Challenge Yourself

In order to strengthen our personal foundation we have to be open to challenging ourselves.  I love to kayak and yesterday I paddled further than I ever had.  It was a beautiful peaceful  Memorial Day morning. What I realized was that so many times before I had said to myself: that is far enough, maybe [...]

30 Day Challenge Good for Self-Growth

One of my mentors, Connie Ragen Green, has just presented a thirty day Power Blogging Challenge. That means making a blog entry daily until Jan. 7 when the challenge ends.  Not an easy assignment when it falls right during the holidays.

Yet many of us accomplish the most when we have a challenge.  I know that [...]

Menopause Challenges Relationships

Recently I was asked if I thought that menopause freed women up or caused trouble.  What a perceptive question since the answer is that both things happen.  It is not an either/or.

The most tumultuous time for women are the few years (anywhere from 2 to 10) prior to menopause  where most women experience a variety [...]

Relationship Building: How to Create a WE

Most couples who are struggling with their relationship will say that the problem is communication. It looks like communication is the issue but the difficulty generally is more than words.  Indeed they are frustrated with their communication but beneath that struggle is the dilemma of not knowing how to create a sense of WE in [...]

And The Walls Came Tumbling Down

An artist friend of mine is working on a series about walls going up when relationships end. I will be eager to see how she depicts that in her paintings. As we talked I said to her that so much of my work is helping people take down emotional walls that have been in their  [...]

Relationships Foster or Stifle Communication

Communication occurs in between people.  When communication is open it is easy.  There is an understood freedom to comment on anything and communication is growth-producing.  When communication is closed there are  overt or silent messages that one has to be careful about what one says.  The result is that self-worth is defined more and more [...]

Relationships Organize How You Communicate

After writing 30 daily blogs I took a short break.  Now I am back wanting to talk about the power of relationships on communication.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you could not be yourself?  What I mean is being around someone else where you felt squelched.  I can certainly recall times when [...]

Communication Skill: How Well Do You Come Across

How well you come across is a skill worth developing.  It is as important as what you are saying.  Couples who are experiencing marital conflict 9 x out of 10 will say : we don’t communicate.  Of course they communicate, it is how they communicate that causes the problem.  What they really mean is that [...]

Long Time Friendships Help You Live Longer

A dear friend of mine sent me a copy of an article by Tara Parker-Pope with the title :  WHAT ARE FRIENDS FOR? A LONGER LIFE.  The gist of the article is that one of the most powerful weapons for slowing aging and prolonging life is to have good friends. In addition to sending the [...]

The Hidden Joys and Perils of Being a Grandmother

Recently I read a  wonderful  realistic book “Eye Of My Heart” about the hidden pleasures and perils of being a grandmother.  Barbara Graham, a writer herself, asked 27 writers, who are all grandmothers, to share their stories. The result is an eye opening compilation of the different experiences of what it is like to be  [...]