Tag Archives: self-improvement

I WANT TO YELL IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS!

Have you ever felt so strongly about something that you wish you could jump up and literally scream it from the rooftops?  Well that is exactly how I feel about the things I shared in the article I posted yesterday for Forbes. Like I literally wish I had a megaphone that I could scream to […]

As Communication Improves, Culture Improves, As Does The Bottom Line. 4 Tools That Make A Difference (Forbes Article)

In order to be a successful company you must create an environment that encourages the contribution and open sharing of information. As the CEO of a high growth company I found it necessary to implement very simple, but incredibly powerful software tools to help us create that environment. Each tool served the purpose of facilitating […]

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 […]

When’s the last time you read a Fairy Tale?

“Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”   C.S. Lewis What a great quote and even better reminder.  As a kid we love reading fairy tales and watching them on TV and in our favorite Disney movies. We dream about Once Upon A Time and Happily Ever After on a […]

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 […]

What Memories Will We Have Left Behind?

This weekend I attended the funeral of a neighbor and a friend. She left behind a husband, children, and grand-children and many friends who loved her dearly. She was an amazing person and she lived her life with love and service for others and I feel lucky to have known her. It was really hard […]

We are all that person that can change the world

I don’t often share videos in my blog because I know everyone’s time is short and just the fact you take time out of your day to read my blog is such an honor that I try to keep them quick to read. However, I had to share this video with you today because it’s […]

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 […]

Learn To See An Imperfect Person Perfectly

I have to start by saying how crazy cute this picture is! And the message is fantastic. “We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.” Anyone who is married either already has, or is quickly learning, just how true that statement is. None of […]

Life is Your Time To Dance. I Hope You Do It!

We all have an unknown amount of time to live our lives, and during that time we will have the opportunity to do many things like take chances, enjoy moments, fall down, get hurt, get back up, learn, and best of all….dance. The first time I heard the lyrics to the song below I fell […]

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 […]

All The Things You’re Not

You are not your age, Nor the size of clothes you wear, You are not a weight, Or the colour of your hair. You are not your name, Or the dimples in your cheeks, You are all the books you read, And all the words you speak. You are your croaky morning voice, And the […]

Choose Your Own Adventure

Remember back when you were a kid and they had those Choose Your Own Adventure books?  I used to love those! You would start off reading the story and get to the bottom of the page and it would say, “To choose to do <this> go to page x or to choose to do <that> […]

Your Get Rid of List

I read an amazing blog the other day written by someone I know who lives in Arkansas where my daughter Ashley is serving a mission. She and Ashley have become dear friends and this gal shared with Ashley some of the bad habits she is trying to get rid of in her life. Together she […]

Does Life Ever Get Easier?

I remember as a kid thinking how I couldn’t wait to become and adult because life seemed so much easier for adults. Being a kid felt hard….I mean after all, Adults got to go out whenever they wanted to, they had money to buy whatever they wanted (at least that’s what you thought as a […]

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. […]

“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 […]

Focus On The Lovable Moments

“A single misunderstanding is so poisonous, that it makes us forget the hundred lovable moments spent together within a minute.” Years ago I had a best friend who taught me a great life lesson. Whenever there was a situation where hurt feelings occurred and I got angry with someone he would stop me and point […]

Someday We’ll All Have Perfect Wings

I would guess most of us have either heard of or seen the bumper stickers which read, “Mean People Suck”. I happen to agree with that sentiment. When someone treats another person mean I really struggle with it. When I hear stories of bullying in our young people, or see people taking pot shots, or […]

Life is short, Live it well

Today we got word that a friend of ours, who we love and admire greatly, has been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer which has spread throughout her body. It came as such a shock to hear the news about her because we ran into her and her husband just a few weeks ago and […]

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 […]