Brighten Your World, Become a Pronoid
To be a Pronoid is to be the opposite of paranoid: you approach folks and the world as if they are willing to help and…
THINKING IS A SKILL…MANY ARE UNSKILLED AND DON’T KNOW IT
Simply because they have thoughts (i.e. words form) in their heads, most folks believe they know how to think. But if you define thinking as…
Where Does Your Miss Havisham Reside?
Miss Havisham is the central character in Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations who was jilted at the alter and chose to wear her wedding dress for…
Environment v. “In-vironment”
Two ways to look at the world: You are the program, or you are the programmer. Is your fate determined by outside events, by your…
7 Habits of Highly Ineffective People
Sometimes looking at opposites brings things into greater clarity… Be Reactive: Give away your personal power; hold others responsible for your emotions and reactions. See…
Six Emotional Enemies You Let Live Rent Free In Your Head
1) Fear: Fear is not real; it is an emotion we create in our minds based upon how we choose to interpret reality and predict outcomes (our…
Who Is Writing Your Programming?
The short answer is, for most folk, everyone and no one. All too many drift through life like a ship without a rudder (or at…
Bow Down Not to Others’ Gods
Where did your value system come from? Have you ever hauled it out into the light and given a thorough examination? Including the reflexive responses,…
Beyond Desire: The Vital Next Step Few Take
It is not enough to desire something; the wise, the successful go one step further. They ask themselves “Why?”. Why do I want this thing,…
Successful People Accept this Very Simple Phrase
“It may not be your fault but if it’s in your way, it’s your problem.” The greatest point of power lies within you. To believe…
To Live a Better Life; Avoid These Two All-Too-Common Forms of Self Sabotage
Self-Doubt You must believe in yourself (even if it takes a leap of faith at times!) before others will. Folks tend to sense your self-appraisal…
Something to Do in 2023 To Live a Better Life
Live Life on Purpose To be happy, life must have meaning, a direction, a focus… but the meaning of life is not a question we…
I’m a North Star Person; I Sail a Steady Course
Our self-concept, how we see ourselves, is a powerful determinant of our lives. Who we believe we are is a construct we’ve picked up from…
The Double Tap Response: Specific AND Systematic
Successful people approach problems differently than others. They search for solutions at multiple levels; solutions that are both Specific AND Systematic. Yes, they want to…
Choose Heaven
More than we often realize, how we choose to view our world shapes our world. The frame we give events, the way we interpret the…
Smarter beats Harder
To get the most out of your efforts, first work (and live!) smarter, THEN work harder/longer… if that is what it takes to realize the…
Life is often Jolie-Laide, Embrace it!
Jolie-Laide is a French term of affection that translates roughly as Pretty-Ugly and is used to describe something that is unconventionally beautiful. No one’s life…
Our Hurts Become Our Fears; Our Fears Become Our Limits
Our hurts often become our fears and then all too frequently our fears become our limits… if we let them, if we live an unaware…
Showing Up Clean
At its simplest level, “Showing Up Clean” means having an open mind. Easy words to say but the ability to calmly hear opinions you disagree…
AMY isn’t Your Friend
The amygdala, or AMY for short (from AMYgdala) is an almond-shaped cluster of nuclei located deep within the temporal lobes of your brain. AMY is…
Small Blessings Count Too
Elizabeth Gilbert (‘Eat, Pray, Love’) once said “You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestation of your own blessings.” I take her words to mean…
What Emotional Energy seeds are you planting? For as you Sow, so shall you Reap
If we choose to speak disrespectfully of others (and remember we humans are a sensitive bunch); if we elect to gripe or groan about “how…
How are your Refusal Skills?
Refusal skills are communication strategies and pre-rehearsed scripts that help you say no without feeling guilt or shame, particularly when under social or peer pressure…
Memento Mori
Memento mori literally translates from the Latin as “remember death” or remember that we all die, that death is inevitable. Rather than being depressing or…
In Praise of Philoponia
Philoponia is a concept associated with the Stoics and its literal translation from the Latin is “a love of work”. But in the Stoic philosophy…
Embracing Disconfirming Evidence
Disconfirming evidence is anything that does NOT support our current belief system or reinforce our convictions about who we are or what we are capable…