Pace Your Life for Peace

“Words are powerful motivators. They can either motivate you to strengthen your resolve, pull up your big-girl undies and move forward; or they can slow you toward inertia where you don’t want to do anything at all.”

Dare to live your fears

To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself. Soren Kierkegaard The day I tip-toed, then crawled across a layer of snow and ice to kneel near an unprotected edge of the Grand Canyon for a photo op, my birthday the day before had marked my 57th year. I…

Unplugged: Tuning out to tune in

“Quiet! I can’t hear myself think.” That used to be a phrase for people: a teacher with her students; a parent with children gabbing away. But not anymore. In my workbag I carry my laptop, a tablet, and my cellphone – each with their own responsibilities. My cell is not only for calls and texts,…

Are you lost? Find yourself in 5 steps

My life has been a series of hills and valleys where I’ve looked for myself in all the wrong places. I joined the Army when I was younger because my mother said I should. I stayed in abusive relationships because I feared not being loved. I wouldn’t speak up in controversial situations at work because…

Loving me because I’m worth it

My adopted  mother used to say that I did things backwards. For the life of me I can’t recall what she was referring to at the time (that was about 40 years ago and could have been a number of things). But for most of my 20’s, 30’s and a good portion of my 40’s,…

Dusting off my tools: Weights before runs

  There’s a yogi on Instagram I follow who regularly posts a saying that always speaks to me: “You have the tools; you’re just distracted.” I mostly apply that to my writing projects; but recently I started applying it to my physical fitness. Six years ago, when I was 50 years old, I would leave…

Ditch the challenge! Do it for life!

Challenges: weight loss, eating less fat; eating more veggies, exercising more; cutting out cookies, and cakes, and sodas, and salt for seven days; 30 days, and so on. I understand the basic concept of challenges: to jumpstart a change in eating or physical exercise lifestyle, hopefully forming a habit that will continue. But do they…

Are you living your best life; or playing it safe?

It’s a question I’ve been asking myself a lot lately,  particularly about my career choice as a nursing assistant. I’ve always believed that I belonged in a helping career. Years ago, in high school, becoming a social worker was my chosen path but then life took me down another path – a couple of them…

Finding me: Bored no more

What do you do when you’re bored? I tried to answer that question and I couldn’t. I think a better question for me would be, “Are you ever bored?” I used to be. In my teens if I wasn’t out riding my bike or hanging out with a few friends, I’d sit on my parents’…

Dehydrated raw veggie burgers!

Who knew? Well, apparently vegans all over the world. 🙂 I’ve been a vegetarian for 20-plus years; and not even during the two years that I ventured into the vegan world did I ever try the dehydrated veggie burger recipes I’d see on the Internet. And what was I waiting for? Beats me! Just look…