Tag Archives: happiness

What 50 Years Have Taught Me

Tomorrow I’m turning 50 years old and knowing that has caused me to be introspective about a few of the things those 50 years have taught me: *They’ve taught me that happiness comes when we put God first, family second, and everything else third. *They’ve taught me that excelling in the things of righteousness is […]

Kindred Spirits You’re Destined To Meet

“When you encounter someone you were destined to meet the conversation will take flight as if it were on the wings of angels, complete strangers confiding in each other as if you were lifelong friends.” – Kevin Hall Have you ever had the experience of meeting someone for the first time, but having that feeling […]

Free Up Space On Your Plate For Joy!

Today I had a full plate….a ridiculously full plate. And not the yummy kind of full plate of holiday fudge and Christmas cookies (I wish!), I’m talking about the far less pleasant kind of full plate filled with all kinds of must-do’s that were time-sensitive (the worst kind of to-dos). So I dug in and […]

Experience The Healing Power of Gratitude -#GiveThanks

Last Friday in a worldwide broadcast, President Russell M. Nelson, both a physician and a global faith leader, prescribed the following seven day challenge that will allow you to experience the healing power of gratitude: “As a doctor, I know the value of good therapy. So, dear friends, may I prescribe two activities to help […]

An Opportunity To Re-evaluate

Life can seem really complex any particular moment and when we are in the thick of things its easy to get overwhelmed. It’s also easy to get so busy that you don’t even realize how much time you are spending on one thing or another and before you know it you are so busy going […]

It’s Nothing A Slushee Can’t Fix

It’s amazing how the dumbest things can bring a smile to our face….For instance, I was getting ready for bed super late the other night and couldn’t stop craving a Slushee…7-eleven was closed so my husband tried grinding up ice cubes in the blender with some juice but that didn’t go so well. I knew […]

Want To Be Happy? Try A Dose Of Nostalgia

If you want to be happy try a good old dose of nostalgia. For those not familiar with that term it is defined in the dictionary as, “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.” With all the madness in 2020 I’ve thought quite […]

Go To Bed, Get A Good Night Sleep. Tomorrow Will Be Better.

After an incredibly long busy day today all I could think about was wanting to go to bed. As I sat down to write a blog the thought came into my mind that I should search past blogs I’d written that had the phrase “go to bed” in them. So I did and it brought […]

Relive A Favorite Memory

One of my favorite memories from childhood was a vacation with my family when I was a young girl living in Puyallup Washington. My parents took us to the San Juan Islands just off the coast to stay in a cabin on Orcas Island.  I remember taking the ferry over to stay in a little […]

The Quantity Of Things We Accomplish

On a day to day basis it is far easier to tally the “x’s” we get to mark off of a task list then it is to measure the impact of the minutes we’ve spent with a loved one. Completing a task let’s us put an “x” next to an item on our to-do list […]

My Gift To You On National Trail Mix Day

Every summer we go and spend time on our houseboat down at Lake Powell.  And each trip we like to bring down yummy treats to share with our guests we host on these trips. Many years ago as I was trying to come up with different goodies to make I had made a batch of […]

Successful Communication

“Don’t communicate to be understood; rather, communicate so as not to be misunderstood.” —John Lund, EdD Years ago, I attended a seminar on communication by John Lund, EdD, in which he gave some amazing advice on how to better communicate with others. His input was simple and easy to follow, and yet very powerful. Here […]

This Too Shall Pass Away

After a particularly difficult day today I got a text reminding me that “this too shall pass”. It made me think about the words in this poem: THIS TOO SHALL PASS AWAY When sorrows come into your lifeAnd threaten to destroyThe very things you treasure most,Your happiness and joy; And when that crushing powerThreatens everything […]

Come What May And Love It

Joseph B. Worthlin shared the following story that has had a huge impact on my life: “When I was young I loved playing sports, and I have many fond memories of those days. But not all of them are pleasant. I remember one day after my football team lost a tough game, I came home […]

Wish Flower Or Weed?

One day my husband and I were walking along a 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 the […]

The Fear Of Childishness and The Desire To Be Very Grown Up

Having been sucked into an endless hole all day of gathering receipts so my accountant can get my tax return prepared in time for the upcoming tax deadline, I asked my son Dalton if he’d write tonight’s blog post for me. Here’s Dalton’s post: “When I became a man I put away childish things, including […]

If No One Can See Your Mouth Is It Still Worth Smiling?

We’ve all heard the question, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear, does it make a sound?”  As I was out and about with me N95 mask on today I thought to myself, “If you have a smile on my face but no one can see your mouth […]

You Can Awfulize And Catastrophize Or See An Opportunity

As we were driving up to Montana from Utah last week to stay over Memorial weekend at our friends cabin I put a talk on for all of us in the car to listen to by stress expert and comedian Loretta Laroche. She was talking about how often we tend to awfulize and catastrophize things […]

The Importance Of Human Connection

“The needs of the spirit are as crucial to health as those individual organs which make up the body.”   -Florence Nightingale Isolation is a word many have become all too familiar with during this pandemic, especially for those who aren’t able to be in quarantine with loved ones. And as much as we might have […]

Don’t Let Today’s Disappointments Cast A Shadow On Tomorrow’s Dreams

“Don’t let today’s disappointments cast a shadow on tomorrow’s dreams.” ~Unknown Life is full of curve balls that are bound to come up and mess up our best laid plans. It’s a part of life that cannot be stopped from happening. Unexpectedly loved ones pass away, family members fall ill, injuries occur, vehicles break down, […]

Work/Life Balance – The Eternal Struggle.

Work / Life Balance – it’s the eternal struggle we all strive for but never seem to feel like we have right. I really love the talk given by Coca Cola CEO Brian Dyson back in 1996 at a Georgia Tech commencement ceremony where he shared his analogy of the five balls we are all […]

Some Good News

We’ve all spent the last few months hearing pretty much nothing but bad news…from the coronavirus pandemic, to earthquakes, tornadoes, wildfires, severe storms, stock market crashes, cancelled graduations, and on and on and on…with every news station full of stories of gloom and doom is it really that surprising that people are struggling with feelings […]

Fresh Air And Sunshine Are Good For The Soul

“Some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat.”  – Laura Ingalls Wilder I’ve been so focused on getting my home organized the last few weeks that I had forgotten how good it feels just to step outside and feel the sunshine on your face. After another long day of working inside […]

A Great Way To Boost Your Emotional Well-Being and Happiness Level

Today as I was going through cabinets and organizing things I pulled out my box I keep of handwritten notes and cards people have written to me over the years and I began reading a few of them.  What an awesome way to boost your emotional well-being! Let’s face it – if someone asked you […]

To Innovate Does Not Necessarily Mean To Expand

“To innovate does not necessarily mean to expand; very often it means to simplify.” – M. Russell Ballard Being in lockdown has required companies and service providers to innovate in order to keep their businesses alive. For so many years everyone has looked at growth as the indicator of innovation. Yet as the quote reads, […]

Why Me?

I started reading through things I’d written in past years Aprils to try and remind myself of what my Aprils used to be like before this pandemic. Ironically, the first thing I flipped to was an article I’d written back in April of 2013 that was published in Forbes, and when you read what I’d […]

The Power Of The Goal Poster

Tonight I spoke to a group of Young Women between age 11 and 17 about “The Power of the Goal Poster”. The Power of the Goal Poster is actually the title of a chapter from my book “What AWESOME Looks Like: How To Excel In Business & Life” that’s available for purchase on Amazon.com. Below […]

There’s No Kill Switch On AWESOME

“There’s no kill switch on AWESOME.”  – Dilbert A woman who worked with terminally ill patients often asked them what their biggest regrets were from their life.  One of the regrets shared was that they wish they had let themselves be happier.  Note the phrase “let themselves be happier”, which was them acknowledging that they […]

You May Be The Very Person That Can Do It

“You were born with the ability to change someone’s life. Don’t ever waste it.” We often hear that we must help ourselves before we can help someone else, and to some extent I believe that to be true.  But I also find it to be true that one of the best ways to help ourselves […]

“If I Would Have Known Then What I Know Now. But I Did, And So Do You.”

She knew she was dying when she wrote the note which read:  “Regrets? I have a few. Too much worrying about finding the right husband and having children, being on time, being late and so on. It didn’t matter. It all works out, and it would have worked out without the worries and the tears. […]