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5 Proven Ways to Keep Your Cool During Heated Confrontations

“I need to get this done; I don’t have much time, and you’re not helping me!” I was cleaning up my area to clock out on time when I had to stop to talk Darrell (not his real name) through the process of putting in a request for a few days off on the Amazon…

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.”

3 steps to erase self-limiting beliefs

I’d need more than ten fingers to count the number of times someone has told me that they love cheese too much to give up dairy. Actually, shhhh, quiet as it’s kept, I told myself those same words before I became a vegan (and gave up dairy cheese). Now, I’m not a vegan anymore BUT…

Woes to wins: Willpower

I don’t eat dairy – at least not when I’m wide awake. Because I’ve made a lifestyle choice to eliminate dairy from my diet, storing the ice cream sandwiches that my grandchildren love in the door of my freezer doesn’t faze me a bit. I can open up the freezer, see them in there and…

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,…

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…