Monthly Archives: May 2013

I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER!

Ah yes, the famous words of Hannibal on the A-Team. There is little in life that is better than when a plan comes together, especially when the plan itself turns out to be far larger and expansive then any plan you had pictured in your own mind 🙂 Throughout the years of my life I […]

Love Advice From the True Experts!

Tonight I took a group of teenage girls on a service project to go to an assisted living center to visit with a group of adorable, lovely Grandmas.  We sat the group of our 16 and 17 year old girls in a circle with group of Grandmas, all of which were widows.  We asked the […]

Successful Business Communication: It Starts at the Beginning (Forbes Article)

A while back I was able to attend a seminar by Dr. John Lund on communication where he gave some amazing advice on how to better communicate with others. His input was simple and easy to follow, yet powerful. The best quote of the entire event was this: “Don`t communicate to be understood; rather, communicate […]

“Loved By All Who Knew Him/Her”

Over the past several years there have been many of us who have dealt with tragedy and loss: with everything from illness, to injuries, to the loss of loved ones. Some have shared their losses openly with those around us, such as I did with the death of my best friend Steve Gasser a few […]

In Memory of Those Who Have Given All

This weekend we celebrate Memorial Day in the U.S.  It’s the day we remember those men and women who died serving in the military.   It’s also become a day to honor all of those who were near and dear to our hearts that have passed on.   People place flowers on graves and flags on graves […]

Choose What Kind of Day You Will Have

“I’ve learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances.” -Martha Washington I very much believe that statement to be true.  Our attitude about things is such a major determination of our happiness level in life.  And we control our attitude by controlling […]

Take Opportunities to Put Yourself Out There!

For those of you have followed my blogs the last few years you know that every now and then, when we are really lucky, my teenage daughter Ashley will write a guest blog for us, which tend to be everyone’s favorite blogs (especially mine).   Today I had to give the keynote speech at an early morning […]

It’s Not What Others Think, It’s What God Knows

I learned long ago that if we try to judge ourselves by what others think, we will inevitably find ourselves constantly disappointed and sad, because it is literally impossible to please everyone.  Not only that, but you have to realize that other people will never have all the facts of every detail of your life […]

Love It While You Live It

So it is not very often that I would write about a quote from a sitcom as being a great life lesson, but this particular quote was so good that I haven’t been able to get it off my mind, so I figured I had better write about it today.  It was a quote from […]

“You Are More Than What You Have Become”

Yesterday I wrote my Forbes article on moving past your mistakes in life and I used a quote from the movie the Lion King.  There is another quote from that movie that I can’t help but share today because I think it is so powerful. There is a part of the movie where we hear […]

People CAN Change Their Past – Put Mistakes Behind You. (Forbes Article)

People often think they can’t change their past, but I disagree. Perhaps we can’t change every mistake in our past, but we have to remember that the past is a moving target. Every day that goes by us becomes a part of our past history. Whatever we do today will become a part of our […]

The Importance of Paying Attention to our “Todays”

Living in the moment is not always easy to do. It seems that we all have a tendency to focus our thoughts on our past mistakes and feel discouraged about them, or we focus our thoughts on a future that we wait to someday have. It seems that we rarely focus on our todays, our […]

“A good definition of family”

As I mentioned yesterday we were able to Skype with our son Dalton and it was the happiest day ever. Today Dalton sent an email to our family and his friends and in that letter he shared something that was worth sharing – in fact he even mentions in his email that someone should quote […]

To Have a Mom and To Be a Mom or To Play a Mom

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers, future mothers, grandmothers, mothers-in-law, nannies who play second mother, mothers who don’t or can’t have children of their own but who love children and provide mothering in one way or another, and single fathers who have to play the role of mother and father – so basically […]

There is No Such Thing as a Dumb Idea (Forbes Article)

I often come across people who have a deep desire to be an entrepreneur and start their own business, but who haven’t done so yet because they “can’t come up with a good idea.”  Too often I hear: “All of my ideas are dumb.” And in those moments, I cannot help but say: “Define a […]

Passion Comes From Having a Purpose

Today I want to talk to you about passion. I am not talking about passion in the romantic sense; I am talking about passion in the “I am so excited to get up this morning and conquer the world today” kind of passion. There are very few things more powerful than a person who is […]

Remember the Mothers!

This Sunday will be Mother’s Day, so I wanted to give everyone a reminder a few days early so you can start now picking out a special gift for the Mothers in your life.  This is especially a friendly hint to all the husbands out there whose wives are raising your children :).  Everyone has […]

Ubuntu – I Am Because We Are

“One day, a western anthropologist went to Africa to study the social behavior of an indigenous tribe. He proposed a game to the children and they willingly agreed to be part of it. He put a basket filled with fruits underneath a tree and told the children that whoever would reach the basket first would […]

It’s Not About Having Time, It’s About Making Time

Ah, yes, time.  The one thing we never seem to have enough of.  Days pass by so quickly that it feels impossible to get it all done.  And yet some days we go at a million miles an hour only to come to the end of the day and wonder what the heck we actually […]

The “Gratitude Effect”

I woke up this morning to the most amazing surprise.  An email from a total stranger sharing a heartfelt, sincere, yet simple thank you for the positive impact my blog was having on his life.  I was blown away at the impact this man’s simple, kind words had on me.  I was genuinely choked up […]

Dare to Take Command

  Our agency is an amazing gift, and a scary gift all at the same time.  Having the ability to make your own choices in life is so empowering and exciting.  At the same time, it opens you up to make dumb choices, bad decisions, and even gives you the ability to hurt others by […]