Who among us hasn’t dreamed of being extraordinary? To be noticed. To do things no one else is doing or go beyond what has been done before. You’ve probably never verbalized you want to “Be the Miracle”. But we all have high hopes for doing something incredible. This can be both rewarding and disappointing. Exhausting …
Hurricane Irma is steadily moving toward Florida as I write. I have dozens of relatives scattered across Florida – all in the path of this dangerous storm. I refuse to give in to fear so I don’t keep the television on to watch the continuous reels showing the devastation in the places Irma has hit already. As …
Do you know the elevation where you live? Florida’s Emerald Coast is where I work and play. Local coastal locations have an elevation of about 10 feet above sea level. Not an ideal place to be when hurricanes make landfall. Our home is on 20 acres inland with a 60-foot elevation – giving us a …
Strength of heart. That’s something we all want and need, right? Encourage literally means, “to provide with strength of heart.” For years, I’ve been choosing one perfect word to carry with me throughout the year. A word to ponder and grow into. I’m always surprised by what comes to the forefront as I sift and …
Kindness is the most powerful, least costly, most underrated agent of human change. It’s easy to think the world has gone crazy. Certainly, there have been other times in history when people seem to have lost their sensibility, but we have no shortage of irrational, angry folks all over the world right now. It’s hard …
What do you do when your life blows up? You go on. Such is the advice of Rebekah Gregory in describing her journey of healing after being three feet from the bomb that exploded at the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. As Rebekah spoke to a packed audience at the Women’s Work-Life Symposium in …
The findings of a recent study by the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research indicate the behavior of others can influence traits like laziness. Since I was a child, I’ve heard the caution, “You’re known by the company you keep”. As a teenager, I scoffed at the idiom, “birds of a feather flock …
I refused to smile for my high school senior portrait. I thought it would make me look “cool” to deny my natural inclination to smile. And for a 17-year-old, it’s all about looking cool. News flash: a stern demeanor doesn’t make you look cool [professional] [smart] [serious]. It makes you look stern. The Power of …
Unintimidatable. Now there’s a $50 word. It has popped up numerous times as I was writing about mental toughness. Intimidatable means being reduced to a state where the spirit is broken or courage is lost. Thus unintimidatable implies strength of mind in the face of forces that would disrupt, distract, and deter. It defines an …
Look around you. Scores of people abhor the widely-celebrated holiday we call Valentine’s Day. We’re all expected to be happy for those receiving candy, flowers, jewelry, and other romantic expressions of love. Yet it can feel a bit like getting stabbed when you notice everyone – but you – seems to be the recipient of …