“You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default.” ~ J.K. Rowling

At one stage or another, we have all experienced failure. It often invokes a negative emotion, which connotes feelings and ideas of defeat, frustration, and disappointment.

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

When you wake up in the morning, is your mind racing? Do you fret about what other people think of you? Do you feel anxious, no matter how hard you try to stay calm?

Are you impatient with your impatience?

Luckily, the idea that you should always feel a sense of well-being and inner peace is a misconception. Life happens. Your spouse works late. Children get sick. You get a flat tire on your way to work. A friend hurts your feelings. You lose a pet or a loved one.

Feeling peaceful or having emotional well-being has nothing to do with what happens to us; it’s about learning the art of [...]

Last year was a whirlwind year. As the retrospectives start rolling in, it doesn’t take much to floor me. Did all that really happen in 2019? Has it only been one year?

Author José Saramago wrote this about time: “You never know beforehand what people are capable of, you have to wait, give it time, it's time that rules, time is our gambling partner on the other side of the table and it holds all the cards of the deck in its hand, we have to guess the winning cards of life, our lives.”

You never know what a year is capable of.

Have you ever gotten into an argument with your partner, and after you cooled down, you can’t even remember how it started?

Everyone has a unique perspective, so we’re bound to disagree sometimes. However, if disagreements become fights that harm the relationship, our remarks made while upset can fuel future hurt. When it comes to love and marriage, there are a few sacred rules of engagement. If you honor these, you’re halfway to a great relationship. If not, breaking these guidelines will divide you, rewound your partner, and diminish your love.

My first experience with visualization was in high school as a springboard diver. My coach requested me to switch from a jackknife (or pike) dive to a layout dive, which had more difficulty and higher points in competition.

As you probably know, a layout dive requires the diver’s body to be an unbending plank. My coach was extremely frustrated with me for weeks because no matter how hard I tried to stay straight, I’d bend at the top of the dive.

Estimated reading time: 3.5 minutes

Years ago, I attended an out-of-state business training and was chosen to be a part of an interactive exercise that the facilitator conducted. The exercise required us to take steps along a tightrope, maintaining balance while also ensuring that our team members before and after us were safe and secure. It was a difficult task. The experience gave me practice firsthand in balancing while simultaneously striving to accomplish a distant goal. 

What echoes in my mind from that day is the frustrated colleague directly behind me who barked, “Just take small, manageable steps!”

Estimated reading [...]

I’ve been using essential oils for forty years, long before essential oils became widespread. Despite the variety of essential oils available on the market these days, I always come back to one: lavender essential oil.  It's my favorite! I’ve used lavender essential oil for everything from treating bee stings to bringing down fevers when my kids were young to clearing the air of doggie smells!

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

To communicate, or to commune using its Greek root, is at the core of all relationships, teams, and communities. Without communication, there is no bridge from each person's private universe to another person.

However, finding our way through the mazes created by our unique experiences, thoughts, emotions, biases (over one hundred!), assumptions, and beliefs is a feat in and of itself. Every day, life presents us with a daily puzzle: to understand and connect with ourselves, and then to others.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

We tolerate bad habits and unhealthy behaviors for way too long for a variety of reasons. What's your reason? What do you allow that depletes your joy? And what excuses do you make? How do you let yourself off the hook and postpone creating a better life?

Many times tolerations and compromises live in our marriages and most cherished relationships: Disrespect. Sharp words. Busy schedules. Small omissions. Unresolved and painful conflicts. Broken promises eroding trust. Why do we make suffering our bed partner?

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Motivation and how to motivate teens are common topics and complaints for parents. They are also the focus of many teacher discussions, as well. Why? Because we expect children to be motivated without giving them the raw materials to build the muscle. We don't even realize that we deny children the very things they need to spark and develop the motivational center in their brains. And while a child is developing, we don't understand just how critical it is for a child and teen to lead themselves.

Lately, I have been listening to moms frustrated with their children's lack of motivation. They [...]