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Twenty minutes a day can make a big difference

I’m pouring my heart and soul into my New Year’s Resolutions this year. Actually, it’s the other way around, and I expect my resolutions to make a noticeable difference in my life – my heart, my soul, my attitude and my concentration. All in just 20 minutes a day. While trying to decide what my New Year’s Resolutions would be this year, I thought about all the advice I hear regularly about things we should do first thing in the morning. Exercising, for instance, to [...]

By |December 30th, 2016|Accountability, Columns, Faith, Health and Well-being, Holidays|Comments Off on Twenty minutes a day can make a big difference

Make your plans, and celebrate your life

In addition to all the holiday plans and preparations everyone is busy with at this time of year, many people take some time to look back at what they’ve accomplished and experienced in the past year, and to look forward as they plan for the future and all that they’d like to accomplish and experience in the coming year. I’ve never been able to sit down and plan out my short-term and long-term goals in terms of six-month, one-year, and five-year projections.  Whenever I’m asked [...]

By |December 9th, 2016|Accountability, Achieving Dreams and Goals, Buried Treasure, Coaching, Columns, Gifts and Talents, Holidays, Quotes and Sayings, Success|Comments Off on Make your plans, and celebrate your life

A lesson in integrity comes from an unexpected source

They spoke with eloquence and a bit of humor. They spoke with wisdom and a lot of experience. They were members of a new Toastmasters club, and were giving a presentation at our recent Toastmasters conference. The man who transported them to the conference waited in the back of the room till they were done speaking, at which time he would take them back to prison. The three presenters were from a nearby Federal Prison Camp, a minimum security facility that the men now call [...]

By |November 25th, 2016|Accountability, Columns, Family, Toastmasters, Values|2 Comments

Buried treasure becomes a book

It’s something that I’ve always dreamed of doing, and that I’ve started a number of times but never quite finished. I’ve helped others do it, and I’ve done it twice as part of a larger group, but never on my own – until now. I’ve just published my first book. I don’t know which was more exciting, holding an actual copy of the book with my name on the cover, or seeing the book listed on Amazon, which made me feel like a “real author” [...]

By |November 11th, 2016|Accountability, Achieving Dreams and Goals, Buried Treasure, Coaching, Columns, Gifts and Talents, Success, Writing|Comments Off on Buried treasure becomes a book

What makes you happy?

“Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer, but wish we didn’t.” I don’t remember where I first read that quote, but it makes me smile whenever I think of it. I’m guessing it was meant as a light-hearted observation, but there’s probably more truth to it than we realize. What brought it to mind just recently is a book I am reading, entitled Resisting Happiness, by Matthew Kelly. Not that I consider myself unhappy, or that I believe I’m resisting [...]

By |October 14th, 2016|Accountability, Columns, Faith, Quotes and Sayings, Success|Comments Off on What makes you happy?

A summer challenge brings everyone home

We did it! We walked around the world in 80 days. For those who may not have read my earlier columns on the subject, a group of women who exercise at the Chanhassen Curves were on a quest to take enough steps, collectively, to literally walk around the world during the 80 days of this summer promotion. A map on the wall charted our progress, and each day or week the members taking part would report the numbers recorded on their Fitbits, pedometers, or whatever [...]

By |September 9th, 2016|Accountability, Columns, Health and Well-being, Quotes and Sayings, Success|Comments Off on A summer challenge brings everyone home

Still on track for “Around the World in 80 Days”

We’re halfway there and still going strong. In June, I set off – along with a number of other women who work out at Curves – to walk around the world in 80 days of summer. The owner of our Curves facility figured out how many steps it would take to do this, and set that as our collective goal. She put a world map up on the wall, and charts our progress with little colored strips of paper, and notes that list the total [...]

By |August 5th, 2016|Accountability, Achieving Dreams and Goals, Columns, Health and Well-being, Quotes and Sayings, Travel|Comments Off on Still on track for “Around the World in 80 Days”

A long walk can take you anywhere in the world

I’m getting ready to take a walk this summer – a very long walk. In fact, I’m planning to walk around the world. I won’t be doing this alone. I’ll be with a group of women who work out at the Curves in Chanhassen. Curves often sponsors events and activities that give us extra incentive to keep up or ramp up our exercising. Sometimes it’s a game, such as Bingo cards in which each square says something like “Work out three times this week” or [...]

By |June 24th, 2016|Accountability, Columns, Health and Well-being|Comments Off on A long walk can take you anywhere in the world

Safety is a concern for us all

I laughed as I read the email, which began, “Dear Secretary of Nice.” The email was from a friend who’s also a regular reader of my column, and her salutation was a reference to a column I wrote a month ago, in which I suggested we could do with a “Department of Nice” in the federal government. And I assigned myself to be in charge of it. That idea came from a recent conversation with my husband and daughter. We were discussing the upcoming presidential [...]

By |April 15th, 2016|Accountability, Columns, Values|Comments Off on Safety is a concern for us all

It’s the children who will rescue us – from ourselves

I’m going to get the “Full Disclosure” business out of the way right up front.  Since my husband and I grew up in the Chicago area and still have family ties there, it’s Chicago sports teams that we cheer for. Also, I’m not a super-sports-fan to begin with. I enjoy watching the games with family and friends, but it’s the social aspect, not the sport itself, that I’m most interested in. All of this is to explain that even though I – like so many [...]

By |January 22nd, 2016|Accountability, Columns, Respect, Values|Comments Off on It’s the children who will rescue us – from ourselves