Currently browsing Family Connections

These reflections and resources are for those seeking to strengthen their connection with members of their family.

CONNECTION SPOTLIGHT: The Connection Miracle of a Church Reunion

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Our own Esther Miller (pictured at left) has a beautifully written guest post called “A Visit With Mom” on Karen S. Elliott’s WordShark blog today. Head on over there (Click Here) and read Esther’s story about how hometown people she barely knew gave her the gift of connection with her mother, who had died 15 years earlier. [...]

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Can You Have Too Many Connections?

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I was perusing some of the questions on Quora recently, and after searching for the term “Connection,” I came across this interesting question: What would it be like to live in a world of two degrees of separation between any two people? The question references the commonly held theory that everyone in the world is [...]

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Birthdays are different when you’re face-to-face with your own mortality

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My beautiful cousin, Carlyle Herbert Dorroh, mother of three young children, was diagnosed in August, 2012, with advanced colon cancer. She has chosen to fight with an aggressive chemo regimen and a risky, but potentially effective, surgical procedure. She wrote this piece entitled “Birthdays” last fall and is letting me share it. It speaks powerfully to [...]

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Heartspoken: the rest of the story

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Many of us were moved by Esther Hastings Miller’s story in this blog on June 12, 2012, about her aunt with Alzheimer’s. Entitled “Heartspoken,” it spoke beautifully and poignantly about the heartache of losing someone to this insidious disease.  Esther has recently shared this photo of her with Anna and a follow-up story about Anna’s [...]

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Life lessons from a great Dad

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  Hey, Cinderella, who’s your fella? You are, Daddy! Yep, we really have started many phone conversations like that, and not just when I was a little girl! Dad will be 94 years young in July. What a privilege it is to reflect on all he’s taught me over my own 62 years. Before he [...]

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Heartspoken

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  She struggled to introduce me. “This is…uh…my…friend… My friend…has come… My friend has come…to see me.” I greet her with a hug and call her by the name that only I have ever called her, but she struggles to tell her neighbor at the lunch table who I am. I laugh and give them [...]

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What shall I give Dad for Father’s Day?

GIFTS THAT CONNECT Series: This post is another in a series that will turn your gift giving into an easy and joy-filled experience. Father’s Day in 2012 is June 17. Don’t let an opportunity for gift-giving become stressful! Read my earlier post called “Don’t make these gift-giving mistakes” and learn how to take the pressure [...]

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It’s Just Small Change

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Welcome to guest blogger, Susannah Friis, who is sharing a lovely post she wrote several months ago for her own blog Personally Speaking. It reminds us how much small things lead to big things when it comes to strengthening our connection with those who matter most in our lives. Lessons from the family piggy bank [...]

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It’s time to grease the windmill

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Welcome to guest blogger Esther Miller, returning to our pages with this delightful story about love. It seemed just right for Valentine’s Day! Our RV had been parked at a friend’s farm all summer, so we were considered part of the neighborhood when the invitations went out for a birthday barbecue. A neighbor’s twin granddaughters [...]

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The Letters You May Never Mail

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It’s “Notewriting Day” at Heartspoken.com. The first Friday of each month this year will focus on reviving the art of personal notewriting. I consider notewriting to be one of the most powerful connection tools available.  Personal letters and notes usually have a simple purpose such as conveying thanks, news, sympathy, or congratulations, but not always. [...]

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Love, Need, and the Power of Connection

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Introducing Connection Messenger and Guest Blogger B. Lynn Goodwin: author, caregiver, journal-writer Note from Elizabeth/Heartspoken: One aspect of the Power of Connection that we haven’t explored is the notion that connections can change, and when they do, the connection tools that we need will change too. This personal story from Lynn Goodwin is one that [...]

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Consider This: Connecting With Our Best Self One Radio Show At A Time

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Introducing Connection Messenger Annette Petrick, writer and narrator of the popular radio show Consider This.  Don’t you just love people who embrace life and live it to its fullest, regardless of their age or their circumstances? With few exceptions, these folks have a positive attitude, an appreciation for the good things around them, and a [...]

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When is a Gift NOT a Gift?

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This is a guest post from Connection Messenger Sarah Anma. I am grateful for her wisdom in helping her readers and clients make important life connections in a meaningful way. This is a thought-provoking piece that will help you get in touch with your own giving motives, whether your gift is a physical one or [...]

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Celebrating Motherhood: I’m in the Book!

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Great news! As an official co-author of The Gratitude Book Project: Celebrating Moms and Motherhood, I want to share my gratitude with you with a special offer at the end of this blog post! I was so excited to take part in this book, because thinking about having a wonderful mother — and now having [...]

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The Need for Drama

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Welcome to guest blogger and Relationship Mentor, Sarah Anma. When I read the words “We don’t need drama. We need connection,” I knew this was something to share with my Heartspoken readers. ============================== When we think rationally, we would never say out loud that we “need” drama. In fact, most people would state that they [...]

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When does Giving become Giving too Much?

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This may seem like a strange topic for someone who is passionate about learning to make and cultivate important Connections, but the cold hard truth is that all of our important connections with other people should also have boundaries. If you are someone who loves to do things for others, even when you don’t expect [...]

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Lessons from Professional Connectors

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I have just returned from a workshop in North Carolina attended by about 23 power connectors, and I’m brimming with lessons learned. The Influence Style Indicator™ workshop (a brand new assessment instrument from Discovery Learning) was sponsored by AvoLead, a strategic leadership consultancy in North Carolina that was co-founded by my sister, Sarah Albritton, and her associate and [...]

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New Year…but not so Happy

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Nothing is certain and nothing can be taken for granted. My planned “Happy New Year” wish to my readers seems hollow in the face of a phone call I just received telling me that a fine young man who was in my daughter’s high school class and whose parents are friends of mine was killed [...]

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Are you singing in the dark?

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Todays meditation on Acts 16:25-40 (in which Paul and Silas were singing hymns to God and inspiring other prisoners, even after they had just been flogged) from Forward Day by Day was first published in 1962. Authors are always anonymous: “The world always listens when we Christians sing in our midnight hour. What wins people [...]

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Connection through Compassion

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Book Review: Still Alice by Lisa Genova “This is a phenomenal book,” my friend Kay said as she loaned it to me. “Oh, good,” I replied. “What’s it about?” “Well, it’s about a woman with early onset Alzheimer’s.” She paused, knowing how unappealing that must have sounded. “I promise you, it’s worth reading.” If ANYONE [...]

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