Tag Archives: challenges
I wonder how many people reading this watched the original television series MacGyver when it originally aired? Aside from being Selma and Patty Bouvier’s celluloid object of desire and the inspiration for SNL’s Will Forte creation MacGruber, this TV character is that rare proper noun that has been “verbed.” To MacGyver something is to bootstrap and/or apply a life hack that transforms something from nothing to save the day. If you are starting anything from scratch, be it a business,…..
“People who speak ‘victim’ can’t understand the language of accountability.” This thought filtered to the top of my awareness one day while I took a walk around the neighborhood. It can get pretty dicey when using the word victim. It tends to activate the defensiveness-factor of others (usually among those who are still healing from physical or mental wounds). When I talk about victim mentality, I sometimes get accused of victim blaming. I can see where some may interpret it…..
When you factor in all of the social expectations of motherhood, types of motherhood, women who have lost children due to miscarriage or other reasons, and those women who do not wish to have children (and who are sometimes made to feel “less than” for that choice), Mother’s Day can represent an emotional series of land mines. In one of the first pictures taken of me at the hospital, you can see my mother: a 22-year-old woman, peering into a…..
Early on, when I first established a nonprofit to provide cars to women in transition, I had an opportunity to explain a central tenet of the organization. One of our first recipients was a single mother of seven children. She was 29 years old. The only reason I mention these statistics (especially as it relates to the quantity of her children) is because these facts about her circumstances were used by some as a cudgel against her and given as…..
Faith isn’t faith if you know what the outcome will be. We’ve discussed in previous posts the importance faith has when developing resilience in life. Whether expressed as comfort with flux; or taking a managed risk, you must be willing to take a leap of faith in order to reach your goals. Many times, my point of reference is the movies. When I think of ‘leaps of faith,’ one of the most vivid examples I can think of is from…..
Many times, intangible things keep us evolving into our highest selves. The concept of forgiveness is a common tether that binds us to our past. Some are reluctant to forgive because the act of bearing a grudge keeps an invisible “tote board of wrongs” that serves to keep score. Against whom? For what purpose? To what end? Remember, don’t confuse forgive with excuse. You can forgive someone a transgression without excusing it. Forgiveness is ultimately a selfish act, in that…..
One fateful Friday the 13th, it was a day like any other: I was hip deep in performing a competitive analysis for a client, determining their place in the social media landscape… checking sentiment ratios, analytics from their site and other digital minutiae … when I was called into the agency principal’s office at 11:30 a.m. The president of the firm was blessedly direct when he said to me: “I have to let you go. I feel terrible about this,…..
Each of us is a reflection of the people we choose to allow in our orbit. It’s a premise that certainly isn’t new, as you are probably familiar with the phrase, “birds of a feather flock together,” or the quote from motivational speaker Jim Rohn: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” One thing that’s consistently true: our self-esteem and feelings of worthiness are directly related to those who we spend time with…..