another snow day? Besides those living in the ski-friendly state of Colorado, raise your hand if you are excited for more snow, ice, sludge and cold? When I lived in Seattle I experienced six weeks of no sun. Winter and fall were all gray with an occasional peek of light until the arrival of summer. Fortunately, I found that my meditation practice protected me against the mood dips associated with diminished sunlight, a condition called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). The American Psychiatric Association defines SAD as “a subtype of major depressive episode.” Like…

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Grateful to be “Home”!

I'm so grateful to be able to share with you that finally, we've found HOME, in Whitefish, Montana. Wooohooo!!! After more than six months of looking, some part of me is fulfilled knowing that I can unpack and just "be". For those who have been following this blog, I owe you an apology. I disappeared for the last month, as my days were filled with packing, moving and unpacking. After months of "frustration and fascination", we moved into our new home last week. We bought a home that was owned by a bank, having been foreclosed on more than a…

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The Importance of Chocolate

Throughout all the vivid memories of life, the sweetest ones I can remember seemed to have had a distinct connection with chocolate. As a child, chocolate was a form of currency. My earliest memory of abundance was being the one clinging tightly to a scrumptious bar of chocolate among a sea of friends who were willing to do just about anything for even a sliver of cacao gold. As soon as the wrapper came off, chocolate was like an edible super power that had the ability to interrupt any tantrum or frustrated emotional state. It had the power to deem…

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Today’s Brilliance from Brady Baldwin

You need to find a need and fill it. Make progress everyday by pointing yourself in the direction you need to go. Set goals. Track results. Make the conscious decision to overcome adversity and set forth with a smile on your face and a will to succeed. The more times you are at bat the better chance you will have at success. Purposefully take advantage of opportunities. Decide you will be the one that makes the effort and grab the brass ring.

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Want to Be Happy? Make Time for Exercise

I wish I had knew how important exercise was earlier in my life. Since I found a love for tennis, my whole life has improved. I play several times a week, travel to watch matches, have a whole host of tennis friends, am fitter and stronger than I have been in twenty years and I am much happier. As a psychiatrist practicing for 20 years, the single best advice I can give is to find a sport you love and make it a regular part of your life. As a brain scientist, I know that not only am I secreting…

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From Frustration to Fascination

Life has a way of giving us opportunities to grow, even in the midst of frustrating situations. Sometimes, no matter what we do, no matter how hard we try, things just don't line up for us the way we plan. For me personally, the last six months have provided ample opportunity for frustration and growth. For nearly 2 years, my husband and I have been renting a home in Montana. In June we wrote an offer on a foreclosed home, owned by a bank. As we did our due diligence, the bank realized they didn't really own the home, due…

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Letting Go of Past Wounds

There are few things I've learned that are more important to my relationships, than learning how to love, forgive, and appreciate everyone in my life. This has not only helped me heal from abuse, but has also taught me how to be present, because I'm not carrying around wounds from the past. I struggled in a relationship with the man who was married to my mother for over 32 years. He started making sexual advances towards me when I was 16. Not understanding his behavior, I wondered what I had done to deserve this from a man who was supposed…

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