Tag Archives: happiness

Learning From Others Mistakes Is A Great Way To Save Yourself A Whole Lot Of Time, Money, And Pain

“Don’t touch that hot stove – you’ll burn yourself.” We’ve all heard that advice before. Some of us headed the advice and some of us didn’t. Those who did were able to avoid a painful burn and its subsequent scarring, and those who didn’t…well, we all know what happened to them. They learned the hard way. […]

Try Writing Your Own Eulogy

A eulogy is those words that will be spoken at your funeral someday reflecting back on the person you were, the things you accomplished, the things you did for others, and the example your life set and the legacy it has left behind. Have you ever sat and thought about writing your own eulogy?  Taking a […]

Beautiful, But Not For Something As Temporary As Looks

I was going through some photos to find some updated pictures of my daughter that I could print out to put into some frames I keep on the shelf in the family room. Looking at her photos one can’t help but notice how absolutely gorgeous of a young woman she is. It’s easy to recognize […]

“Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out.”

Tonight was the opening event of our Spring Board Conference at UVU where I serve as Chairman of the National Advisory Board for the business school. We have our board conferences twice a year, once in the Fall and once in the Spring, and it takes a lot of work to get ready for them […]

Maybe They Really Are Using You. Do Good Anyway.

I’m sure I’ve probably posted this particular poem before, but it kept going through my mind today and given that I always try to let my blog reflect something I learned that day I decided to share it again: ANYWAY People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people […]

Rethinking Your Stress

It was sometime in the 1990’s when I first came across a PBS special where a woman was speaking in in a stand-up comedy routine sort of way on The Joy of Stress. Almost immediately I began laughing out loud listening to her as she described in the most entertaining way the self-defeating thoughts and […]

Happy Inconvenience Yourself Day!

I just learned that February 28th is “Inconvenience Yourself Day”, a day that is celebrated on the fourth Wednesday in February each year.  When I heard about it my first thought was, “Why would anyone want to have a day where they inconvenience themselves on purpose?” So I decided to look it up and see […]

Every Song Begins With A Blank Page

“Every song begins with a blank page.” – Pasek & Paul This evening I had the incredible opportunity to go and hear Pasek & Paul, songwriters of The Greatest Showman movie, speak and perform at Utah Valley University ( UVU ).  Now I was a HUGE fan of The Greatest Showman movie and soundtrack already, […]

What Will Matter

Sometimes you read something that says what you are thinking more perfectly than you could say it yourself  – that’s how I felt when I read this poem by Michael Josephson, whom I had never heard of until someone showed me this poem , but I  like the message of his poem so much I’m […]

Stop Being A Worrier And Start Being A Warrior!

“Stop being a worrier and start being a warrior!” – unknown I lost several weeks of productivity when I was down sick with the flu the last few weeks. It put me so behind on everything that I found myself worrying to no end over how I will possibly catch back up again. and worrying […]

Feed A Cold, Starve A Fever, but what the heck are you supposed to do when you have both?!

Forever people have said, “Feed a cold, starve a fever.”  So all I want to know is what the heck you are supposed to do when you have both?! Being sick is the pits! And according to the news there are a whole bunch of people painfully aware of how miserable it is to be […]

Appreciate the Excitement that comes from the Anticipation

We all wish we could have certainty life because it takes the fear out of things if we already know what is going to happen. But last night I was reminded that knowing the ending also takes that excitement and anticipation that comes from not knowing. As much as we think we want to know […]

It’s the things that take the most effort in life that end up meaning the very most

22 years ago today, February 5th , my baby girl Ashley was born. Ashley was as beautiful as any baby could be. You see, most babies come out with their heads looking a bit odd shaped and their faces a little swollen, but not Ashley. That’s because while I was in labor giving birth to her, […]

Just Think Of The Things You Are Glad That You’re Not

When my luck seems all gone, and I’m down in the mouth, When I’m stuck in the north and I want to go south; When the world seems a blank and there’s no one to love, And it seems even God’s not in heaven above. I’ve a cure for my grouch and it works like […]

Come What May, And Love It

Years ago someone gave me a little plate that reads, “Come what may, and love it.” It is a quote that came from a fantastic story told by a man named Joseph B Wirthlin in a talk titled the same in which he shared: “When I was young I loved playing sports, and I have […]

We Don’t Meet People By Accident, They Cross Our Paths For A Reason

Today I was blessed to have two new people come into my life, and as soon as we all sat down for lunch I knew there wasn’t anything accidental about our being introduced to one another. It was clear to me that these two amazing women, who I felt an instant bond of friendship with, […]

Back In The Saddle With The Saddle Sores To Prove It

Let’s face it, no one really looks forward to getting back in the saddle when they know it is going to be painful to do so. And having been off work for so long I knew exactly how painful it was going to be to get myself back in the saddle by going back to […]

Assume The Good And Doubt The Bad

Too often in life we allow ourselves to believe what I refer to as “the monsters in our head” -those negative thoughts that too quickly jump to judgement of ourselves or other people. It’s those thoughts about ourselves where we think we aren’t liked, or we don’t fit in, or that we aren’t good enough, […]

“No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else”

No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else.” – P.T. Barnum If you haven’t yet seen the new movie “The Greatest Showman”…. GO SEE IT!  Oh my goodness it is fantastic!  Seriously, the storyline, the music, and the cinematography are just amazing!  And there are so many great messages in the film: […]

Don’t let the backlog of work ruin this week!

Can I just put it out there that facing the real world after a long holiday is seriously terr-i-fying! Really though…there is far little more daunting then having to actually face up to the fact that for the last month you have completely ignored all your incoming emails, phone calls, most of your paper mail, […]

Welcome To The Year Of EXTRAORDINARY!

Welcome to 2018 everyone! Isn’t it just so exciting?!  A brand new year, a clean slate, a fresh chapter…2018 is the beginning of something extraordinary! Hopefully everyone found time to go through their 2018 calendar and block out all the days they want for their vacations etc that I wrote about here, and hopefully everyone […]

The Most Stressful, I Mean Wonderful Week of the Year

I realize we refer to this month as “the most wonderful time of the year” and I don’t disagree with that, but let’s have a little #realtalk for a second…the week before Christmas is straight up the most stressful week of the year! Let’s start with the fact that every time you go to an […]

Be That Star On The Hill #lighttheworld

Every night as I drive home the weeks before Christmas I look up on the hill above my house to see a big star that is lit up on the mountainside. It’s a star a neighbor has lit up for years during the holiday and I look forward to seeing it every night. There is […]

For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas

Tonight my husband and I were able to go and see Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol at the new (and amazing) Hale Center Theater. I’ve heard the story a million times but it still gets to me every time.  It’s impossible to watch the play without thinking about your own life and where the ghosts […]

Some Unique Gift Ideas To Help You Give That Perfect Gift

Let’s face it – shopping for the perfect Christmas gift can be STRESSFUL! It’s so hard to find something unique or special to give. My personal feeling is that gifts from the heart are the best kind of gifts, but for those who are looking to buy something fun for their loved one I thought […]

Nothing is ever 100 percent certain so of course you have doubts – that’s why it’s called taking a leap of faith!

Even a perfect plan can go awry. Take it from the girl who thought she had a perfect plan in place for her life at 18 only to find that nothing in my life those next ten years went according to my perfect plan. Years later I came to realize that rather than trying to […]

When Life Throws You A Curveball

The last several months life has thrown me some major curveballs that I frankly never saw coming, and those curveballs have caused me to have to deal with things I never expected to go through. As each of them hit I felt completely unprepared to deal with the mix of emotions hitting me all at […]

Only 48 Days Until Christmas – Let The Countdown Begin!

Can you believe there are only 48 days until Christmas??!!  It’s just so exciting!  So because it takes so much work to decorate the house for Christmas and put op our 13 foot tall Christmas tree we decided that from now on we are going to enjoy those decorations as long as possible, which is […]

Have you cheated the man in the glass?

When you get what you want in your struggle for self And the world makes you king for a day, Just go to the mirror and look at yourself  And see what “the man” has to say. For it isn’t your father or mother or wife Whose judgment upon you must pass. The fellow whose […]

Try and inject a little more of that childhood attitude of wonder into our adult lives

Watching all the cute little kids in their trick-or-treating costumes, running around ecstatic about all the free candy they were collecting, I couldn’t help but think how great it was to be a little kid. So oblivious to the problems in the world, wide-eyed with excitement about even the littlest things, believing in fairy tales […]