The following eight strategies encourage you to think productively, rather than reproductively (sbh: did you get that? think for yourself vs. think what the crowd is thinking) to arrive at solutions to problems.
1. Look at problems in many different ways. (sbh: think word scramble puzzles. or scrabble. how many different ways can you put the [...]

The older I get the more “ok” it is with me to stop and take care of what I need, even in the face of conflicting obligations elsewhere.
Here’s my favorite analogy for self-care:
You are a minivan. Your job is to run here, run there, run everyone everywhere. Everyone depends on you to get them where [...]

This picture was taken this morning at Tyler’s request, and I printed him a copy (also at his request) to take with him on this trip to Europe in case he started missing us.
Honestly? I’m surprised and honored that he wanted me in the picture, too, instead of just one of him and his girlfriend, [...]

As some of you know, my son, Tyler (13), is a People to People Student Ambassador and will be leaving on Wednesday for a 20-day trip to six countries in Europe: Ireland, Wales, England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
As excited as he is to go, there is also quite a bit of evident trepidation at [...]

Success is simple, really:
1. Figure out what you want. (Set goals.)
2. List out all the steps to getting what you want. (Create an action plan.)
3. Do all those steps. (Spend your time taking the required action.)
This is not rocket science.
So, why do we not all just do Steps 1-3 and be successful?
For starters, how many [...]

Who are your friends? Do you have loving, supportive people in your life who expect the best from you? Or are your friends more of a pity party, people you go to just to vent and reinforcement that there’s nothing you can do about your problems except feel sorry for yourself?
The quality of your friends [...]

Enforcing your boundaries is hard enough, but is particularly hard when it hurts someone you love. I would even go so far as to say this is why most of us have such a difficult time enforcing our boundaries in the first place.
Whether the person hurting is your partner, your child, your friend or anyone [...]