The theme of our Toastmasters meeting a few weeks ago was “You are a Gift.” I enjoyed taking part in the meeting, partly because it was such a festive and timely theme, since gifts are a big part of the holiday season. And partly because I always enjoy helping people discover their own gifts, no matter what season it is. Those gifts, of course, aren’t the kind that are bought from a store, or wrapped in shiny paper with a big red bow. You don’t [...]
One of my first jobs out of college was in a Chicago Advertising Agency. My boss was the Creative Director, and I also worked for several copywriters and whatever Account Executives needed extra assistance at any given time. My desk was always piled high with papers and projects, and other people’s priorities. One day, the president’s secretary came to me and said, “Betty, how would you like to clear your desk?” At first I thought I was being fired, but that wasn’t it at all. [...]
I was at a holiday celebration not long ago with some people I usually see only once or twice a year. So part of the time was spent catching up on each other’s family events and activities. One of the women told me about several concerts she and her husband had attended recently. It’s been years since I attended a concert, and I joked with her that I needed to get out more. That’s when she told me that going out to concerts and other [...]
I kept waiting for the phone to ring. It was Monday morning of last week – the day winter came quickly and decisively to Minnesota. I stood at my back door, looking out at the inch or so of snow that had come down already, and listening to the tap of icy rain on the windows as it started to cover everything with a thin, shiny layer. It was exactly the time I normally would have gotten a phone call from my dad, saying, “So [...]
Father’s Day is going to be bittersweet this year. The sweet part is that my husband has just returned home from a business trip, and we’ll be able to spend the weekend – particularly Sunday – catching up, relaxing, and celebrating Father’s Day. The not-so-sweet part is that this will be the first Father’s Day without my dad, who passed away in January. It still gnaws at me that I can’t call him every Sunday, as we’ve done ever since first moving away from the [...]
It happened again last week. And, just as it has in the past, it caught me completely off-guard. I was at 5:15 Mass on Ash Wednesday, and hoping that my stomach wouldn’t start growling during the quiet parts of the Mass. This was a possibility not only because it was getting close to dinner time, but because I had followed the Lenten restrictions for Ash Wednesday, which are to abstain from eating meat, to refrain from eating between meals, and to have only one full [...]
“I focus easily and naturally on what is important and rewarding to me, and let go gently and comfortably of what is not. I am accomplishing my goals and fulfilling my dreams.” Whether you would call that an affirmation, a mantra, positive thinking, or wishful thinking, it’s something I’ve been saying to myself several times a day for a few months now. And the reason I’m telling you about it is that it relates so strongly to what I wrote last week. My column last [...]
91.25 hours. Over the course of a year, that’s how much time you would spend on something if you devoted just 15 minutes a day to it. I mention this because my New Year’s Resolution last year was to spend 15 minutes a day decluttering. That might mean whittling down a stack of papers on the kitchen counter one day, cleaning out an overstuffed dresser drawer on another, and tackling an overloaded bookshelf in my office on a third. As I look back on the [...]
When I was very young, Santa Claus used to visit our house on Christmas Eve. Not in the middle of the night – leaving presents under the tree when we were nestled all snug in our beds – but early in the evening, when we were still up and wide awake. I remember one year when we needed to make a quick trip to the grocery store on Christmas Eve. We kids were distraught, afraid we might miss Santa’s visit. Although my mom assured us [...]