kindness

Choices: Waiting at Every Turn

“The moment that we believe we have a choice, there is hope. We are no longer playing the role of victim — we are taking responsibility.” ~Julie Freedman Smith and Gail Bell, Parenting Power When children are young, we give them freedom in choosing things: what color shirt they will wear, how much food they […]

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One Pistachio at a Time

“When eating an elephant take one bite at a time.”~ Creighton Abrams   Some jobs are just overwhelming.  Trying to help clients find success in their businesses, I often have to remind myself, and them, that it doesn’t usually happen overnight.  Success takes a lot of work and dedication.  Some projects just feel huge, don’t […]

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Can War and Peace Exist Together?

“Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.” ~Ronald Reagan “Mankind must put an end to war — or war will put an end to mankind. ” – John F. Kennedy Peacemaker is possibly in a dictionary somewhere with a picture of my face beside it and […]

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The Marriage of Work and Voice: A Beautiful Union

“He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.” ― Francis of Assisi Watching my mother paint colors onto a canvas, I see the face of my son […]

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Where Have We Gone?

“I bet if we ran into the sixth grade version of ourselves, they’d give us wet willies and put bubble gum in our hair for even thinking about doing this.” ~Longfellow Deeds (Adam Sandler, Mr. Deeds) The person we dreamed we would be when we were little kids often doesn’t match who we’ve become. Did you […]

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Trust on the Trapeze

“All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.” ― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan There are two ways we encounter trust: we either believe others will do what they say or we don’t, and we are either the kind of people who do what we say or we aren’t.  Maybe we were […]

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Questions Without Answers

“He explained to me with great insistence that every question possessed a power that did not lie in the answer.” ~Eli Wiesel, Night Ask a child if they made their bed or cleaned their room, ask a politician if they agree or disagree, ask someone if your outfit makes you look fat or thin, or […]

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Be Like Joe

“Never love anyone who treats you like you’re ordinary.” ― Oscar Wilde People complain about small towns turning into big cities and losing their close-knit feel.  I suppose it can happen, but within every big city are small sections of people who help keep it feeling like a small town.  If you want it, you will find […]

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Home–where the heart is and where it all begins

“To bring up a child in the way he should go, travel that way yourself once in a while.” ― Josh Billings Just because you have no children doesn’t mean you aren’t helping to raise a generation or two.  I think of my friend who is a choir teacher–No children of her own yet she […]

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You’re So Funny and Not Funny at All

“Sarcasm is the last refuge of the imaginatively bankrupt.” ― Cassandra Clare, City of Bones If you’ve ever eaten at a Thai restaurant, you’ve probably been asked after ordering your food, “How spicy do you want that?” My answer is almost always the same, “Just enough to let me know it’s there, but not enough […]

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Thoughts to Encourage

Joy is the will which labors, which overcomes obstacles, which knows triumph.~ William Butler Yeats

Whether you think you can or think you can’t you’re right. - Henry Ford

The best way out is always through. ~ Robert Frost

Real difficulties can be overcome, it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable. ~ Theodore N. Vail

Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

You must be the change you want to see in the world. - Mahatma Gandhi

Nothing helps like a good nap…

Birds are Beautiful

A Dog is Faithful…