Here’s how to continue your success or reinvent yourself, in the New Year (or anytime). No matter what is going on in your life or what happened last year, you can have a wonderful life in 2018! It starts with the following:
Look at what’s working in your life and continue doing it. You can even expand on what’s been successful for you, but don’t change what is already working.
Look at what isn’t working in your life,…..In this Holiday Season 2017, and into the New Year 2018, it is important for us to remember what true joy is, and is not. It is so easy to get caught up in the commercialism. Following is my humble list I use as a reminder to myself of what really gives us joy. True joy is found in:
giving your time to making someone happy giving your time to a charity that needs people to carry out their work giving a smile, or kind…..
Midwest Book Review
The following review of my new book, “Happy Tales” is by Midwest Book Review:
Critique: An inherently fascinating, deeply personal, deftly written true life adventure, “Happy Tales” is part memoir, part travelogue, and part self-help manual. Inspired and inspiring, “Happy Tales” is a life affirming and life enhancing read from beginning to end. While very highly recommended, especially for community library collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that “Happy Tales” is also available…..
Diane has written articles, guest posts, and given interviews for the following businesses:
2017:
Crain’s, at www.crain.com Interview topic: “If I Knew Then, What I Know Now in Business”
Ecophiles, Guest post: “Adventure and Escape–Finding Peace and Joy in the Pacific Northwest”
Central Valley Business Times, at www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com Interview topic: “Corporate Trainer Trades in the Boardroom for the Great Outdoors, Teaches Others to Lower Stress”
Northwest Prime Time Magazine, at www.NorthwestPrimeTime.com Interview topic: “The Best Places to Retire in…..
People and events are two of the biggest causes of our daily stress. It is important to remember that even though we cannot control what people say and do, or what surprise events happen, we can control two very important things: 1) we control our calendar, and 2) we control how we organize our time.
We control our calendar. If we are too busy, then it is up to us to do the following to manage our calendar: Say “no” to…..
When I get really frustrated and I feel my blood pressure rising, I remember what a pastor told me as I was going through hospice with my dad before he passed away. The pastor told me to think about the following Bible verse:
Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God!”
It is a simple sentence, but has deep meaning that helped restore me to a balanced and relaxed state of mind. The pastor explained that the word “still” means “to…..
When we want to de-stress, what should we do? Stressful situations and people have us wound up tight, our heart is racing, our mind is in overdrive, and we are faced with exhaustion. It is in these situations that we need to remember a quick “fix” to get our balance back. If we follow a few simple steps listed below, we can get our minds into a quick recovery:
Stop and breathe. Take a slow, deep breath and let it out slowly. I started…..
My pocket gardens of peace are little things that remind me to be peaceful. Some things are tangible, some are mental. I carry them with me always. Examples of my tangible pocket gardens are:
My dolphin keychain. It is small in brushed silver metal color with an inset of bluish-green abalone shell. Whenever I look at it, my mind goes to the ocean and I can picture dolphins arcing in and out of the water. I can smell the clean ocean air…..
Happiness is:
taking a break in the morning, having tea with my husband as he drinks his coffee, and we watch the deer in our yard visiting Meerkerk Gardens with mom walking our dog, Sabre, along a secret road winding through old growth forests at South Whidbey State Park playing gin rummy with our friends and being silly going to the dog park with Sabre and watching him play with all the dogs, large and small watching a…..
Often people want to know what, exactly, is that feeling of mindfulness. They want to know if they are doing it right. The answer is to just be, to find a quiet place indoors or outdoors, to quiet your mind, to take time by not thinking about time, by not thinking about anything. Let your mind and yourself just be. Following is an example of mindfulness, which is just one of many examples, from my book, Happy Tales:
“Distant foghorns’ music…..
