One Simple Way to Succeed at New Year’s Resolutions

2012 is here and people are making New Year’s resolutions like crazy. But the question is, “Are you making New Year’s resolutions stick?”

This is one of the places where I see women struggle and it’s a prime area for creating stress and lowering self-esteem. Some people think that if they just get good ideas for New Year’s resolutions, or if they make easy New Year’s resolutions, that will fix everything. Maybe it will. That might work for you, but I have another suggestion. If you’ve struggled with failed New Year’s resolutions in the past then consider simply establishing a new habit instead. Instead of creating a complicated, or emotionally charged resolution, simply choose one new habit you’d like to have in your life and create it.

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Your Beautiful and Stress Free Holiday

That’s what we all want right? A beautiful holiday, a stress free holiday, one that happens with joy and love and without stress, frustration, and overwhelm. Well, that’s what I want for you as well. Heck, that’s why I spend my days sharing all these ideas with you guys. That’s why I give you all [...]

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Four Ways to Curb the Gimme Syndrome

Does your child spend all the days leading up to their birthday speculating on what gifts they’re going to get? Have they lost the Christmas spirit under a pile of expectations and gift comparisons? As parents we want our kids to enjoy receiving but we can end up being disappointed ourselves when our kids get caught in the gimme syndrome. Here are a few quick tips that can help you shift their perspective and their focus as the next round of gift giving approaches:

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Honking at Birds

Twice in the last three weeks I’ve actually had to stop my truck and honk at birds to get them to fly out of harm’s way. It amazes me that they’ve gotten so used to vehicles that they don’t get out-of-the-way, especially when instinct should tell them that something this big could hurt them.

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Changing holiday plans can be like combating a runny nose

I was trying to work the other day but was bothered by my cold and the runny nose that goes with it. I decided to get a cup of the herbal tea I usually use to combat this annoyance. I drank a cup and it made absolutely no difference. So I read the directions which said to drink 1-2 cups then drink another cup every 3-4 hours. So I made myself another cup and I waited.

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A Great Life in Spite of Lousy Weather

My daughter hit the nail on the head a few weeks ago. We got in the truck to go somewhere and it was hot from sitting in the sun. She started to complain then looked at me and said, “And in a few months we’ll be complaining because we’re cold. Maybe I should enjoy the heat now.” Bingo! That’s it! One simple way to be happier is to choose to enjoy things even if you need to shift your mindset or your circumstances a bit to do it.

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Are You Making an _ _ _ Out of Yourself?

The other day I experienced one of those blinding-flash-of-the-obvious moments. It had been really hot and humid so we had been running the air conditioning for several days. Then, in the early afternoon, I went out to run some errands…and it was gorgeous! It was 76 degrees and sunny with a nice breeze. And here we had spent the morning inside the house, complaining that it was kind of warm in there, when we could have opened the windows and enjoyed the wonderful weather.

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Leon Day

Today, Saturday, June 25th, is Leon Day. Leon is Noel spelled backwards and this day marks the half-way point from one Christmas to the next. Yes, we are half-way to Christmas. And many of you aren’t ready to think about it yet. Well, I just have one question for you: “Did you love your Christmas holiday season last year?”

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No hearts yet, then again…

As I walked through the stores during the last week I was really thrown by all the Valentines’ Day stuff that’s out. New Years is barely over, I haven’t adjusted to 2011 yet, and there’s Valentine’s Day staring me in the face. On top of that, I’ve never really been big on Valentine’s Day. My husband and I have never felt compelled to choose that day to go out for a nice dinner or to do anything else.

However, this year things might just change because seeing the stuff out there made me start to think.

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Cut it down or build it up

One year I had the idea that my husband should make a stable for our girls for Christmas. The girls were completely horse-crazy and had a ton of little model horses that they love to play with. Since Tom enjoys woodworking this seemed like the perfect fit to me. The problem came in when it didn’t seem like the perfect fit to him.

The idea just didn’t strike a chord with him and he just doesn’t make gifts that don’t inspire him. No matter how many times I dropped a hint or made a suggestion it just wasn’t going to happen; and that wasn’t okay with me. I had this idea and I was convinced that it was the perfect gift for the girls so I had to find a way to make it happen.

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