Category Archives: Of Living

Energized by Challenge

Leave a comment

“Stop focusing on what could go wrong and focus on what could go right.”  I like that adage. I am not sure who said it first.  I try to remember it along with having a little faith whenever I find myself looking at things from a negative perspective. With practice, it can change a person’s entire mindset.

Years ago, one of my business mentors said “there are no problems, only solutions.” To this day, this has given me invaluable confidence to press ahead whenever I feel dubious. In fact, I enjoy trying to find that “solution” that gives way to a different approach and perspective because then I am acting positively to solve the challenge, rather than bemoaning a “problem.”

be open to whatever comes nextIn the New Year I’ll have some interesting projects. I am energized by it! I look forward to seeing what I can do to run with it. As I approach these new tasks, I will keep in mind what Win Borden once said “If you wait to do everything until you’re sure it’s right, you’ll probably never do much of anything.” 

I can’t think of a better adage to bring about  motivation for positive action and along with it a fulfilling life.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com. See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling.

Forget the Soap?

Leave a comment

“Life is good” represents the most beautiful, dramatic and heavy moments in life.” ~ Nas

bathtub3Please don’t disturb me, I’m scrubbin’! I’m getting rid of all negative thoughts left over from last year.  I have received the year end blog report and know just how many readers we had  and I am feeling very happy. Now – a clean slate and moving forward. A New Year always brings new possibilities and fresh opportunities. All the ingredients necessary for creating a fulfilling experience.

If you are you a person who hangs on to bad memories longer than you ought to, please don’t do it!  It’s not good for your health. http://mayocl.in/1dPJmYZ . Wash those pessimistic and detrimental thoughts right out of your head, right now, while the year is young and history has yet to be made in 2014.

Jump in a tub of warm water, relax, inhale deeply and slowly exhale releasing stress, anxiety and discontent. Go on, now,  breathe again and let your troubles from last year go down the drain. Don’t forget to rinse off well. Bad memories, like soap leaves residue that makes you itchy.

Repeat after me …..”Life is good.” And believe it.

Conscious Decisions

2 Comments

“Joy is the echo of God’s life in us.” ~ Abbot Coumba Marmion

Happy New Years Eve! If last year was a rough year for you, I am sorry. I hope 2014 will be much better. I’d like to share with you a story of someone who despite unimaginable trials and tribulations has managed to find fulfilling things in her life.

The other evening I was watching the news and Scarlett Lewis, a mother of a little boy who was shot and killed in the Newtown school massacre was being interviewed. She was so inspiring. I offer a link to a video of the interview -take a few minutes to watch it. http://bit.ly/1fCw9VA.

When asked how she gets through the day after having suffered such a terrible loss, she told of how an inspirational message her son, Jesse, had written on the chalkboard hanging in the family home before he went to school the morning of his death, has brought her joy. Jesse’s heroic actions in trying to protect other children and the teachers has also brought her a sense of comfort and peace. She feels that he was trying to fulfill his mission that day as a savior and champion.

choose joy1Lewis has written a book called Nurturing Healing Love: A Mother’s Journey of Hope and Forgiveness  that will inspire anyone who is dealing with hurt, loss, grief and difficult circumstances. She explains how making a choice to forgive has given her “an equation for moving forward in a positive way.”

Lewis has also started a foundation in honor of her son. Please visit this link. www.jesselewischooselove.org.

Stories such as these make us realize how precious life is and to embrace those we love with great joy this day and every day.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com. Do return to a new year on All Things Fulfilling tomorrow!

Books for Expanding the Brain

Leave a comment

A great life is born in the soul, grown in the mind, and lived from the heart. ~ unknown

Looking for a book that makes you contemplate all kinds of things? Books that incorporate a multi-disciplinary approach expands our ways of thinking of the world, and the meaning of life. Publications that stir our emotions, our intellect, as well as broadening our rational thinking skills are good for us.

Brainpickings.org has listed thirteen best books in 2013 which enrich the readers mental capacities. Here is the list. To read descriptions of these publications, please visit this website http://bit.ly/1lpSGWb.

  • On Looking: Eleven Walks With Expert Eyes
  • Advice to Little Girls by Mark Twain
  • Self Portrait as your Traitor
  • Lost Cat: A True Story of Love, Desperation & GPS Technology
  • Codex Seraphinianus
  • My Brothers Book
  • Don’t Go Back to School: A Handbook for Learning Anything
  • Susan Sontag: The Complete Rolling Stone Interview
  • Letters of Note
  • Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking
  • Eighty Day: History Making Race Around the World
  • Time Warped: Unlocking the Mysteries of Time Perception
  • This Explains Everything: Deep, Beautiful & Elegant Theories of How the World Works

I will forewarn you – you may find all kinds of subjects that you hadn’t thought much about before until these books set your mind in motion.

If you are a person who has put “personal, emotional or intellectual growth” on your New Years resolution list in 2014, pick your brain with the concepts that are held within the covers of these fascinating books. Begin fulfilling your New Years resolution by enhancing an area of your life that needs developing. No procrastination allowed!

my goals

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com. See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling!

Putting Faith in a Move

Leave a comment

You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith.” ~- Mary Manin Morrissey

tell us your storyThis winter marks my fifth year in Steamboat Springs, CO. I’ve enjoyed it immensely. I like the positive energy of the people – they seem to live with purpose and intention rather than just going through the motions. Healthy mind, body and spirit is the focus in this place of awesome beauty. Besides recreation, the arts and entrepreneurship reign supreme. The people are so friendly and there is always something to do in this community. The wonderful library is a hub of activity. I’ve gotten quite involved all around.

Friends and family ask me all the time “Do you think you will live there the rest of your life?” Since I can’t answer that, I’ve decided I’ll live with the attitude that my mother-in-law used to have. She always said “you live till you die.” Alrighty, then! So I’ll say “I am here till I go somewhere else.”  By the way, my mother-law fulfilled her promise by living to the ripe age of 92.

Next Monday on All Things Fulfilling I am going to share a piece of writing from a creative writing class I took last winter. It’s about first impressions – arriving in this town of Steamboat Springs the day after Thanksgiving, five years ago, sight unseen. People ask me all the time – “How did you do that? Move to a place you had never seen before?” My reply….”I just put faith in the fact that I would like it.”  And so it happened, just like that!

Here is a great article called Living with Faith and Making a Great Landing. http://bit.ly/18wEp9O.

Do you have a story you could share about taking a leap of faith? Start writing!

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Virtuous Names

Leave a comment

Christmas is the keeping-place for memories of our innocence.–Joan Mills

I’ve often wondered whether a women who bears a name like Hope, Grace, Faith, Charity or Patience are generally more highly-principled than someone who bears a name like Cruella de Ville, Brandy Alexander or Fannie Hill?  Do people feel pressured to live up to the virtues of their names?

Likewise, if you live in a town that sounds lovely and festive, is life a little different? Are crime rates lower in cities and towns in nice sounding places? After all, people may feel the pressure to live with Christmas spirit or good intentions year-round.

What do you think? Is there is a higher quality of life living in places like these:

  • Angels Camp, CA 95222
  • Bethlehem, PA18016
  • Blessing, TX 77419
  • Christmas, FL 32709
  • Faith, NC 28041
  • Hope, NM 88250
  • Joy, IL 61260
  • Nazareth, KY 40048
  • Noel, MO 64854
  • Saint Joseph, IL 61873
  • Saint Mary, KY 40063
  • Santa   Claus, IN 47579
  • Shepherd, MI 48883
  • Snow, OK 74567
  • Star, ID 83669
  • Wiseman, AR 72587

I ponder if these places are any closer to paradise than any other cities? If we could peek into the lives of the ordinary citizens in these communities, do you think life would be any more fulfilling than other places on the map?

Christmas in the heart

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com. Come on back to All Things Fulfilling tomorrow.

Simply Nutty Holidays

1 Comment

Its a gift to be simple, Its a gift to be free,
Its the gift to come down where you ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
Will be in the valley of love and delight. ~ Elder Joseph

Does anyone roast chestnuts anymore? My Dad used to roast chestnuts for us kids over an open fire every year in our big stone fireplace. That’s just one fulfilling nostalgic Christmas memory from my childhood.  I am sure he thought it didn’t mean a thing to us, but I remember it vividly – the earthy, nutty flavor sprinkled with just a tad of salt. I liked sitting fireside, watching the flames flick and flicker as he tossed the nuts around in the pan to keep them from burning. I haven’t had roasted chestnuts since.

A few years ago, I saw chestnuts in the store during the Xmas holidays, and I got all excited. I bought some and brought them home, I thinking I’d give it a go by roasting them in the oven. http://www.wikihow.com/Roast-Chestnuts. They were such a disappointment. The nuts, I realized, once I got them home were old, dried and shriveled up even before I popped them in the oven. Into the trash they went. “So much for that,” I thought.

chestnuts roasting on open fireIsn’t it strange how small memories from childhood stick with us? Christmas doesn’t always have to be about extravagant giving. I’m sure you’ve heard it before. “It’s the thought that counts.”  Put extra time into other kinds of gift giving such as creating unique, memorable gift wrapping, setting a beautiful table, cooking food that you delight in having only occasionally. Rather than insanely rushing around trying to do too much, spend sacred time with your friends or family. It will mean so much. It’s difficult to enjoy the Christmas season, that comes just once a year, if life is too harried.

~Simplify~

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com. See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling.

Sunny Thoughts Welcomed Here

Leave a comment

Life is not about what happens to us, it is all about how we respond to it. ~ Unknown

I laughed the other day. My niece posted on her Facebook page that she was at a Baltimore Ravens game and it was “freeeeeeezzzzzzing.” Really, in mid-November? The geographic coordinates of Maryland wouldn’t indicate terribly dramatic temperatures.  I commented that she doesn’t understand what cold reeeealy means. She has never lived in locations where there are artic temperatures. As I write this blog this morning it is twenty-four below zero here  in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. It is not expected to rise above zero today.

sunny thoughts  My motto every winter becomes “The sun is going to shine on me today, no matter what!”. Where I live 350 – 400 inches of snowfall annually is not unusual. It’s piled steep and deep for many, many long months. Sometimes when the temperatures dip so low, I have to dress in so many layers, I walk and move like a penguin.

I put out a welcome mat for Mother Nature, and look what happened she arrived in all her fury. Up until now she has been just teasing us.  I’ll turn these cold blustery days into warm, sunny fulfilling  thoughts through visualization.  http://expertenough.com/1898/visualization-works.

Where has this week gone? Did you notice it is snowing as you read this blog? Today on this thoughtful Thursday, I’d like to encourage you to return to All Things Fulfilling tomorrow for Film Friday. I will be featuring a movie and the critique of it from a New York Times best selling author. He has some very interesting things to say about weathering life’s storms.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Right, No Matter What

Leave a comment

“If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you‘re right.” – Henry Ford

This adage is all about “mind over matter,” a motivational principle that became popular in the 1960s and 1970s. The phrase means” the mind is more powerful than the body,” according to Wikipedia.com.

Little Engine that CouldThe “mind over matter concept” was integrated into the storyline of a children’s book all the way back in 1930 when “The Little Engine That Could” was published by Platt and Monk. This tale is still popular today. In fact, as recently as 2007, an on-line poll rated the book as one of the Teachers Top 100 Books by the National Education Association.

In yesterday’s blog, I mentioned the recent speech I gave about Helicopter Parenting. Within the context of the speech I cite the fact that if parents do everything for their children, kids start to doubt themselves and lose confidence in their abilities. They begin think they can’t or may not be able to handle a task. Here is a relevant article about the power of the mind and how to use it as a great tool. http://bit.ly/IllFOz.

In my speech I related some of my own experiences in life. To this day, I count myself as a very fortunate child because my parents didn’t let me know that I may face an uphill battle when trying to accomplish certain goals. They expected me to be able to keep up with everyone else. Guess what – it usually worked!

Thanks, Dad and Mom! Now that I am “big,” an adult, that is, I can I admit you were right!

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com. Hope you’ll return to All Things Fulfilling tomorrow for more self-fulfilling thoughts.

Youth and Philanthrophy

1 Comment

Children are great imitators. So give them something great to imitate.– Barbara Bush

How do you teach young children to value what is inside of them selves rather than material objects?

colors of cakeSome parents are teaching their children the importance of giving to others by throwing “no gift birthday parties.” There is still cake and ice cream, balloons, games and other makings for a day of celebration, but the guests are asked to bring a donation, rather than a toy.

The birthday boy or girl gets to decide where the donations are sent. It is important that the child is in on the decision-making process so they understand where the money is going. The cause should be something the child is excited about, so they feel fulfillment in the giving.

How do you explain “no gift birthdays” to your children without them being resentful? Sometimes it is not very hard, children sometimes “get it” if they can relate to the cause.  Make a Wish Foundation is just one suggestion to partner with. There are many other worthy foundations also. http://wish.org/ways-to-help.

What are your thoughts? Do you think “no gift birthdays” would help instill values in your children – a sense of what really matters?

This Thoughtful Thursday’s blog is brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com. See you on Friday on All Things Fulfilling.