Columns – Page 46 – FindYourBuriedTreasure

Casual comments can uncover strong connections

I was at an event last week that included an educational seminar and a two-hour riverboat cruise. (Yes, references were made to Gilligan’s Island.) There was only one person at the event whom I knew ahead of time, so virtually everyone I talked to was someone I was meeting for the first time – starting with the person I met in the parking lot who arrived at the same time I did. As we walked toward the dock, we chatted about the weather, the road [...]

By bettyliedtke|June 5th, 2015|Columns, Travel|Comments Off

Four stages can teach us anything we want to know

Every once in a while I come across a helpful hint, a business tip, or a piece of information or insight so brilliant that I know it’s going to change my life. Often, it’s something that seems so basic and obvious I’m embarrassed to acknowledge that I never thought about it before. It happened again recently when I read about the four stages we have to go through when learning anything new. “Ignorance is bliss” is a good description of the first stage, in which [...]

By bettyliedtke|May 29th, 2015|Achieving Dreams and Goals, Columns|Comments Off

Visiting the past brought joy in the present

I spent much of last weekend revisiting the past. Not by taking a road trip to the town where I was born and raised, or to other places I’ve lived since then. Instead, I just kept running into situations that took me back to something or someone I haven’t thought about in a while. On Friday, I was at an all-day workshop with participants from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois, as well as states as far away as Texas and California. During one of the breaks, [...]

By bettyliedtke|May 22nd, 2015|Columns, Family|Comments Off

A seven-day challenge leads to a new habit for life

I just completed a 7-day challenge issued by one of my cousins. She had been tagged on Facebook and challenged to post a Bible verse – and to tag and nominate someone else to do the same – for each of the next seven days. I was one of the people she chose. I took on the challenge, although I decided to skip the part about asking others to do the same. Even though I could easily think of seven other people who would probably [...]

By bettyliedtke|May 15th, 2015|Columns, Faith|Comments Off

A trip and a fall lead to new awareness

I tripped and fell in the parking lot as I was going home from an event one evening last week. I didn’t break any bones or have any significant injuries, but as I hit the pavement I felt immediate pain in my left hand and wrist, and in both knees. It was mild enough that one of my first thoughts wasn’t about how badly I might be hurt, but about the fact that I probably tore a few holes in my favorite pair of dressy [...]

By bettyliedtke|May 8th, 2015|Achieving Dreams and Goals, Columns|Comments Off

New Experiences Lead to New Discoveries

I did some analysis a few days ago on a project I’ve been working on, and was surprised at what I discovered. Actually, it would be more accurate to describe it as “a project I started almost a year ago that was going well, then got stalled and abandoned, and now feels like just another one of those projects I started but never finished.” Do you have any of those? The project was a personal challenge inspired by a friend of mine who decided on [...]

By bettyliedtke|May 1st, 2015|Achieving Dreams and Goals, Columns|Comments Off

A few mistakes can lead to our just desserts

We had friends over for dinner last weekend, and our meal included cheesecake for dessert. It was from a recipe I’ve had for a long time, although I’ve never actually made it before. It was labor-intensive and time-consuming, with a lot of prep work required and some tricky steps along the way. There was one point at which things didn’t look the way they were supposed to, and I started worrying that instead of cheesecake, we’d be eating cheesecake soup for dessert. But it turned [...]

By bettyliedtke|April 24th, 2015|Columns, Values|Comments Off

A new understanding comes out of the closet

“The more we simplify, the easier life is.” That was the bottom line, literally, in an email I received from a friend recently. Her email was about an article she had just read that had to do with cleaning out our closets. The first thought that popped into my head was, “When did she see my closet and realize how badly I needed this advice?” For the record, she’s never been near my closet, and that’s not why she emailed the article to me. The [...]

By bettyliedtke|April 17th, 2015|Columns, Organizing|Comments Off

An emergency landing leads to a dream message

I got a phone call a few days ago from a very close friend. The call came early in the morning, and the first thing she said, other than, “Did I wake you up?” was, “I have to tell you about the dream I just had.” I love phone calls from her that start like this. She has vivid dreams that often seem prophetic in nature, and are always profound and inspiring. In this one we – as well as several other friends – were [...]

By bettyliedtke|April 10th, 2015|Columns, Values|Comments Off

Losing our senses helps us gain insight

I started wearing glasses when I was in fifth grade. I still remember squinting at the blackboard, even from my desk in the second row. The teacher’s writing on the board seemed lighter and “fuzzier” than it used to be, and was getting harder and harder for me to read. It was such a gradual change that I didn’t realize I was the one who was changing. A standard vision test at school alerted my teacher, then my parents, to the problem. A trip to [...]

By bettyliedtke|April 3rd, 2015|Columns, Health and Well-being|Comments Off

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