What happens when you learn why it's better to say "no" when that's the honest answer? What happens when you are clear on how to say "no" effectively? What happens when you have a "no" for all occasions? Participants of the last workshop on the Positive Power of "NO"...
Love, Process, and Letting Go: What I Learned as My Daughter Made Valentines
“It will take one hundred years!” I said a bit (okay, a lot) immaturely to my 5 year-old daughter mimicking her usual phrase. She wanted to trace, cut out, decorate, and write names on 19 homemade heart-shaped valentines for her nursery school classmates. Wanting to...
5 Ways Speaking Up Makes Our Lives Better
Yesterday I had the opportunity to co-facilitate a discussion on the theme “Dare to Speak Up and Be Heard” with the organization, Women Standing Together. It was a great group of interesting, competent, accomplished women. Still, most agreed on one thing: it’s too...
What 56 Pull-Ups, Positive Psychology, and Mister Rogers Taught Me About Failure (and Happiness)
I looked up at the bar, but I knew I couldn’t do any more. I had reached muscle failure. I looked at my coach, feeling defeated, and said, “I’m done.” She looked at me warmly and said, “Okay.” As I caught my breath, I thought about how I didn’t make it through the...
The Hidden Dangers of People-Pleasing
I know how this is going to sound. But I’m going to say it anyway. Be careful of being nice. The problem is that we do "nice" in ways that are actually detrimental. The misconceptions about how to be nice are the key issues. One of the main problems is that a lot of...
The Seasons are Changing. How about you?
Welcome to fall! It's probably my favorite season. Cool nights and warm days. Autumn colors and yummy flavors. But that's not what this post is about...it's about making some changes! This fall, I'm over at CrossFit 321 with a series on Strategies for Sustained...
Two New Workshops this Fall
I'm pleased to announce two new mini-workshops, specifically for women, to take place in my office at 203 Anderson Street in Portland, Maine. These are intended to be small and highly interactive, so space is limited. Getting to "No" Guilt-free Tuesday, September 24th...
Freedom
Freedom is NOT: pushing down real feelings a stubborn refusal to talk about what’s really going on looking to appearances and perfection to give you worth striving for accomplishment to give your life meaning expecting so much of others that they can’t possibly...
Emotions are Information
Being a truly well and self-satisfied individual rests on the ability to understand the information that emotions give you and to be able to skillfully utilize and respond to the information. Unfortunately, most of us are struggling with our emotions. I think this is...