Posts Tagged: stress

5 Great Places To Laugh

May 30th, 2017
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children laugh

There are a handful of people in my life who can make me laugh so hard that I CAN NOT get my breath and one of them is my brother, Scotty.

He has an unbelievable sense of humor.  I’m not telling tales out of school when I say that hands down he does the best imitation of our mother and the fact that he usually does it in front of her makes it even funnier.  Not to worry.  Our Mom thinks he is funny too and she always laughs at his skits, especially the ones featuring her! My brother can … Read More

Finding Your Light

May 25th, 2017
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    Each of us has a unique set of skills that are nestled within us. Maybe you are fabulous listener.  Maybe you always have a positive outlook.  Perhaps you have a way of organizing your thoughts or possessions in a way that helps others.  Or it could be that you own the priceless gift for making people laugh. We all have our strengths and today’s post is about those amazing people who have the skill set that enables them to read a situation and then put themselves out there to help other people feel relieved and renewed in the… Read More

5 Purifying Places to Cry

May 16th, 2017
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Emmy Award Winning Actor Jon Hamm as Mad Men’s Don Draper (Yes, Men Do Cry & That’s Okay) Sometimes the feeling starts in my throat. It feels tight.  I try to swallow a few times to see if that will make it go away. The next thing I know a lump has formed as I begin to feel my eyes well up with water.  I try looking up at the ceiling because a good friend told me this is a trick she uses to prevent crying. Or I pinch the bridge of my nose so that I focus on the … Read More

Hillbilly Elegy — A Resilient Memoir

April 21st, 2017
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Friends and colleagues told me Hillbilly Elegy was the book to read if I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of white working class voter participation in the 2016 Presidential election. Yes Hillbilly Elegy, a New York Times best selling memoir, does deliver compelling first person thoughts and experiences about how it feels to be white and poor and growing up in rust-belt Ohio but more importantly, it gave me unexpected insights into the ability of a young child to find the inner strength to keep going while living in trauma. If read from that point of view, Hillbilly Elegy… Read More

Me As Buddy The Elf

December 20th, 2016
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Photo Courtesy of Country Living This holiday season I feel a bit like Buddy from the popular Christmas movie, Elf. Remember the scene where Buddy the elf, who is magically played by Will Ferrell, travels from the North Pole to New York City to find his father and explains to his new family that elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corn and syrup? That would be me this holiday season.  Except for the candy corn, which I have never liked because I think it tastes like some kind of plastic or wax.… Read More

Give Yourself A Break

December 11th, 2016
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Giving is fun. Whether it’s something you meticulously made with your own hands or something you spent a long time searching for, giving to others is a wonderful feeling. I sometimes feel that giving a present to someone is more exciting than receiving. Watching the other person’s reaction while they are opening your gift is part of the fun and contributes to that good feeling of giving and letting them know they are special. During this holiday season, which can easily turn frantic as we get closer to the time of celebration, I think it is also important to give… Read More

Let’s Rise Up

November 12th, 2016
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  My late husband, Tom O’Toole, as a young boy   Good Morning Friends: So how was your week? I’m not trying to be flip.  I am genuinely concerned. We live in a topsy turvy world and you would have to be stationed in some unbelievably remote part of the globe not to be aware of the election results in this week’s U.S. presidential contest.  Seriously, it has been quite a freaking week and everyone I know (including myself) is still absorbing what happened. On top of the surprising election results, my family received some sad personal news that I … Read More

Simple Moments To Moment

October 27th, 2016
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Dear Friends, I recently found the below inspiration on one of my Instagram accounts and it really jumped off the screen for me: Just for today, keep it simple. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Look at your life for all you have gained rather than lost. Look at your path for everything you have got through rather than everywhere you think you should be. Celebrate rather than criticize. Experience rather than expect. See how that goes. Just for today.                 ~ by S.C. Lourie Keeping things simple is another way to show respect to your resilient body, mind and spirit.… Read More

Hard Days Kind Actions

October 7th, 2016
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I was having one of those days recently when I was doing my best to think positively but it didn’t seem to be working out. My thoughts felt powerless as things disintegrated around me.  Stuck in traffic.  Rescheduled deadlines. Unscheduled meetings.  Extra phone calls to untangle things that had been screwed up.  No matter how hard I tried to stay calm and focused on turning things around, I couldn’t change it. While the meltdown continued to happen throughout my day, I tried to figure out how things started to go south.  I was trying to see in my mind’s eye… Read More