Currently browsing Connect with Self

The most important relationship you have in the world is the one you have with yourself; everything and everyone is a direct reflection of the quality of that relationship. Esperanza

Find Yourself When You Remove the Clutter

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“Is what you’re holding onto holding you back?” Introducing Connection Messenger Debbie Bowie, Certified Professional Organizer® It was my remarkable good fortune, while attending my 40th college reunion at Randolph College in Lynchburg, VA  (formerly Randolph-Macon Woman’s College), to sit in on a lecture by fellow alumna Debbie Bowie entitled, “Using Feng Shui to Clear [...]

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Stress Reduction Secret Combo: Nature and Paper Pitching

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The following is a guest blog post by Connection Messenger Debbie Bowie, a professional organizer and feng shui practitioner whose lecture and book have helped me completely revamp my home office space from one I hated to enter into one that is warm, inviting, less cluttered, and productive. I’ve written in greater detail HERE about how [...]

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Change is Good…You Go First!

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The Simple Truths website has lots of great inspirational content, but when I saw the title of the short (3-1/2 minute) video below, I laughed out loud, because it reminded me of the game my brothers used to try to play, “Let’s see who can hit the softest…you go first!” Of course you know how [...]

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What do you notice?

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Jane Pollak is a favorite blogger and author of mine (Jane Pollak: Leading remarkable women to uncommon success), because she understands that personal and professional success comes from paying attention to others and bringing value to all your relationships. Today’s post on her blog, entitled What do you notice?, was a powerful reminder to anyone [...]

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Are you kind to yourself?

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Most of us are kind to others most of the time. Most of us will go out of our way to be kind to animals, children, and friends in need…maybe even strangers in need. I don’t know about you, but I have a bad habit of putting everything and everyone else first and forgetting that [...]

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Wishcasting Wednesday – Wish for your Health

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I’ve just discovered Jamie Ridler, a “professional creative living coach” who offers thought-provoking and spirit-based insights about authentic living and creativity. Every Wednesday she offers readers the opportunity to make a wish and share it with others. Her wish prompt today is: What do you wish for your health? This is an important question for [...]

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Don’t worry…be happy!

I’m participating with a wonderful group of women from around the world in a “Play in May” program (coordinated by our Heartspoken Connection Messenger Cyndi Briggs of The Sophia Project), and we’re exploring ways to increase playfulness in our lives. Sandy Phocas (www.co-creativeevolution.com) shared this amazing four minute video. Watch it, think about it, and LIVE [...]

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Why I’ve given up on self-improvement (and so should you)…

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I hate Bradford Pear trees. Hate them. It’s not because they’re trees. Trees in general, I like. As a whole, nature is my friend. My dislike of the poor Bradford Pear has to do with the human tinkering that brought it to so many suburban lawns in the mid 1990s. Dubbed the “perfect tree,” Bradford [...]

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Liberating Women, one word at a time…

Cyndi Biggs

Introducing Connection Messenger, Cyndi Briggs. I just love to find women who not only have a vision, but who do whatever it takes to clear the deck of their life to pursue it. I’ve just discovered North Carolina writer Cyndi Biggs, and in just a few weeks, she has written some articles that have just [...]

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“Indelible Ink:” Life-Changing Books

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Book Review: Indelible Ink: 22 Prominent Christian Leaders Discuss Books That Shape Their Faith edited by Scott Larsen with foreword by Philip Yancey I thoroughly enjoyed this book…and for different reasons than I expected. I ordered it because the foreword is by one of my favorite Christian authors, Philip Yancey, and because the title and [...]

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“In the Likeness of God”

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Book Review: In the Likeness of God by Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey I’ve been reading this in small doses for a long time, because there’s so much depth and wisdom here. This particular edition (which I read on my Kindle) was actually a special edition combining two of Brand and Yancey’s co-authored works: [...]

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Connect with your Inner Artist

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Introducing Nature Connection Messenger/Artist: Jackie Catteron Sometimes you come across a work of art that is so full of light and warmth and beauty that you just wish you could meet the artist. That happened to me last year when I bought some beautiful notecards featuring birds and flowers and country scenes that just…well, 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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Gratitude: The best medicine for “the blues”

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The Gratitude Book Project: Celebrating 365 Days of Gratitude “The Blues” can be like those nasty sticker bushes you sometimes encounter when you’re out taking a walk…they grab you and cling to you… and they hurt! Holidays often play tricks on us…they should be happy times, and often they are, but “the blues” can creep [...]

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Joyful Giving: A New Connection with Money

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Our connection with our own money informs so much of our behavior and attitude to others in life, as well as our Connection with Self and our sense of well-being. It’s the time of year that many churches are conducting Stewardship Campaigns. The Stewardship Chairman at my little church has done an amazing job over [...]

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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 Lessons from Sept. 11

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“There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are messengers of overwhelming grief…and unspeakable love.” Washington Irving * * * * * * * No one who was older than a few years will forget where they were [...]

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Take a Laughter Vacation

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Sometimes I take myself too seriously. I’m trying to remind myself to take breaks during the day and remember: 1) Smiling, even when I’m alone, improves my mood, makes me more beautiful, and puts the right kind of wrinkles on my face. 2) If I am what I think, I need to think thoughts of [...]

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Mindfulness leads to Wisdom

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Book Review of Jack Kornfield’s The Wise Heart You don’t have to be a Buddhist to love The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology. In this truly wise book, clinical psychologist and Buddhist monk Jack Kornfield weaves together real-life stories with spiritual insights to show how to live with greater [...]

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Self-Connection in the words of others

Just by being ourselves we are borne toward a destiny far beyond anything we could imagine. It is enough to know that the being I nourish inside me is the same as the Being that suffuses every atom of the cosmos. – Deepak Chopra If we are incapable of finding peace in ourselves, it is [...]

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