Monthly Archives: October 2020

It Might Sound Like A Curse But It’s Been A Blessing

August 13th of this year marked the ten year anniversary of me writing a daily blog and hitting that ten year mark was the goal I had set for myself.  For ten long years I have literally written a blog five days a week, every single week, without missing a single day (other than National […]

There Are No Mistakes, Only Discoveries

Back in 2016 I took my family on a Disney Cruise to the Mediterranean. While on the cruise my son and daughter decided to go to a workshop they were holding on how to draw different Disney characters. At the start of the class the crew passed out pencils. These particular pencils had no erasers […]

Stronger Than You Know

The Oak Tree A mighty wind blew night and day.It stole the Oak Tree’s leaves away.Then snapped its boughsand pulled its barkuntil the Oak was tired and stark. But still the Oak Tree held its groundwhile other trees fell all around.The weary wind gave up and spoke,“How can you still be standing Oak?” The Oak […]

It’s Been A Scary Halloween All Year So I Decided I’m Jumping To Christmas!

This entire year has already felt like one big scary Halloween movie so I decided I’m jumping to Christmas!  Yesterday I put on Mariah Carey’s Christmas album and sang my lungs out in the shower and my spirits immediately began lifting…. By afternoon I had my husband hauling in boxes of Christmas decorations from the […]

The Miracle Of Hope

It’s only a three minute video clip, but it’s three minutes spoken by a man who is incredibly special to me (I’ll explain why below) that reminds us that what we need right now is RELENTLESS HOPE…it reminds us that WE CAN HOPE…that WE SHOULD HOPE…that WE HAVE EVERY REASON TO HOPE:

The Legacy We Leave Behind

Last weekend marked the ten year anniversary of the unexpected passing of on of my best friends, Steve Gasser.  Ten years…I can hardly believe that its been ten years since I last got to see his smile and last heard his voice on the other end of the phone saying “Wazzzzzuuuuuppppp!”  I’d first met Steve […]

How We Avoid Becoming Pawns In Someone Else’s Game

An Ambassador in another country shared the following sentiment with me: People who wish to do evil for their own selfish purposes (whether it be fame, power, position, or fortune) have figured out they no longer need to wage a war to conquer society – they only need to feign they are two people with […]

An Experiment In Opening Your Heart

Virginia Hinckley Pearce wrote a book called “A Heart Like His: Making Space for God`s Love in Your Life”. I first learned about her book a few years back when I was invited to hear her speak and in her talk she issued a challenge for all of us to try an experiment that turned […]

Don’t Lose Hope. You Never Know What Tomorrow May Bring.

I laid down to take a nap after 9am church this morning and stayed asleep until just a few minutes ago (nearly 9pm!). Clearly my body needs sleep so rather than writing a blog tonight I’m going to repost an article I wrote for Forbes back in 2015 titled “Don’t Lose Hope. You Never Know […]

Don’t Allow Others To Define Your Success

I’ve spent the day at a Family Office Summit in Arizona. Knowing I’d be tied up all day I asked my son Dalton if he’d write tonight’s blog post to cover for me. Here’s Dalton’s post Don’t allow others to define your success (by Dalton Anderson) Being the son of a successful entrepreneur comes with […]

“None of us is as smart as all of us.”

“None of us is as smart as all of us.” – Ken Blanchard Yesterday one of the long standing non-profit organizations I serve on the board of received word that a new set of covid restrictions coming into effect will cause this amazing performing arts theater which boasts Broadway caliber shows and musicals that are […]

Four Ways To Reduce Fear

In the article “Love Is Medicine for Fear: Life, especially pandemic life, is full of threats and uncertainty. When we feel afraid, bringing more love into our lives can help.” written by Arthur Brooks in The Atlantic, he explains: “More isolation plus more hostility equals less love; less love equals more fear. To reduce fear, […]

Family Traditions – KEEP DOING THEM!

It’s always on a Saturday morning in October. Our family meets down at a place called the Red Barn. We get their homemade apple cider and freshly made apple donuts for breakfast and then we climb aboard a tractor trailer to ride on hail bails out to the pumpkin patch where we explore a corn […]

An Irish Blessing

Sometimes the simplest thing can touch your heart. Today reading this Irish blessing someone shared touched mine: May God give you…☘️ For every storm, a rainbow, For every tear, a smile, For every care, a promise, And a blessing in each trial. For every problem life sends, A faithful friend to share, For every sigh, […]

Believe In People

Believe in People: Bottom-up Solutions for a Top Down World is an awesome new book that I was blessed to receive an advance copy of from authors Charles Koch & Brian Hooks. I’ve had the privilege of getting to know both Charles and Brian personally over the last several years through Stand Together, a philanthropic […]

Lessons On Branding From Expert Gordon Bowen

Three years ago this week I was sitting in the home of world renowned branding genius, Gordon Bowen, founder and Global Chairman of McGarryBowen and Chief Creative Officer of Dentsu Aegis Network.  The very next day I wrote the following article for Forbes.com:  Lessons On Branding Shared By Advertising Expert Gordon Bowen of McGarryBowen Last […]

You Might Only Have One Match But You Can Make An Explosion

I was on a conference call today in which the people on the call were each asked to share a time they’d seen the transformative power of the belief in people. As I listened to each person share their differing stories I kept thinking about these words from one of my very favorite songs: Like […]

DROP THE MIC! Seriously, It Couldn’t Have Been Said Any Better

There has been much said by many on the topic of politics, racism, hatred, anger, and all that divides so many people today. Much of what is said on the topics is done in anger or in inflammatory ways that only serves to make divides even larger. When I heard Dallin H. Oaks’ talk this […]

We’ve Got This!

I cannot even put into words how amazing this weekend was for me.  I spent Saturday and Sunday watching the Semi-Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ and it was two days filled with the most inspirational talks imaginable.  In a year where we’ve all been dealing with pandemics, earthquakes, fires, isolation, and […]

I Invite You To Watch General Conference With Me This Weekend! I’M SO EXCITED!!!

This conference is free for everyone. It is available to watch or listen to in about every language you can think of. You can see it via television broadcast, live stream, or listen via radio. And it is going to be filled with inspiring talks and messages of hope that will exceed your expectations beyond […]

Traits of Highly Intelligent People

In an article written last year by Shanna Lebowitz for Business Insider she discussed 8 traits that research has shown that highly intelligent people tend to have in common: 1. They’re highly adaptable They learn to work around problems and find solutions when complications arise. 2. They understand how much they don’t know They aren’t afraid to […]