Tag Archives: adversity

The Most Amazing Advice Ever!

A young girl just starting High School this fall emailed my daughter Ashley (19 yrs old) to ask her what advice she could give her. My daughter sent her the following letter and as soon as I read it I instantly knew I had to share it with everyone! Every single one of us needs […]

We are never too old to believe in fairy tales, happy endings, and MAGIC!

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE Disney. I love Disney movies, Disneyland, Disney artwork, Disney statues, and well…all things Disney.  Perhaps some of you might think it’s strange that a grown professional woman loves Disney so much, but let me tell you why: What Disney represents to me is: Once Upon a Time […]

Don’t Do Something Permanently Stupid Just Because You Are Temporarily Upset

There are always things that are going to happen that will cause us to be temporarily upset. That’s just part of life. But when those things happen we have to find a way to keep our wits about us so we don’t do something permanently stupid that we will regret later. Instead we should focus […]

The Person We Should All Hope To Be

Somethings are so powerful you just have to read them again and again, and this particular poem is one of this things. I know I have shared this poem in past years, but today I read it again and it really hit me how much this poem describes the person we should all hope to […]

Don’t Give Up On Your Goals Because of One Setback

“Giving up on your goal because of one setback is like slashing your other three tires because you got one flat.” -unknown I absolutely LOVE that quote! I love the visual image it paints for us to help us recognize how dumb it is to give up on our goals just because of one little […]

Trust What Someone Has Shown Themselves To Be, Not What We Wish That They Were

There have been a few times in my life where I really believed in someone and trusted them and then came to discover that they weren’t the person that I thought they were at all. It hurts a lot when you discover that someone you thought was a good person just isn’t. And then you […]

I Believe There Are Angels Watching Over Us

I have a painting on my wall titled “Heavenly Hands” by the artist Greg Olsen. I love this painting because it represents an Angel watching over a little girl. Here is an image of what the painting looks like: I personally believe in Angels. I believe there are ministering Angels sent into our lives at […]

When You Can’t See The Positive Anymore…

Today was one of those days when I REALLY needed an inspirational quote to help keep my spirits up. The truth is that it has been a rough week this week for many reasons and I found myself getting to that point where you really need a motivational lifeline to help you get your head […]

Brain Fry, Headaches, and Exhausted Guardian Angels

“I have a theory about the human mind. A brain is a lot like a computer. It will only take so many facts, and then it will go on overload and blow up.”  – Erma Bombeck Do you ever come to the end of an exceptionally long day and feel like your head is going […]

Life is Like a Camera…

When I was wandering the streets of Europe on a recent trip I came across a little shop that had the cutest saying posted in their window. I liked it so much I had to snap a photo of it so I could be sure to remember it.  Here is what the sign said: Life […]

The importance of sharing your experiences with other people

“It’s important that we share our experiences with other people. Your story will heal you and your story will heal somebody else. When you tell your story, you free yourself and give other people permission to acknowledge their own story.”  -Iyanla Vanzant When my children were young they went through some really difficult things. Today […]

A Wish Flower or a Weed?

Today my husband and I were walking along a darling little riverbank when I looked over and saw an awesome Wish Flower. I used to see them all the time when I was a little girl living in Puyallup, Washington. They were all over our backyard and as kids we would go out and pick […]

Not to spoil the ending for you…

“Not to spoil the ending for you, but everything is going to be OK!” My gosh if we could just remember that quote every day of our lives we would be able to live life so much happier!!!  And the reality is that deep down, I know that that statement is absolutely true. I know […]

Billions More Chances To Be Happy

“If I am only happy for myself, many fewer chances for happiness. If I am happy when good things happen to other people, billions more chances to be happy!”  – Dalai Lama Being unhappy because of someone else’s success is a miserable and ugly way to feel. When a person is feeling envious of another […]

Experience: That Most Brutal Of Teachers

“Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.” –C.S. Lewis So true, isn’t it? When we look back at our lives we always find that experience was the very best teacher in life. Some days I really wish that wasn’t the case because often times experience can be brutal […]

It’s Always the People Who Know the Least About You…

“It’s always the people who know the least about you, who want to judge you the most.” Whenever you are feeling judged by other people you have to remember that quote because it is SO TRUE! You can’t allow yourself to spend time worrying what other people think of you or how other people are […]

The Refiner’s Fire

A young lady was taking a religion class in college and during the class they discussed life’s trials we are faced with and they talked about overcoming life’s trials. The teacher would often refer to the fact that when we are faced with trials it is akin to a refiner’s fire.  The young lady wanted […]

Choose to be Mentally Strong!

“Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.”   – Rikki Rogers As we go through life we have to decide what kind of person we are going to be. Will we be mentally strong, or will we be mentally weak? The choice is ours. […]

 “Forget the Forecast, Live Like’s It’s Spring.”

80 degrees last week, snow today…?!  What the heck?!  Since when does it snow on spring break?  Yikes! I love springtime and I have been so looking forward to sunshine, flowers, blossoms…did I say sunshine? All I know it that sunshine makes me so happy! I agree with Robin Williams quote: “Spring is nature’s way […]

“When something goes wrong in your life, just yell “Plot Twist” and move on.”

“When something goes wrong in your life, just yell “Plot Twist” and move on.” We’ve all experienced times when our best laid plans are interrupted with some unexpected twist that completely changes everything. It can happen with major life situations like losing a job or having a relationship unexpectedly end, or it can happen with […]

It’s Funny How Sometimes The People You’d Take A Bullet For Are The Ones Behind The Trigger (Forbes Article)

Actually it’s not really that funny at all…it’s really sad when it happens to be true. It’s unbelievably hard when someone you love and respect and consider a friend does something to hurt you deeply. It’s downright brutal. I’m sure many of us have been through times where this has happened. We are betrayed by […]

Positive, Optimistic, and Determined

“I am too positive to be doubtful, too optimistic to be fearful, and too determined to be defeated.” I love that quote because it provides a stark comparison to two ways we can choose to live our lives.  We can either be doubtful, fearful, and defeated….or we can be positive, optimistic, and determined….which sounds better […]

Have Courage and Be Kind

That phrase, “Have Courage and Be Kind” is repeated multiple times throughout the new movie Cinderella (the real life remake of the cartoon classic).  It was advice given to Cinderella as a small child by her real mother before her real mother passed away.  Today in a meeting someone reminded me again of the phrase […]

It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving

Every Sunday when we sit down for our family dinner we have a tradition where we go around the dinner table and as we are eating each person in the family shares with the rest of us what they learned that day or week. We have done this since the time my children were little […]

Live Life To The Fullest

We all have a limited time here on this earth, and none of us really know exactly when that time will come to an end. We all hope to live to an old age and then pass peacefully in our sleep, hopefully with our spouse right next to us going at the same time just […]

Why Did This Have To Happen?!?!

I was working hard on preparing a Powerpoint presentation for a talk I will be giving at a University tomorrow evening when my computer crashed, and of course it crashed before I had saved my work. After hours of hard work I yelled out “Why did this have to happen?!?!”  Arggghhhh!!! So frustrating, right!?! At […]

Some People, Good People, And Extraordinary People

“Some people see the glass half empty. Good people see the glass half full. But extraordinary people are just grateful for the glass!”  That quote came today in the weekly email letter I get from my daughter Ashley on her mission and I loved it so much I had to share it with everyone. What […]

Groundhog Day Says We’re Going to Have To Make Our Own Sunshine

With all of the amazing technology we employ today it’s amazing the credibility we attribute to the shadow of a little brown rodent each Groundhog Day. But every year I admit that, I along with everyone else, wait to hear whether Phil saw his shadow or not. It never fails to bum me out when […]

The Power of One

“Never question the power of one! Throughout history it has been the actions of only one person who has inspired the movement of change.” – Steve Maraboli Tomorrow is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and I would be remiss if I didn’t express gratitude for the amazing life he lived and the example he set […]

20 Words to the Wise

This time of year we hear the stories of the Wise Men so I thought it would be a fitting time to share an Anonymous posting I came across called “20 Words to the Wise” that had 20 great words of advice to help each of us become more wise in our own lives: 1. […]