“No.” “Nope.” “Never.” “Not going to happen.” These are powerful and discouraging words depending on if you’re saying them or hearing them. Every day we have to say “No” to employees, kids, contractors, clients, and the Girl Scouts and their cookies. We’re also on the receiving end of “No” and we don’t like it. It can be frustrating and sometime … Read More
Think About What You’re Thinking About
Statistics show positive and negative thoughts can’t occupy brain space at the same time. If that’s not a real stat I think it should be. I’ve done my own not-so-scientific research and results always prove this; thoughts and words are either on a positive track or a negative track, but never on both tracks at the same time. Like a … Read More
Respect The Tick
Mom’s voice echoes in my head when I hear the word respect. “Respect your teachers, respect public authority, respect street signs,” she would say. “Respect other people’s property and, of course, respect your parents.” In my opinion, respect falls into three categories; admiration, fear, and a combo of the two. In the admiration column might be athletes for their accomplishments, … Read More
Priceless Memories
Have you ever thought something sounded like a good idea, but then it played out differently than you imagined? I found myself right there recently. While flipping through the Sunday paper I saw a coupon for the Shrine Circus; one free kid’s ticket with one full paid adult ticket. I could take two of the grandkids for the price of … Read More
Each year in grade school we had election of officers. Of course there were the glamorous positions of president, vice president, secretary and treasure. They all had the normal responsibilities someone in that office would be expected to fulfill. But, the office with the most important responsibility was fire Marshall. He or she got to go to a meeting in … Read More
When I was a kid, the day ended with my dad whistling for my brother and me to come home. We could go anywhere in the neighborhood if we were in earshot of his whistle. If we went inside a friend’s house, we called home as soon as we did to let Mom know where we were. There was always … Read More
“Hope smiles on the threshold of the year to come.” ~Lord Alfred Tennyson New year resolutions are a tricky sort of thing. The last few days of December I like to consider the past 12 months and make decisions, not necessarily resolutions, because the word resolution sounds a bit daunting and semi-impossible to me. Last year I made a decision … Read More
Christmas is such a time of anticipation of tradition. My Dad used to smoke a turkey on Christmas Eve and Mom served it with wild rice instead of stuffing. We went to my grandmother’s house on Christmas Day for turkey again. That’s most likely why Jim Brawner and I had corned beef and cabbage for our traditional Christmas dinner. But … Read More
Things are not always as they seem. Obviously we know that, but why do we appoint ourselves to sit on an invisible committee assigned to judge things that, most of the time, aren’t any of our business? Several years ago on Christmas Eve I ran out of brown sugar when I was baking the last batch of treats. I had … Read More
It’s interesting how something will suddenly dawn on us that’s been no where on our need-to-do radar. A second notice on a bill or being pulled over for an expired license plate will usually do it. Recently, when he was filling out some medical records, Jim Brawner asked me when he had his last tetanus shot. I stared at him … Read More