What To Do When You Feel Like Giving Up
This past week, I vacationed with my husband's family at Lake Martin, Alabama. I had brave, active days: driving a WaveRunner, tubing and water-skiing. Yes, water-skiing. For my first day out, however, it would be more accurate to say, "I went out into the water, wearing skis, with every intention of water-skiing." I managed to get to a standing position maybe twice. Mostly, I fell down. As my failed attempts continued, I felt a connection between my attempt to ski and every task or relationship that I've been tempted to give up on. I thought of my brother,...
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Fail, Fail And Fail Again: Why Falling Flat Is Key To Flying High
Lately, I've been feeling like failure is a necessary precursor to success. Allow me to explain. I've got 4 guest posts coming up in the next 4 weeks, at Everyday Bright, Books Distilled, Tiny Buddha and Undefinable You. For those of you who have seen my Goal Tracking Tool over at Support Plans, you'll note that I set a goal to guest post on a new site every other month. One could say that I've achieved my goal for the next 8 (!) months. I also have my first ebook coming out on 5/24. Guest-posting and releasing an ebook are...
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Looking Past Limits (With Caroline Casey)
Today's post features a remarkable speech by an even more remarkable woman, Caroline Casey. Her accent is lovely and her speech is powerful. Moreover, her message is intimately connected with the mission of A Wish Come Clear, and so I'll simply say, you must watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyBk55G7Keo I don't know about you, but I can't watch this without crying. My tears started when the specialist asked Caroline, "Why are you fighting so hard not to be yourself?" "Do you love what you do, Caroline?" "What did you want to be when you were little?" By asking her these questions, the specialist...
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Overcoming Passive Barriers: Impossibility Vs Possibility
First, a big thank you to readers ~ A Wish Come Clear has a Facebook page & username, thanks to your support! *** I'm a big fan of breaking down barriers. Passive barriers, to be precise. I'd never heard of them until recently. For a brief introduction, I quote from Ramit Sethi, who defines passive barriers like this in his guest post on Get Rich Slowly: "Passive barriers are things that don’t exist, so they make your job harder. A trivial example is not having a stapler at your desk; imagine how many times a day that gets frustrating. For...
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Breaking Free From Failure In 4 Steps
Author's Note: I have a guest post up at Bloom, a website that focuses on "Parenting kids with disabilities". It's entitled, "An open letter to parents: on what your children remember." Visits and comments are welcomed! *** Since I last wrote about 'Secrets of Success', I thought today would be a good day to talk about the F-word: Failure. So let's say you've decided to be vulnerable, to start paying attention to the important things, break free of your perceived constraints and celebrate what is. Fabulous. I'm right there with you. But what happens when things don't go as planned?...
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3 Secrets Of A ‘Successful’ Day
First, thank you to all the new subscribers -- I'm glad you're here! It's been an amazing week-- seeing over 1,300 visits to the site after the guest post at Be More with Less was very encouraging for me. As such, I've been thinking about success, and about what it means to be successful. I find within myself a tendency to equate success with grand gestures and sweeping achievements (or lots of hits on a website!) At times I fall into the trap of thinking that the formula for a successful (work)day looks like this: Q (quantity of tasks accomplished)...
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The Gift Of Doing Things Differently: Are You Ready To Receive?
Last night, in the midst of celebrating her 8-year anniversary with L'Arche, Cassandra* was asked, “What are the gifts you have discovered about yourself since coming to L’Arche?” With a slight smile, she replied, “The gift of doing things differently.” Needless to say, I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. The gift of doing things differently. Not the burden or the curse, but the gift. Having lived with Cassandra for 2 years (and known her for nearly 4 years), I can tell you a few of the things that she does ‘differently’ from the rest of the world. Each day,...
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