The V-Word

“Men’s natures are alike; it is their habits that separate them.”  ~Confucius

Choosing how to live doesn’t happen in what we esteem to be the big decisions in life, rather it is the small collection of habits we develop that define our thinking, our actions and ultimately our character. One of the great challenges of living a quality human life is that it is both easier to develop bad habits than...

Change is the constant of life. Learning how to think about the changes that happen to us as well as the ones we create ourselves is at the heart of a successful life. Listen to Rebecca Rodskog, a seasoned change agent explain the values clarification that drives successful changes and the simple ways that re-thinking how we approach change in our personal lives can and does alter the outcome of...

“Be vigilant: guard your mind against negative thoughts.” -Buddha

It took me 82 days at the beginning of this positivity quest to stop having my negative words and thoughts control me. I had no idea when I began how many negative thoughts I was even having in a day, but I did a little research. Humans have on average between 60,000 to 80,000 thoughts per day, or approximately a new thought every...

“Hope begins in the dark,  the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come.  You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.”  -Anne Lamott

Some days the best you can do is show up. You agree to not make any big decisions about the future on these days. You are happy for busy work and the small acts of efficiency that can come from moving things around...

“Give me a fruitful error any time, full of seeds, bursting with its own corrections. You can keep your sterile truth for yourself.” ~Vilfredo Pareto

As the last days of the positivity quest dwindle to a close, I thought I would use as many of the remaining posts as possible to outline the foundations of creating a positive life. I will be looking for the major thematic units that have woven the...

“For fast acting relief, try slowing down.” -Lily Tomlin

I know that I am headed in the right corporate direction when our sales manager leaves on Friday with a smile and urges me to “be more and do less.” What a nice idea. Learning to slow down, do one thing at a time, and listen to my body get quiet, these are the lessons that I want to master.

The pain in the neck that I have been nursing is a...

“Make the most of yourself, for that is all there  is of you.”  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

It has been just over two months since I spent a couple of nights with my son in the hospital, wondering if life would ever be the same. It was a miracle, and remains one- even now 60 days later that life could be so much back to normal. For all outward appearances, except for a significant scab on the back of his...

“The art of living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them.” -Bernard Baruch

Here are the facts that I am working to reconcile: first I have never been as clear and confident about what I have to offer the world as I am in these days and second as good as it feels to embrace the vision, the weight of the responsibility has been a little debilitating. As I was interviewing a...