Tag: Adversity

Adapting To Trials

During the course of our lives, each of us will undergo some major trial, the nature of which is immaterial, for each ordeal carries a weight that can only be measured by the one who bears it. My trial began in the summer of 1954, when I was stricken with polio. I don't remember much of the day on which polio entered my life, other than that that was the last time I was able to walk under my own power. I was hospitalized until the initial thrust of the attack, which paralyzed me from the neck down, subsided. After which,…

Read more

Doing the Right Thing When the Wrong Thing Happens

We have all heard the phrase Life isn’t fair. Some of us who have read the Bible are familiar with the story of Job. In the Book of Job, Job is presented as a family man who lives a good and prosperous life, but is eventually beset with horrendous disasters that take away all he has, including his family, his health, and his property. Job struggles to understand his situation and begins a long search for the right path that will get him out of his extremely difficult situation. Against all odds, with God’s help, Job is restored to a…

Read more
Daisy

From Living Hell to Living Well

We’ve all been there – a place that feels like hell on earth. And we ask ourselves the same question over and over: “Why me?” Have you ever stopped to think about this continuous loop and how amazingly coincidental that it continues to happen over and over again? If your thoughts and beliefs are permanently fixed on the “why”, you will never have an opportunity to investigate the “what” for your life. Life obstacles and traumas are inevitable and they happen for a reason. The sooner we learn the lesson, embrace change, and focus our thoughts on what we DO…

Read more
Apples

Bouncing with Style: Confidence Builds in Chunks

No, I am not talking about Chunky Monkey or Rocky Road Ice Cream. I am talking about the way confidence is built after a blow, a series of blows or just plain life disaster. When life runs you over like an out of control ice cream truck at a local park knocking over patrons and passerby alike, you have to recover. It doesn't matter if the truck was aiming for you. Good people get knocked down all the time. For some of us that means burying a loved one, moving on from divorce, losing a home or recovering from financial…

Read more
Surfing the Spray in the BVI

Making Lemonade in the Islands

For the last 2 weeks I’ve been sailing the crystal clear waters of the British Virgin Islands. For the first 9 days we had nothing but bright sunshine, clear skies and blue water. Then the rains came, and came and came. It feels like it’s been raining forever- all three days of it. Yesterday, our crew was disappointed at not being able to go to the beach because of the downpour. We were disheartened with all the things we couldn’t do because of the rain. Reluctantly, we set our sails for a better place to ride out the storm. As…

Read more

Trying Helps, But Doing is What Matters + 5 Tips to “Do” Happiness

We've all heard it a million times: "Actions speak louder than words." Action is dynamic. It moves and morphs with life. And yet at times we fall back onto "trying" to make something happen as opposed to proactively doing something about the trying. Have you been using a lot of “couldas”,” wouldas”, “shouldas”, maybes, tries and mights lately? It’s time to ditch the conditional-speak. Thinking in this frame of mind puts us in a bind. Why try when you could simply do? Why would when you can? By allowing our lives to be framed in maybes, we’re giving away all…

Read more

Surrender Equals Peace

The other night I had such a moment of clarity and sense of surrender that it took my breath away. I was listening to a track from West Side Story, "Somewhere" (Music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim). Here are a few lyrics: There's a time for us, Some day a time for us, Time together with time spare, Time to learn, time to care, Some day! Somewhere. We'll find a new way of living, We'll find a way of forgiving Somewhere . . . As I listened to the lyric: ‘we’ll find a way of forgiving’, my epiphany…

Read more

Within Darkness, There Is Always Light

Sometimes, we are in so much pain we forget that within that spiral of darkness, there is light. Sometimes we just need to step beyond our shadow, look at it, and see what it is attempting to tell us, teach us. The day I took this picture, I was playing with my shadows at a sand dune on a golf course and when I looked at my iPhone and saw the picture, it brought back waves of reflection of the days of youth where I was trapped within this shadow of fear, pain, and deep sorrow and loss. The biggest…

Read more

Rescue Yourself!

Life's a bumpy road; we can all agree on that. You're not going to avoid it. Stuff just happens. The trick is to avoid falling into the ten foot holes. Chances are, no one will be there with an eleven foot ladder to help you out. What I mean is don’t walk around with the expectation that someone else is going to rescue you, fix it for you, or bail you out. This message is especially aimed at young women. Someone may have taught you that having a man in your life will ‘fix everything’. That a man will take…

Read more

Under Construction: The Sign I Wear Mentally !

A famous psychologist (his first name is Phil) talks about the fact that we all have pivotal points in our lives; crossroads, if you will, where we can turn down a path of self-pity, victimism, feeling anger at the world and an urge to 'give up'. Or turning the other way and seeking empowerment, happiness, and a full life. In August of 2006, I experienced a harsh, heartbreaking pivotal point in my life when my husband of thirty years died suddenly. He took his own life. Sure, I knew he was going through some kind of mid-life crisis or other.…

Read more

Overpower the past… Empower the Present!

I was the baby in the family, born 11 and 8 years, respectively, after my siblings. Not until just a few years ago did I hear that my mother "farmed out" my sister and brother to strangers. The term usually referred to children who were sent to a relative back in the day, but in my siblings' case it was an indenture. My brother and sister had to work for their keep,  ages six and 11. They told me these stories as part of my research while writing Wild Violets, a romanticized version of my Mother as a flapper and entrepreneur in the 1920's in…

Read more

Do You Doubt Yourself? Life Lessons from Great Authors

I ran across a description of one of my enemies... DOUBT! Author Jacqueline Winspear wrote: "Doubt. Was it an emotion? A sense? Or was it just a short stubby word to describe a response that could diminish a person in a finger snap?" And while I most times write my blog and how it relates to the art of writing, I had a thought.  THIS COULD APPLY TO LIFE [AND HOW WE LIVE IT]  AS WELL! I've written before about my being in good company.  Regardless of whether we writers are obscure or famous, we all doubt ourselves and our work.  What if Henry Charles…

Read more

When Your Thought Energy Stops You

By Sheevaun Moran. Yesterday, I was speaking with a few clients about money issues. They were each talking about what they didn’t have and what was going wrong. Each of them was entrenched in the problem rather than the solution. Money is the energetic equivalent of flow. When you go into the place of thinking you don’t have it and it’s too hard to get it, you are building a dam. If you are positive thinker on one hand and a worrier on the other you are canceling out the positive. It takes 40 times more energy to use negative…

Read more

Taming the Inner Critic: How to Have More Energy and Time

By Sheevaun Moran. The energy of not enough time is prevalent in our western population. Every time you reinforce the thought, and energy, that you don't have enough time the more elusive time is. You zap and suck your energy when you allow interruptions and constant bombardment. Interrupters in your day include email that automatically downloads and dings every time there’s a new one. This is a persistent guilt driven and energy draining force in your day. The same applies to texting and the need to respond immediately. Turning on the television is one of the classic interrupters and energy…

Read more

The 5 Mind and Energetic Mistakes That Cost You Thousands!

Our minds are the greatest tool we have and without the proper use of our mental energy, mental creativity and right mindset opportunities for mistakes arise. Those mistakes or missed opportunities lead to thousands of dollars in lost revenue and hundreds of hours of lost time. Here are the mindset mistakes we make: Allowing others to steal your vision and your energy. Being overwhelmed because too many projects press on you that all seem important. Keeping the employee or contractor that is the least productive and who takes the greatest amount of your time. Refusal to delegate. Not asking for…

Read more

Finding Hope and Dreams Amidst Adversity

There is a special invitation that whispers to us from the midst of our greatest challenges. It is an invitation to honor our spirit as we keep hope alive for ourselves and others. The truth of this brilliance was brought before me the other day when a friend wrote a note distilling the lessons learned over the past year as he and his wife battled and beat back cancer. In sharing what helped them make it through the nights of doubt, pain and uncertainty, they turned to ancient words recorded more than 1,800 years ago... 'It is my bad luck…

Read more

Blessings from a Bird

Recently I was reminded of the many miracles in my life. Interestingly enough, the messenger didn't come to me as a mighty eagle, but in the humble form of a small bird For those who follow me on Twitter, you know that two nights ago, I had a tiny bird fly inside my home in Montana. It was about 8pm, on a dark, snowy, cold evening, when Koda, our 3-year old Samoyed dog wanted to go outside. As I opened the patio door to let Koda out, I was hit by a very cold breeze AND something ran in and…

Read more

Contrast as a Catalyst for Awareness

Contrast can often be the catalyst that causes us to notice the world around us. This Labor Day weekend has been a great time for hiking in nearby Glacier National Park. Autumn is on the way and the first snows have sprinkled a sparkling white dusting on the high mountain peaks. On a hike a few days ago, I was struck by the contrast of the stark white snow against the lush, verdant green of our Montana summers. Moving to Montana from Colorado more than a year ago, I had forgotten just how lush and green Montana is, as compared…

Read more

10 Tips to Get Through Hard Times

Each morning as we wake up we have a choice to determine the direction of the day. We can go into default mode and wake up fearful and worried about things like how am I going to pay the bills, heal this relationship, find a job, etc..... or we can make the conscious decision to choose the kind of day we'd like to experience. Many times the events of the day happen so quickly, we get caught up in the drama and we truly feel that we don't have a choice. Things just happen. Bad things happen to good people.…

Read more

Harness Adversity

Adversity is the number one thing that kills plans for success. At first glance, many opportunities in life can initially appear as adversity. Sometimes, the only thing that makes the difference between whether it's an opportunity or an obstacle is our individual perception. Every obstacle presents a great opportunity- when we look for it and find it. Think of it this way. Walking directly into a 30-knot wind can be a difficult thing when you're trying to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. The resistance alone can cause us to work harder, become frustrated, wait…

Read more

10 Success Tips from FatWallet.com Founder Tim Storm

Recently I had the honor of interviewing today's Inspirational Luminary, Tim Storm, creator of FatWallet.com- an on-line premier coupon site and one of the highest ranked sites on the Internet. He's a hero in his community. His employees love him. His peers honor him. And, I think I know the reason why. Tim is the Midwestern "boy-next-door", a genuine nice guy who has reached great success and yet still manages to remain incredibly modest, humble and grounded. He gives back to his community and makes a difference in the world. What I learned from Tim comes not only from his…

Read more