Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites
Sandy Weaver
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If you have 90 seconds, you can fuel up on a tiny bite of wellbeing wisdom. C'mon - grab a tiny bite!!
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8 hours ago
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - It's All Greek to Me
Are you looking at something you plan to do or have to do, and you don’t feel up to the job? Maybe you have a big test to take, a book you’d love to write, a promotion you’d really love to get…whatever it is, you might desire it, yearn for it, hope for it and don’t really believe you can succeed at it, so you don’t move toward it in your daily life.
The ancient Greek poet Archilochus said, “We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.” One way to interpret that as you look at the thing you want and don’t believe you can have is that with training, you can get there. Look at the thing you’re not sure you can do and break it down into the small steps it will take to get there.
* Do you have the knowledge you need to pass the test? If so, yay – take the test. If not, study, then take it.
* Do you know how to write a book? If so, start writing, maybe with a goal to write a certain number of pages a week. If not, read a book or two about writing a book, and talk to people who’ve written them to learn how they tackled it.
* Want that promotion? Sit down and write out a case study of why you are the perfect person for that position.
Then you can rise to the level of your expectations.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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1 day ago
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - What to do When Your Good Deed Gets Punished
Have you ever tried to help someone and it blew up on you? What I mean by that is that your intentions were good, you offered them a different way of looking at something or a different way to do something, and suddenly you’re the bad guy? Even worse, that person tells others their version of the story and you’re the bad guy in those people’s eyes, too?
What an awful position to be in – what can you do to fix it?
My strong suggestion is, nothing. Dang, that’s hard to do!
When you can just observe the misunderstanding that others have instead of getting into the big fat middle of it, you’ll feel better and the whole thing will blow over sooner. The people who know you well will understand that your intentions were good and honorable. The people who continue to believe you acted in bad faith aren’t worth having in your life anyway, so let them go. Trust me, you won’t miss the drama they bring to your life.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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2 days ago
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Who do You Love? Please Say You!
How much self-love is enough and how much is too much?
Every person you ask will have a different answer. Many of us are raised to be humble, not to blow our own horn, not to brag about our accomplishments, not to call attention to ourselves…does any of this sound familiar? If so, then the idea of loving yourself might feel quite foreign – it did to me for most of my life.
Loving yourself is simply valuing what you bring to the table and trying to be the best “you” that you can be instead of trying to be the best “whoever someone else wants you to be.”
I stumbled across a song the other day and laughed out loud at the very simple, very strong truth of it. Thank you, Megan Moroney, for these lyrics: “If I'm not your cup of tea go find something else to drink. I'm not for everyone, so if I'm not for you, I love me so you don't have to.”
Can you think of loving yourself as a gift you give to others? Try it…it feels fun and it feels powerful, too!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
Intrigued by the song lyrics and want to hear the whole Megan Maroney song? Here you go! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iramQNlfkis
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3 days ago
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Learning to Enjoy Beating Your Brain
Did someone tell you today that you were inappropriate or wrong? Did you come away from that interaction feeling like they were right and you weren’t good enough?
Please don’t do that to yourself.
It’s easy to let the brain’s negativity bias take over and beat yourself up with what other people say about you. Don’t take the easy road…take the road that challenges what that person said, examines it rationally, and puts it into perspective.
For example, let’s say someone says you’re lazy. Maybe your brain starts reminding you of all the times you rested instead of doing something that needed doing, and so you might conclude that the person is right and you are lazy.
Your brain took the easy, automatic road. You can choose to take a different one – why did that person think you were lazy? Maybe you were doing something that felt more important to you, and they didn’t think it was important at all.
That’s not evidence of your laziness, that’s evidence of a difference in priorities, and people almost always have differing priorities. Don’t use someone else’s opinion of you to beat yourself up – put it into perspective and walk away feeling good about you, your priorities and your life.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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4 days ago
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Being the Gardener of Your Life
Do you like to garden, or maybe just admire the gardens of others? Have you ever stopped to think about the many different types of gardens?
Give two people identical garden plots, with the same soil, the same sun exposure and the same plants and they’ll come up with wildly different gardens. Maybe one will be very organized, neat and beautifully proportioned, while the other is more free-form and free-flowing. Maybe one will be tended to with infinite care while the other is allowed to be whatever it will, with little interference from the gardener.
Lives are just like that, too – give two people the same advantages, knowledge and connections and they’ll make of them two very different lives.
Comparing your outcome to the outcomes of others ignores the wonderful variety of choices we all have. Each of us makes the choices that feel right at the time, and later might make the same ones or could make different ones. Instead of comparing your garden or your life to that of others, admire what you’ve grown so far and decide what you’d like to plant next.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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5 days ago
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Learning to Do the Impossible
What is impossible in your life? Some days it feels impossible that I could ever get my filing system organized. OK, so that’s really every day!
What feels impossible in your life? Is it impossible for you to find a partner? Is it impossible for you to get the recognition at work that you deserve? Is it impossible for you to get along with your mom? What feels impossible, and how could you make yourself believe that it is possible? What words could you say to make the impossible feel even just a little bit possible?
* If it’s a partner you desire, could you say to yourself, “there are so many people on this planet and my partner can just magically show up at any time.”
* If it’s recognition at work that you want, could you say to yourself, “people see and value my contribution even if I don’t hear the words they say.”
* If it’s getting along with your mom that you want, could you say to yourself, “she means well and loves me and can only share what she knows.”
When you tell a softer story to yourself, the impossible starts feeling possible. You don't have to know how something will happen in order for it to happen in your life. You simply have to do the mental preparation to allow it to happen, and celebrate it when it does.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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6 days ago
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - How do You Feel About Standing Up for Yourself?
Are you good at standing up for yourself? Many of us aren’t comfortable in what feels like a confrontation so we walk away from some interactions wishing we’d stood up for ourselves or our point of view more strongly.
Does that sound like you, too? The more life I’ve lived, the more I realize it’s not what we say out loud in those situations, it’s how we feel about ourselves that impacts how we feel about the situation.
When you walk away feeling somehow “less than” or “not enough” for the other person, that’s not a “them” problem, that’s a “you” problem. They didn’t make you feel bad, though it often seems like they did it. Maybe they said something you believe is true about yourself and wish others didn’t see it, or maybe they said something completely wrong about you.
Defending yourself to the other person isn’t necessary and usually isn’t productive. Saying something like, “that’s an interesting point of view” doesn’t validate or negate what they’ve said, it just says you heard them and allows you to leave the conversation feeling stronger, not weaker.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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Mar 21, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Do You Need to Quiet-Quit a Person?
When you realize that someone you love or admire is bad for your mental wellbeing, it’s ok to love them and give them a smaller space in your life. It’s ok to walk away from them and never look back.
You can still love them as you let them go. You don’t have to live the drama that movies and TV shows dish up – you are not a character in a scripted show, you are the director of your own life. You get to choose how you leave, and you get to choose to leave. You can even do it without saying a word to the other person. Give them a smaller role in the story that is your life for your own mental wellbeing, and chances are they won’t even know. Slowly make their role smaller, until they’re not a player in your life anymore.
Your wellbeing is more important than anyone’s feelings, and you are the only person who can direct your life to create more of it.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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Mar 20, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Words to Use on a Tough Day
Do you ever get bogged down in a problem or a mess? Maybe it’s a work problem or a relationship problem or a personal problem – it feels like you’re standing in mud up to your knees so you can’t move, much less see a way to get out of the problem.
There are times in everyone’s lives where the urge to run away and hide is strong – I just had one this week! That’s when having a go-to sentence to remind yourself that it won’t last forever can do wonders for your mental wellbeing.
One of my favorites is, “Wonderful things can happen at any moment in my life.”
Think of something wonderful that happened for you – did it feel magical, like it came to you out of the blue? That happens all the time and we often forget to revel in the feeling of success and perfect timing that can show up for us in any moment of our lives.
Write this down and tuck it somewhere safe, so next time you’re feeling bogged down or stuck you can remind yourself – Wonderful things can happen at any moment in your life, too!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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Mar 19, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Who Really Got the Gift?
Do you love to give gifts? I sure do – seeing someone’s delight, or imagining it, if they live far away, gives me that warm fuzzy feeling of accomplishment, joy and love – you, too?
Being in the habit of giving small gifts for no reason will endear you with the gift recipients and will have a much larger, more lasting affect on your mental wellbeing. The gift doesn’t have to be big or fancy or even well-wrapped – it just needs to be something that made you think of the other person and smile. If your time and budget allows, get it and give it.
Give yourself the gift of gift-giving – you’ll get more than you’d ever dream of!
Want more? Click heref or a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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Mar 18, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Who are You Really Saying No To?
Do you have a hard time saying “no” when someone asks you to do something for them? That’s a very common way to behave, especially for those in jobs where helping others is what they do.
If you’re like I used to be, often asked to chair a committee or take on a part of someone else’s job, maybe you’re also like I was – often stressed, harried and sick.
When you say “yes” to everyone else, you’re saying “no” to your own personal needs, and it doesn’t take long before your body starts saying “no” to you, too. Bodies need rest. Bodies need space. Bodies need the brain to take a break and quit circulating all those harmful stress hormones all the time.
“No” is a complete sentence – you don’t need to have a reason to say no, and you don’t owe anyone any kind of explanation. Practice saying “no” and then pressing your lips together, role-play saying “no” with your friend who’s always telling you that you do too much for others.
Learn to say “no” to the things you really don’t want to do because then you’re saying “yes” to you and your balanced life.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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Mar 17, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Which Love are You Experiencing Now?
Let’s talk about love. Have you ever been in love? Have you ever fallen out of love? Have you ever loved someone who fell out of love with you? Scholars, poets, dreamers and people like you and me have tried to define love, and yet love is so infinite that it defies definition. Here are three ways to think about different kinds of love:
* Love that comes from the head – this love is a conscious choice and feels satisfying on many levels. It’s often felt between good friends, co-workers and extended families where physical distance comes into play. This love can change as often and as capriciously as you can change your mind.
* Love that comes from the heart, or maybe the pheromones – this love feels all-encompassing and like it will last forever. It’s often felt between best friends and romantic partners, and it’s going to be strong only as long as the heart feels cared for in return.
* Love that comes from the soul – this love is the real deal. It comes from both the head and the heart, and is the love that endures, forgives and nurtures.
When you’re in a difficult relationship, examine where your love for that other person comes from, and where you think their love for you is based. When you understand the nature of your feelings, it’s easier to honor them and make the best choices for you in your own life.
Love yourself from the depths of your soul and honor what your head, heart and soul need.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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Mar 16, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Make a Way to Walk Away
Is there someone in your life who doesn’t appreciate you? No matter what you do, it’s never enough. No matter how you wear your hair or your make-up or your clothing, it’s never quite right. No matter what you cook for them, it’s never “like mom used to make” or on their eating plan or it’s suddenly something they hate.
That person doesn’t deserve your time, attention, or affection.
They take you for granted, talk to you like you’re lucky to have them in your life, and do serious damage to your self-esteem the longer you tolerate their treatment of you. You don’t have to be mean or angry or confrontational – you do have to take care of yourself and your mental wellbeing.
Make a way to walk away, and once you do, don’t ever look back. No matter how that person’s tune suddenly changes, you know who they are and how they really feel about you. Don’t go back to their disrespect – respect yourself enough to walk away from them for good.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #
veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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Mar 15, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - How to Create Your Rock Star Day
Do you have weeks like this, too? Yesterday, I was a rock star – everything I touched turned to double-platinum. Today is just OK – getting things done feels a bit more like work than magic.
You, too, sometimes?
Like the ocean, we have ebb and flow in our lives. Some of that could be due to the sleep disruption that many people experience around the time of the full moon, and much of it is due to the changing nature of our food and water intake, attitudes of the people we deal with, and our attitude about the work we’re doing.
Even when we feel our lives are in a rut, a lot of things in our environments change on a moment-to-moment basis, which can be confusing to our brains because they just want to run patterns, not think too hard.
How can we have more rock-star days and fewer just-OK days? When you’re doing something you love, something you believe to be beneficial to those around you, something that’s challenging and not hard, something that you can focus on and lose…
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Mar 14, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Why You Need to Laugh at Life
Life is. It unfolds as it will. Things happen. Not all of them are good, and many of them feel terrible when they happen to you or someone you care about.
That’s life.
Does that sound harsh? I don’t mean it to be – I want you to feel empowered by the fact that life happens, and most of the time what happens around you has nothing to do with you.
We often take something personally and get all upset, when in reality the event had not one thing to do with us. For instance, I was behind a driver who didn’t know how to work a traffic circle. It’s really very simple – there’s a yield sign which means that if there’s someone in the circle, let them go before you go, and if there’s no one in the circle, go ahead and go. This person stopped. Waited for every car at every entrance to the circle to be gone before going.
Was I irritated? For a moment, until I decided to laugh instead. Stop signs are octagonal, yield signs are triangular, and the intersection was a circle…cl…
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Mar 13, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Where Do You Live - Past, Present or Future?
Where are you, most of the time? By that I mean are you thinking about the past, the present or the future?
Most people spend most of their time thinking about the past. It could be good memories of the past, so-so memories of the past or not-so-good-at-all memories of the past and yet it’s still the past.
That stuff has happened and there’s nothing you can do now or in the future that will change the past because – as far as we know, anyway – we don’t have the power to change the past. Learn from it? Sure. Do things differently going forward? If you’d like.
When you allow your brain to wander around in the past most of the time, you’re not focused on the present or your dreams for the future. Start paying attention to where your brain is, and when it’s taking a trip down memory lane, make a conscious shift to the present or your dreams for the future.
You have a lot of fire-power in that brain of yours – harness it to focus on what’s happening to you right now…
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Mar 12, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Understanding Your Knee-Jerk Response to the World
Have you ever wondered about how people become “glass half empty” and “glass half full” in their view of life? Scientists studying the genetics of depression have identified genes associated with wellbeing, and also genes associated with anxiety, depression and self-harm. They expect that further research will reveal even more genetic variants which influence mental attitude, and research studies have also shows that it’s not just nature, it’s also nurture, which influences peoples’ outlooks.
Think about yourself – are you glass half empty or glass half full? Most of the time people who are seen as “glass half empty” by the world self-identify as “realists” so if that’s your answer, then the world probably sees you as a “glass half empty.”
It’s not a big deal – there’s not a “right” way to be. It’s good to understand what your knee-jerk response to the world is, so that you can adjust your response style, if you’d like, using the mental wel…
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Mar 11, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Time to Make a Change? How Do You Know?
Do you wish your life was different? Do you wish you lived in a different place or had a different profession or a different partner? Do you know it’s OK to do as you wish?
You don’t need someone else’s permission to follow your heart, you just need your own permission, and maybe a bit of courage.
It takes guts to make a major change in your own life, and sometimes it can feel very daunting. Letting go of something you once wanted and now doesn’t seem like a good fit is a big step, and yet it’s an important step to your personal and maybe even professional growth.
Do this litmus test – think about what you have now. How do you feel? Contented or constricted? Happy or restless? Fulfilled or frustrated? Sort out your feelings, and expect some mixed feelings. Now think about what you’re wishing for – how does that feel? Scary or exciting? Full of possibility or full of unknowns? Joyful or unsteady?
For a few days or weeks, mentally play out what your life is like, now…
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Mar 10, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Jealousy a Problem? Here's How to Feel Better
My colleague Phil Gerbyshak recently posted an article about freudenfreud. If you’ve never heard the term, you’re in good company – most people haven’t.
Freudenfreud is a term social scientists use to describe the feeling we get when we’re happy for someone else’s good fortune. “Freud” is the German word for “joy” and freudenfreud is so much fun to say that it brings me joy just to say it. Try it – maybe it’ll bring you joy, too.
Jealousy, envy and shame are normal human reactions when someone does something or gets something that we ourselves wanted, and they are the flip side of freudenfreud.
If you’re someone who often feels the more negative feelings when hearing of another’s good fortune, here’s a way to train yourself to feel joy for them: call them up or see them in person, tell them that you’re feeling a little bit jealous of their success, why you think you’re jealous, and then congratulate them. By the time you get to the “congratulate…
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Mar 9, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Harnessing a Mentor's Super Power
What is the single most important thing a mentor can impart to the mentee?
That every single person who is doing what the mentee is learning to do had firsts – the first time they ever conducted an interview, the first time they ever were the lead attorney, the first time they ever filled a cavity, the first time they ever performed a spay surgery – you get it. No one is born knowing how to do anything – we all learn by doing, and even once we’ve done something many times, we’re still humans, so we’re never going to do everything perfectly.
The single most important thing a mentor can impart is compassion for self through the learning process and beyond. Yes, mentors provide expertise and knowledge. Yes, they can also provide perspective and personal experience with getting things wrong.
When you’re mentoring someone, remember to sprinkle in a dose of compassion and perspective. When you’re being mentored, listen for it and ask for it. If it’s not forthcoming, find…
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Mar 8, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Do You Shoulda Woulda Coulda Yourself?
Do you shoulda woulda coulda yourself?
That’s a habit many people have, and they think of the “shoulda woulda coulda” process as a way to improve themselves. Most of the time it isn’t – it’s a way to beat up on yourself and it guts your sense of self-worth.
Hindsight is always 20/20. It’s easy to look back on an event and say “I wish I would have” or “it would have been good if I could have” or “I really should have” whatever. The brain will help you ruminate, and yet when you make a habit of doing it, it can become an addiction quite easily.
The more you think about something, the easier it becomes to think about, until soon it’s all you want to think about, which is when it’s become an addictive thought process. This can be good if the thoughts produce good feelings, and very detrimental to your mental and physical wellbeing if bad feelings are produced.
Next time you find yourself in shoulda woulda coulda mode, stop and assess your feelings. Then ad…
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Mar 7, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Are You Likely to Feel Imposter Syndrome?
Imposter syndrome hits nearly all of us, at one time or another. High achievers and people who are struggling to juggle several roles at the same time are most likely to feel inadequate and like they’re going to be found out.
The mental self-talk in the low points of life can be brutal:
* I’m not good enough
* I don’t know how I got into this predicament or how to get out of it
* What if people see me for who I really am and reject me
Here’s the truth – people who worry about not being good enough tend to be better than their peers! The mere fact that they care about providing great service or great care or great whatever it is they’re tasked to provide speaks to a person who will go above and beyond to fulfill expectations.
When you’re feeling like an imposter, you’re really over-qualified for what you’re doing, not under-qualified.
The voice inside your head is lying to you – please quit believing what it says when it’s questioning your competence. Ta…
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Mar 6, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Importance of Being Lazy
Do you feel lazy when you take time to do nothing at all?
A surprising number of us do, and it’s no wonder. Much of what we’re told is multi-task this and go-go-go that, with the early bird getting the worm, the no pain, no gain crowd pushing us hard, and the thousands of messages that hit us each day, demanding our attention and action. That makes me tired to just think about it – you, too?
Think about your car engine – if it ran at full capacity all the time, how long would it be before the engine conked out? We don’t expect our machines to work all the time and yet we often expect ourselves to do just that.
Think of your body and mind as a highly refined engine – it needs good fuel, maintenance and it needs to rest between uses. You need this. Your body and mind need this. Please don’t beat yourself up for taking care of the highly refined engine that is you – your health and wellbeing depend on it!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is a…
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Mar 5, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Creatures Who Seek Freedom
We are creatures who seek freedom. We want to make decisions for ourselves, we want to do what we want to do when we want to do it, and we want to follow our own path and blaze our own trail. Do you want that freedom just for yourself or do you want others to have their own freedom, too?
Uh-oh…did you just trip a little bit over that question?
At the root of many interpersonal problems is one person wanting something the other person doesn’t want them to want.
* One partner in a relationship wants variety and the other wants monogamy.
* One business partner wants to focus on growing the client base and the other wants to focus on serving the existing clients.
* One world leader wants to facilitate harmony between nations and the other wants to dominate the world.
Often these disagreements spring from both sides feeling their freedom to choose is being stifled and they often devolve into bad feelings, arguments and breaking off communication.
Next time you’re in a situ…
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Mar 4, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - How to Stymie a Blowhard
Do you live or work with someone who’s outspoken about their ideas and opinions, and theirs are the polar opposite of yours?
This can be tough, especially around election time. You can choose to argue constantly, which is no fun for you or anyone within earshot, or you can choose silence. People who want agreement or an argument, and they don’t really care which one, don’t know what to do with silence.
At first, especially if you’ve engaged in repartee with them previously, they’ll be persistent in trying to get a rise out of you. Practice silence. Smile blandly, lips closed. If you truly must say something, make it something like, “I know you have very strong feelings on this subject.” That’s neither agreement nor disagreement, it’s just an acknowledgement that you heard them.
When you stop engaging, they’ll eventually stop spouting off around you, and won’t that be a deliciously delightful day?
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is a…
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Mar 3, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Getting to Your Goals and Dreams
You have goals. You have dreams. And maybe, as you go through your life one day at a time, those goals and dreams don’t feel like they’re getting any closer.
I feel you – I certainly own that t-shirt!
We’re not falling short on our goals and dreams because we’re not talented. We’re not falling short on our goals and dreams because we’re not deserving. We often fall short of our goals and our dreams because we don’t stay focused on them, and we don’t choose our path in life with those goals and dreams in mind.
Today, write down your goals and dreams. Don’t share them with anyone if you don’t want to, just write them down. Now, take a sheet of paper, draw a line down the middle of it, and make two lists of the things that you do on a daily basis. One list is things that don’t get you closer to your goals and dreams, and the other list is things that do.
See what you can eliminate from the list that doesn’t support the future you want because that frees up pr…
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Mar 2, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Do This to Put a Bad Day into Perspective
At the end of a bad day, do you have a process to help yourself feel better?
Difficult days are normal, and also not fun. Carrying a difficult day around with you is a perfectly normal thing to do, and yet you don’t have to do that. Having a mental process to help you put whatever happened into perspective is important to your mental wellbeing.
If you don’t already have a way to help yourself feel better, try this: remind yourself that there is an ebb and flow to all things, not just the tides. You did the best you could do with the events as they transpired, and knowing that, there’s no reason to beat yourself up, because you did the best you could do. You did better than many people would have, and if the same thing happens again, you might even do better because now you have the experience. You are not in control of the whole world – you can’t control others, how they act or how they think. All you can do is be your best self and do your best, and that’s what you did t…
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Mar 1, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Defeat, Defeated and Maya Angelou
Have you ever had a defeat in your life? Something you thought would be a slam-dunk instead fell flat and you were the one with egg on your face? How’s that for a mixed metaphor?
Maya Angelou said, “We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.” I love that quote – it’s a reminder that taking the long view makes the short-term setbacks feel less like defeats and more like steps along the path.
* Failed an interview? Good for you – it was great practice for the interview for something far more suited to your talents and abilities.
* Wrecked your car? Good for you – you now know how to navigate the insurance process and now realize that cars are just paint and metal (or plastic) and can be put back together.
* Wanted someone who didn’t want you? Good for you – when you were able to let that futile hope go, I hope you felt how strong you are and how you’ve now made room in your life for someone even better suited to you.
Have a defeat – don…
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Feb 28, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Are You Guilty of Discounting Yourself
Have you been through a relationship breakup when you thought it was forever? Whether you were married and got divorced, were in a committed, long-term relationship or even a whirlwind that seemed perfect, breakups hurt on a lot of levels. One of those levels has to do with societal expectations and perceptions.
When a twosome becomes two individuals, there can be some clicking of tongues, not to mention the wagging of them. The fear of being the object of that kind of attention keeps some people in a relationship much longer than is good for them.
It’s OK to break up. It’s OK to take some time off from each other. It’s OK to live on your own and learn who you are. All of those options are far better than being with someone who doesn’t value you.
Loving someone who discounts you…staying with someone who discounts you…is you, discounting yourself. You’re worth far more than that. Forget what society and the gossips have to say about it – it’s your life and it’s up…
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Feb 27, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - What do You Want to be Teaching?
You are surrounded by teachers. Don’t believe me? You are – the woman with the beautiful smile at the drive-through window this morning taught you that there are happy people everywhere. The person wearing too much fragrance taught you that moderation is a way to be considerate of others. The mother yelling at her toddler at the park taught you that “out of control” isn’t a look you want to wear, especially not in public.
Everyone is your teacher when you’re focused enough on your surroundings to notice and process the details. Others are usually so focused on their own lives that they have no idea they’re teaching you, and yet you can learn from them anyway. The flip side of the coin is also true – you are a teacher. Every time you go out into the world, whether you interact with others or not, your actions and attitudes have the potential to reach others and teach others, often in profound ways.
At the end of the day today, take a few minutes to think about the peop…
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Feb 26, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Using Things to Create Thoughts
Creating more mental wellbeing is simple – become good at deliberate focus.
What is deliberate focus? That’s simple too – it’s choosing what you think about. And that’s not simple because your brain wants to focus for you, and since the brain has a negativity bias, it often chooses negative things to focus on.
With that in mind, how can you learn to deliberately focus? A good way for you to think about your brain is as a tool that helps your body work instead of as you, yourself. When you can think of your brain as simply a way to get things done, it’s easier to choose what you will allow your brain to focus on and think about.
When you find yourself focusing on negative events, thoughts or feelings, step back and observe how that focus makes you feel. Is it how you want to feel? Probably not, so deliberately decide to focus on something that will help you feel better.
I have a picture hanging above my desk that reminds me of a dear friend, and thoughts of her always ma…
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Feb 25, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Talent versus Timeliness versus Truth
Perspective informs point of view.
Have you played with that new app that writes for you? I’m in a mastermind group with a diverse collection of women professionals and recently we discussed ChatGPT.
The mastermind facilitator had played with it and was overjoyed with the many possible ways she could use it. A woman who’s been an adjunct professor at a New York university wasn’t in favor of its existence, and neither was the woman whose business is writing other peoples’ books for them.
Those against it disliked it for mainly ethical reasons – the writer would never use it to “write” client books and the professor worries that students will use it to write their papers.
Those excited about it liked how it could efficiently assist with creating lists, conducting one-stop research and could write for them the things they weren’t good at writing.
The mastermind session reminded me to remind you – perspective informs point of view. Next time you’re in a disagreemen…
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Feb 24, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Mr. Rogers' Secret Superpower of Love
If you’re a younger Baby Boomer or a Gen X’er, chances are Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood had at least a little bit of influence on who you are today. The TV show designed for children aired from 1968 through 2001, when Fred Rogers hung up his red sweater for the final time.
His messages were simple, direct and profound, and he had the gift for making each person in his huge TV audience feel like he was speaking just to them.
If you watched Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood as a child, you were watching a show designed to make you feel cared for, important and loved. As a matter of fact, Fred Rogers knew a lot about using love as a way to connect people with learning – he had advanced degrees in child development and a divinity degree that led him into the ministry.
One of his most profound quotes is this: “Everyone longs to be loved. And the greatest thing we can do is to let people know that they are loved and capable of loving.”
Today, who will you let know they are loved and are…
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Feb 23, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - How to Win a No-Win Situation
Several years ago, I learned that my marriage was over. It was an unexpected, eye-opening experience. A friend who knew us both well made a comment that struck a chord when she said, “you focused on what you loved about him, and he focused on what he didn’t love about you.”
Maybe you’ve been in a relationship like that before, too?
When you find yourself in a friendship, work relationship or love relationship with someone who disapproves of some aspects of you, whether they do it aloud or just in the privacy of their own head, you’re in a no-win position. You can try as hard as you want and you still won’t be able to change the way they’re choosing to focus. This is their life-long pattern and only they can choose to view the world differently.
You can’t make that choice for them.
What you can do is decide how much the relationship means to you and what your life would look like without that person in it. You might choose to leave, or you might choose to stay and ju…
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Feb 22, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Help! I Need You to Need Somebody!
Do you find it hard to ask for help, too?
Many of us do – maybe you were raised by people who believed in self-sufficiency, maybe you’re a perfectionist where you’re concerned, or maybe you feel that it’s just easier to do things yourself. All of this adds up to stress, isolation and burnout, and who wants that for themselves?
May I offer you a different way to look at asking for help? When you help someone, you probably feel good about helping them, right? You might even get feelings verging on love for the other person as you’re helping them. Can you see that others might want to feel that way, too, and when you allow them to help you, you’re helping them, too?
Next time you’re struggling to get something done, look around and find someone to ask for help. Give them the gift of helping you – you’ll both feel better!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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Feb 21, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Going from Commonly Bad to Normally Good
Do events from your past make you feel bad? For nearly everyone, that answer is “yes.” Something happens and it changes the way we view ourselves, our lives and even our world.
That’s normal – that’s a key component of learning.
And while it’s common for human beings to let events from the past make them feel sad or guilty or incompetent or any other negative state of mind you can come up with, it’s not normal. It’s normal to want to feel good. It’s common, not normal, to let a bad memory take up permanent residence in the best part of your brain, eating up your time, energy and emotional stability like a train eats up railroad tracks, mile by mile by mindless mile.
Want to stop letting past events control your current emotions? Start paying attention to how you feel, and when you notice that you’re sad, stressed, guilty or whatever, focus what you were thinking about that might have caused the negativity.
Get in the habit of checking in with your emotions every…
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Feb 20, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Creating a More Empathetic You
Are you an empathetic person?
Most of us have at least a little bit of empathy and at least a little bit of stubborn adherence to long-held beliefs. Holding on to something you believe is fine, as long as you don’t expect everyone else to think and feel the same way you do about the topic, because that’s the opposite of empathy.
Empathy means being open to other points of view, being willing to form new opinions, and listening to others with your heart as much as with your brain. Empathy is a key ingredient to emotional intelligence and mental wellbeing, so here are three ways you can become more empathetic:
* Walk a mile in the other person’s shoes – see things from their perspective so you’ll gain understanding about their situation.
* Learn about a lifestyle or religion that’s very different from yours to see the points of commonality.
* Ask questions of others to learn about their lives, influences and beliefs.
The more empathy you have for others, the less st…
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Feb 19, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Who's the Boss of You?
There are people in your life who will tell you that you can’t do something. It might sound like an order, it might sound like sound advice, and it might sound like someone who fears for your safety.
No matter how the negative words are couched, the words are still intended to limit what you can do.
Children are often raised with rules for their behavior offered by well-meaning, controlling parents. Now that you’re a grown-up, you’re in charge of what you can do, what you will do and who you will allow to boss you around.
Taking good advice is good – it’s a way you can learn from the experiences of others. Limiting yourself because of the opinions of others is not so good – you deserve to lead your own life, blaze your own trail, make your own mistakes and grow from them and through them.
So when someone starts telling you that you can’t, decide if you want to. If you want to, then go do it and show them that you are more than they know.
Want more? Click here for a…
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Feb 18, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Who's in Charge of Your Success?
Perhaps you’ve heard the adage “you are the sum total of the 5 people you surround yourself with.”
Motivational speaker Jim Rohn had a keynote speech that taught that message as a key to personal and professional success, and in 2017, Northwestern University published a study seeking to prove or disprove it. In their research, they found that people who sat within 25 feet of a high-performing co-worker improved their output by 15 percent. Alarmingly, those who sat within 25 feet of a low performer saw a decrease in productivity of 30 percent. Yikes!
Think about the five people you spend the most time with each day. How do they influence you – positively or negatively? Now think about where you want to be in your career in a year, three years and five years – will your current 5 influencers help you or hurt you?
It may seem cold and maybe even harsh to choose your friends and close co-workers by whether they’ll help you get where you want to go – it’s up to you to dec…
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Feb 17, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Understanding that Stuck Feeling
Is there a part of your life where you feel stuck? Maybe your career isn’t growing the way you’d hoped, maybe your relationship is feeling a bit stale, and maybe you keep meaning to lose weight or get more exercise or write the Great American Novel and it’s just not happening.
Life keeps moving – think about your entire life up until now and look at all the ways it has shifted, changed and grown as you’ve passed through time. There is no “stuck” outside of your head. All of the “stuck” in your life is inside your head, waiting for you to do something about it.
Usually we feel stuck because we know what we need to do and don’t want to do it. Then the day comes when it’s harder to stay stuck than it is to take the action to make the change. If there’s part of your life where you feel stuck, understand that you are the one keeping your figurative feet in the mud.
Ready…set…decide and take the first step!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Hap…
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Feb 16, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - There are No Insignificant Ripples
Do you feel courageous? And did you just laugh out loud at the idea of that? It’s OK – many of us would.
Think about your daily life – you get up, take care of yourself, maybe some other people and a pet or two, and then you get on with your day. You’ll work, either inside or outside your home, you’ll juggle chores and errands and appointments, figuring out how to feed yourself and maybe others along the way. You did that this morning and you’ll do it again tomorrow.
That takes courage, along with a level of belief in yourself and your abilities that you probably don’t give yourself credit for.
We often look up to the people in life who make a big splash, do big things and everyone knows their name – we think they are the movers and the shakers of this world. You are, too, as you go through your day. You touch lives. You teach people through the way you live your life. You change hearts. Even if you feel like the tiniest ripple on the pond, you’ve still changed the…
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Feb 15, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Argument Clinic
Do you lose arguments? Good for you! Do you avoid arguments because you always lose? Even better for you!
It often feels like the loudest person or the one willing to continue arguing is the person who “wins” and can also feel like the person who “wins” the argument is the person who is right.
Most arguments are useless exercises in wasting adrenaline and oxygen. Both sides are right, according to each person’s world view, so to argue about who is the “rightest” of the right ones is pointless.
If you live or work in an environment of conflict that escalates to arguments, maybe you feel like you have to fight it out, too. News flash – you don’t.
Choosing to not argue is better for you physically and mentally. When you’re about to enter a situation with people who like to argue, remind yourself that it takes two people to argue, and if you choose not to play along, then there can’t be an argument. And think of something you can truthfully say in a kind and quiet…
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Feb 14, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Taking Control of Your Lazy Brain
Do you find yourself in the same sorts of not-optimal situations time and time again? Maybe you tend to date the same kind of person, or maybe you say “yes” to another volunteer project when you really want to say “no”.
We’ve talked before about how human brains love patterns, and this is another case of your pattern-loving brain needing a good talking-to. We do what we always do not because it’s good for us, but because to our brain it looks familiar and like the easiest path. That’s just your brain following a pattern.
If you want to change your outcomes – you want to date someone who loves and respects you, or you want to learn to say “no” when you really can’t take on one more project – you’ll have to get intentional about re-wiring your brain on that subject. To do that, remind yourself that you’ve done whatever it is your brain wants you to do now before, and it didn’t turn out well.
Remember that you can make a better decision, one that respects…
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Feb 13, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Nipping Mistrust in the Bud
Have you ever tried to teach a puppy not to nip and bite at your hands? Using their mouths is how puppies play with their littermates, so it naturally translates to mouthing their new human littermate – you! Those sharp little puppy teeth hurt, and yet we love the puppy so we don’t want to hurt its feelings. We might tell them to stop biting, and yet we’re not consistent and we’re not firm and so the biting continues.
It’s the same with people – well, minus the actual biting, hopefully!
When the words we use with our co-workers, our partners or our children don’t match the actions we take, there’s a big disconnect in communication. Dogs and people both watch and learn more from our actions than they do from our words, and when the words don’t match the actions, you’re sowing seeds of mistrust.
Think about what you want people to know about you and learn from you – are you modeling those things in your actions? If not, lay out the steps you can take right now to…
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Feb 12, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Exclusive Versus Inclusive Management Styles
Think about the people you work with, especially those who are senior to you. Do you feel free to voice a different opinion, or suggest a different solution to a problem?
There are a lot of managers who are “my way or the highway” kinds of managers, and that’s not a good environment to work in. Yes, things get done, and yes, there are generally more injuries, absenteeism and employee turnover in those situations.
Hopefully you’re in a different kind of environment – one where collaboration is valued and differing opinions are encouraged. And if you’re a team lead or manager, think about whether you encourage collaboration or enforce the “right way” to get things done.
If you’re feeling a little bit sheepish right now, yay, you! Time to grow into the great leader your team needs – ask their opinions and celebrate the ones that lead to good outcomes.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #veterinarian #petindustry #wellbein…
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Feb 11, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Today is the Day to Start Falling in Love
The hardest person in the world for you to love is you.
Growing up, you internalized what you did wrong, what others said about you or to you about your wrongness, and you let those opinions shape how you feel about yourself. Consider these questions:
* What if those people were wrong?
* What if their opinions of you were wrong?
* What if they themselves had been belittled and verbally battered as children and that’s all they knew how to do?
* Do you want to spend your whole life believing their wrong opinions about you?
Of course you don’t want to believe wrong-headed nonsense, and yet nearly all of us do. When we hold on to what others thought of us as children and define our adult selves by those opinions we are withholding love from ourselves.
The hardest person in the world for you to love is you, so one by one, start banishing those old, unkind and incorrect ideas you hold about who you are. When a negative opinion of yourself pops into your head, laugh at it and…
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Feb 10, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Benefit of Challenging Beliefs
The idea of change often challenges beliefs we hold, and we don’t like to have our beliefs challenged.
Think about a belief you’ve had for a long time – maybe it’s something common like “money doesn’t grow on trees.” I heard that a lot growing up – you too? That’s a belief that can keep you stuck in a poverty mentality because it defines you as someone who doesn’t believe in an abundant flow of money. Maybe you believe it so strongly that even right now you’re starting to justify why it’s right to believe money doesn’t grow on trees.
Guilty? The idea of change challenges our beliefs and we don’t like to have those beliefs challenged.
What if I reminded you that the world has more financial abundance now than it ever has, and that you are as deserving of it as anyone? Isn’t that a better thought?
Today think of a belief you’ve had for ages that doesn’t support the life you want to live and the person you want to be, and challenge that belief each t…
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Feb 9, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Tapping Into Your Primal Self
Trust yourself.
Trust your instincts, your intuition, your gut…whatever you call it, trust yourself. Learn to feel the tingle on the back of your neck that tells you something could be wrong. Learn to be quite for a moment or two instead of responding quickly and angrily to someone who’s just hurt you. Trust that little voice inside you that says you need more respect than you’re being shown in your work or personal life – or maybe even both.
We have survival skills that served early human beings, and even though we don’t have to be on guard for a saber tooth tiger attack these days, the same gut reactions that kept the species alive can serve you now, too. Think of a time when you paid attention to your intuition and it paid off. Congratulate yourself, tell yourself that story often, and then when you get those instinctual hits, trust them.
Trust yourself. That’s your superpower.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #veterinari…
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Feb 8, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Slowing the Passage of Time
Does it feel like time is zooming by? Where is it going and why is it in such a hurry to get there?
There’s a time-travel portal in your brain that allows you to go back to the past and fast-forward into what you think – or maybe fear – your future may be. When you’re time-traveling, though, you’re missing out on your actual life!
When the brain is wallowing in pain from the past or worrying about what might happen in the future it’s not focused on the present moment, and the present moment is the only place your life truly is. You can only decide now. You can only act now. And every second of your life is a brand new now, ready for you to make a new choice of how you want your life to be.
To stop the rush of time, savor the time called “now” and quit letting your brain time-travel so much.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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Feb 7, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - How to Cope With Loss
Nothing is forever. Nothing.
Does that make you sad?
I hope not because when I say “nothing is forever” I mean the not-optimal things as well as the good ones. When you plant a rosebush, you’ll get roses. You won’t get them all the time, and when they’re on the bush, the roses won’t last very long. When you buy cut flowers, they won’t last very long either – maybe a week or so.
And when something not-optimal happens, that’s not forever either. When you catch a cold or the flu, you get well in a week or two. When you’re without a job, you’ll find another one soon enough. When someone leaves your life, you’ll have the memory of them to either cherish or learn from.
Nothing is forever and that’s a wonderful thing. You just have to remember to look at it that way.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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Feb 6, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Do You Know a Complaint Addict?
Do you know someone who loves to tell you all their troubles and woes?
Tommy Lasorda said “80 percent of the people who hear your troubles don’t care and the other 20 percent are glad you’re having them.” While his numbers aren’t scientifically proven, it’s easy to grasp the sentiment, and it’s also alarming to grasp the sentiment.
Most people who talk about their troubles all the time are venting, and that’s a way for them to feel like they’re doing something about the problem. Constant complaining is also a form of addictive behavior supported by the brain’s negativity bias.
What the complainers are doing is alienating most of the people who are listening, which wreaks havoc with personal and work relationships.
If you manage a person who complains all the time, share Tommy Lasorda’s wisdom and ask them to think about it before they open their mouth to complain again. Understand that it will take time and commitment for them to break that habit – support t…
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Feb 5, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Deciding to Not Be Overwhelmed
Do you often feel overwhelmed? Those days where it feels like there’s not enough time and not enough of you to get everything done are stressful, tiring and just plain awful.
Consider this, next time you have one of those days: you’re not making enough decisions.
That feeling of being overwhelmed by stuff or tasks or the angst of people you care about is the feeling of having too much on your plate. There’s too much on your plate because you’re not moving things along and off the plate, and you do that by making decisions.
* Feeling stressed about getting to work on time? Decide to leave 15 minutes earlier each day – that will take the travel uncertainty away.
* Feeling tired of settling office spats between the same two people? Decide to sit them down together and tell them that they’re expected to behave like grown-ups and settle their own issues.
* Overwhelmed by the idea of having to put a meal on the table tonight, on top of everything else you have to do? Dec…
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Feb 4, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Are You Guilty of Beating Yourself Up?
“Please be nicer to my friend.”
Those were words that came out of my mouth during a conversation with someone whose husband is in hospice. For the past two months, she’s continued to try to juggle running her business, chairing an important committee, working to create a session at an upcoming conference, all while coordinating her husband’s care between the visiting hospice team and the staff at his nursing home. She felt she had dropped a ball and was beating herself up for not being able to handle everything perfectly.
Can you relate? Does this sound like you at times, too – a big personal issue trying to co-exist with your work and volunteer responsibilities?
Jugglers drop a ball all the time – it’s how they become better jugglers. Your life isn’t a bunch of balls you’re trying to keep aloft, and when it starts to feel that way, instead of beating up on yourself, ask for help. Let friends and co-workers know what you’re dealing with and give them the privileg…
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Feb 3, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Sharp Knife of a Gossip's Tongue
Do you work with a gossip? At some point nearly everyone will, and while that person is generally very entertaining, they’re also very dangerous.
Maybe you’ve heard the saying, “if someone will gossip TO you, they’ll gossip ABOUT you” and that’s true. While some people gossip to inflict pain, most people gossip because they enjoy the attention it brings them, plus they get a sense of relief that it’s the “other person” who is bad or wrong or stinky, not them.
The negative information they’re spreading serves to factionalize the workplace and poison the atmosphere. If you manage someone who’s a gossip, it’s vital to team cohesion to nip the behavior in the bud. If you work with a gossip, talk to their manager and to HR about the behavior. Either way, the gossip needs to learn the error of their ways and be willing to stop gossiping or they need to be shown the door.
The quickest way to tank team performance is to fail to deal quickly with a gossip.
Want more?…
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Feb 2, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Power of Three Southern Words
Do you have a friend or co-worker with … hmmmm … interesting ideas?
The ideas could be about politics, the environment, or even about you – they’re ideas that differ from your beliefs on the same topic. Maybe you and your friend or co-worker have had conversations in the past and you realized that they are immovable in their beliefs, no matter what you say.
This is very common, and is a very common cause of arguments and simmering animosity, especially among co-workers. Friendships can end – co-workers are yours for as long as you both continue working for the same company, so having a way to deal with your differences is vital to your mental wellbeing.
Southerners in the US have a very powerful three-word phrase – “bless their heart.” The words sound sweet, though when spoken between two southerners, both know exactly what they mean – “there’s no hope for them, is there?”
Think about adopting this phrase and using it in the privacy of your skull when dealin…
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Feb 1, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bite - How to Create More Great Days
Think about yesterday – how did you feel as it started and how did you feel at the end of the day? If you started the day feeling great and ended the day feeling great, yay! More commonly, maybe you started the day feeling good and you rode a roller-coaster of emotions as the day progressed. Hopefully the day ended with you feeling good – maybe accomplished because you rode the roller-coaster well, or maybe relieved because you were able to hang on for the ride.
If yesterday started well and ended with you feeling defeated or exhausted, examine your expectations for yourself.
Most of the days of your life will be filled with ups and downs, and it’s how you view them, how you react to them and how you feel about yourself as you ride those ups and downs that shapes how you experience your life. How do you want to experience your life?
To start and end most days feeling great, remember that you’re human. You will make mistakes, you will learn from those mistakes, and you will g…
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Jan 31, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Dealing With the Almost-Perfect Person
Have you ever been in a relationship with someone who is a great person except for one or two things?
Because there’s no such thing as a perfect person, if you’re honest with yourself then the answer to that question is a resounding “yes.” Maybe you thought or hoped you could change those things, or maybe you knew that you could love that person in spite of the traits you saw as imperfections.
Consider this – who they are is who they are. Their personality, beliefs, and behaviors have been shaped by the entirety of their life – everyone they’ve known and everything they’ve experienced. Perhaps you can be an influence in their lives if they want you to be, and perhaps not if that’s not what they want.
What you can be is loving and forgiving and in charge of your own feelings, actions, and life. If the relationship feels good and allows you to grow and experience your dreams, those things you wish were different don’t matter.
If the relationship feels bad, it’s…
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Jan 30, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Creating Comfort Around Uncomfortable People
Is there someone in your life that you consider too outspoken? Maybe you even avoid being around them because they make you uncomfortable?
First – let’s check and be sure – you are a human being, correct?
OK, then you probably think that person’s behavior is wrong and they should behave better. It’s human to think that anything outside of what we consider good and normal and appropriate is wrong, and guess what? We’re actually the person who’s wrong when we decide that the other person is wrong.
It’s not your job to control the behavior, attitudes, feelings or thoughts of the other person. When someone is too outspoken for your comfort level, then while they may be wrong for you, they’re not inherently wrong. Learning to take out judgement when thinking about or reacting to another person is a key skill in creating more wellbeing in your life.
As for that outspoken person – if you can avoid them, great. If not, come up with something you can say inside your head…
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Jan 29, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Behold the Power of You
Do you even know how powerful you are?
My guess is that you don’t – you go through your day doing what you want to do, need to do and have to do, or maybe some days doing nothing at all. You have the routines you usually follow, and you have people you interact with.
Think about the people – how do they experience you? What do the learn from you? How do they feel when their interaction with you is finished each day?
The noted researcher and naturalist, Jane Goodall, said, “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
Now do you see how powerful you are? Your interactions with people each day, no matter how mundane, have the power to change an attitude, change a mind and change a heart. You influence everyone you interact with, either in a good way or a not-so-good way.
How do you want to influence each one? How do you want to show up in the world? Start each day with three questions – how do I want others to experien…
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Jan 28, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Are We There Yet?
When you were a child, riding in the back seat of the family car on a long trip, did you utter the words parents dread?
“Are we there yet?”
I grew up in the time before portable screens – no smart phones, no tablets, no DVD players mounted in the ceiling of the car, and my brothers and I found ourselves in the back seat on long drives often. Mom was good at giving us games to play to distract us and help pass the time, yet inevitably one of the three of us would get bored and begin asking, “are we there yet?”
That feeling of boredom mixed with impatience to arrive at the destination can quickly devolve into anxiety and stress, and it’s as true for adults as it is for children stuck in the back seat. The unknown of how long something will take is inherently stressful, and learning to soothe yourself in the face of the unknown is a skill worth honing.
When you’re in that place of wondering when something will happen, soothe yourself with phrases like “it will unfold a…
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Jan 27, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Adding More Grace to the World
Think about the word “grace.” What does grace mean to you? It can be a woman’s name, it can be a prayer said before a meal, and it can be a calm, steady kindness in the midst of anger or turmoil.
Let’s talk about that third meaning of “grace” – can you think of a time when someone shared their grace with you? I remember a time of being very angry when I believed I’d been wronged, and a friend listened to my ranting and raving. When I finally stopped, she gave me a hug and said quietly, “next week we’ll laugh about this.” Her calmness calmed me, and her certainty that in less than a week we’d be laughing about this terrible injustice helped me get over the white-hot anger of the moment.
How about you – can you think of a time when someone’s grace helped you? Next time someone shares their grace with you, cherish it. And next time you have a chance to give someone grace in the midst of their struggles, know that you’re giving them exactly what they need, w…
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Jan 26, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Why People are REALLY Offended
Have you noticed how many people go on the attack so quickly? Social media is rife with people taking great offense to something the author of the post didn’t mean as offensive. A skirmish of words ensues, with the attacker feeling righteously justified in demanding an apology, retraction, and even online retribution.
It happens in real life, too – people hear or see something that offends them and it’s the OFFENDER who is to blame for the way they feel.
It’s the blame-game on steroids. These people who take offense easily believe that everyone else is responsible for the way they feel and they lash out when they read or hear something upsetting. The reason they’re lashing out is because they’ve painted themselves as the victim and given their power away. Someone whose feelings are easily hurt by others is handing those “others” control of their feelings and behavior.
Next time someone goes on the attack over something you’ve written or said, think about what they…
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Jan 25, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Loneliness, Focus and Wayne Dyer's Wisdom
"You cannot be lonely if you like the person you’re with." The late Wayne Dyer said that, and it’s so true.
If you are hard on yourself most of the time, if you focus on what you think is wrong with yourself much more than you do what’s right, then you may not like yourself very much. And when you don’t like yourself, it can be challenging to find a way to appreciate the unique and wonderful being that you are.
The steps are simple to get from where you are to a place where you truly understand and appreciate your value. Here are two things you can start doing today. Do them intentionally, every day for three weeks.
* Focus on one aspect of self-care – maybe your daily shower – and make it special with something wonderful like a hand-made, fragrant soap.
* Focus on others – notice the people you interact with at the store or at work or in the park. When you see someone with a great smile, tell them it’s great. When you see someone with a fabulous pair of shoes, a…
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Jan 24, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Imposter Syndrome's Kryptonite
You are successful. You are a rock star. You are amazing and getting more amazing every day!
How does that make you feel – triumphant or like an imposter? Or maybe like I’m an idiot – that’s OK, too.
I wanted to say those words to you today because they are true. You might not believe them today, and that’s OK. The point is, you have inside you everything it takes to be successful, to be a rock star in your field, and to be amazing.
Just like you used to be a tiny, helpless baby and you’re not anymore, maybe you used to not believe you had what it takes to succeed. Now you can believe that. At the end of each day, write down three things you did that day that were good. Maybe you even surprised yourself – you found a creative solution to a problem, you helped a sad person feel better, whatever. Write them down, and review them the next morning as you get ready to start your day.
You’ll see that you are successful…you are a rock star…and you are getting more amaz…
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Jan 23, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - How to Stop Letting the Past Control You
Can you think of a time when you said or did something you wish you hadn’t?
Unless you’re a sociopath, the answer to that is undoubtedly “yes.” I know I have – we’re human so we’re not going to get everything perfectly right one hundred percent of the time. Maybe you apologized later, or maybe you just moved on, hoping the memory of the words or deed would just fade away in the other person's mind.
How did you treat yourself about it? Many people hold onto that uncomfortable memory, occasionally dragging it out as a vivid reminder of how incompetent they are. That’s also quite human, and it’s detrimental to your mental wellbeing.
You can learn to let past mistakes go, and it’ll benefit you greatly when you do. Whenever you catch yourself thinking about what happened, remind yourself that you learned from the mistake and moved on. Say the words out loud if you have to.
The more often you interrupt the thought, the less often the thought will crop up, and eventual…
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Jan 22, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Heart-First Leadership
Do you lead a team? It could be a team of family members, co-workers or a sports team – if you are a leader of people, have you noticed that when you show your emotions, they pay more attention to you?
Many of us want to lead with words and process and logic, and those are good seasonings in the recipe. The main ingredient when dealing with teams is the emotional makeup of the team and the emotional makeup of each team member.
What IQ is for the brain, EQ is for the heart.
EQ refers to a person’s emotional quotient, or ability to understand and manage their own emotions in order to succeed. When you are able to access your own emotions in a situation, you’re more able to help your team understand and manage their own. You’ll discover different ways to help each team member become more proactive in getting things done and more cooperative with their teammates.
Emotions are powerful – understand and use yours to get the best from those around you.
Want more? Click here f…
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Jan 21, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Geeking Out With Billy Joel
Does your 14-year-old self still live inside you?
In an interview, Billy Joel shared a story about having a picnic lunch with Paul McCartney, Jon Bon Jovi and Jimmy Fallon. That would be a pretty mind-blowing experience for most of us – can you think of a parallel in your life? Something that maybe you might have taken for granted and others would have loved to experience?
* Maybe you were a straight-A student.
* Maybe you networked your way into a fabulous career without ever having to interview.
* Maybe you found a $495 Brahmin bag with the tags still on it at a garage sale for $20.
Did you let the 14-year-old version of yourself geek out inside you or did you take it in stride and take the accomplishment for granted?
My favorite part of that Billy Joel interview was the point he was making by name-dropping his picnic companions – he acknowledged that 14-year-old version of himself, who would have been over-the-moon excited just to see all those stars in one place, and…
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Jan 20, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Focusing on Miracles
We throw around the word “miracle” a lot.
* “It’ll be a miracle if I finish this on deadline!”
* “It’ll take a miracle for us to win the division.”
* “Getting to work on time in this traffic would be a miracle!”
Just what is a miracle, anyway? Something so improbable that it defies the known laws of science would be a miracle. There are other things we call miracles, and they seem really miraculous, and yet they come right down to focus.
* Need to finish something on deadline? Break down the task into steps and focus on accomplishing the steps.
* Want the team you coach to win the division? Identify your superstar players, create scenarios where they can shine and develop the rest of the team around that plan.
* Need to find a way through traffic? Hmmmm…I live in the Atlanta area, so I feel your pain. You might actually need a real miracle, or at least to pay more attention to your navigation app on your phone.
Next time you hear or use the word…
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Jan 19, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Appreciating a Pushy Friend
Have you ever grieved a loss? It could be the loss of a pet, a partner, a job – whatever, it was a painful loss to you. Sleep would help you forget for a few blissful hours, and when you awoke, that big knot in your stomach came right back, right? Yep – been there.
Most of your friends were probably very kind for a while, and if you’re like most of us, you had that one friend who was ready for you to move on before you were ready.
How did that make you feel?
Some people might feel their friend was insensitive, disregarding the depth of the pain and the bigness of the loss. It would be normal to feel that way, and yet that sort of blaming and shaming, whether it’s done out loud or in the privacy of your head, is counter productive. It only serves to keep you stuck in the pain, feeling like you’ve been victimized again.
Instead, thank the friend – either out loud or in the privacy of your head – for reminding you that life goes on when you’re ready. Who knows – your…
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Jan 18, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - How a Lack of Evidence Helps You Succeed
Can you be confident without evidence? When you have what feels like a great idea and you start taking the steps towards bringing that idea to fruition, how do you feel?
If you’re like most people, pretty confident. After all, it feels like a great idea! It’s in this stage of development when you need to keep your idea to yourself, and that can be so hard because … it feels like a great idea!
When there’s no evidence of your great idea, others often will try to talk you out of it. Human brains are wired to look for the pitfalls, and social programming reinforces that with the emphasis on weighing the pros and the cons of ideas. People don’t mean to rain on your parade, though that’s exactly what they do. And the closer you are to them – spouse, family member, boss, etc. – the more their words will gut your confidence.
Next time you have a great idea, I double-dog-dare you to keep it to yourself until there’s evidence you can demonstrate to others. It won’t comple…
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Jan 17, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Going Confidently Through a Changing Situation
Change is scary. That’s not a news flash – most people have railed at change more than once in their lives, myself included.
Change is the one constant in life, and our brains dislike it so much! Brains like patterns they have learned and can run, and change disrupts the pattern, making us a bit irritable until the brain can create a new pattern from the changed circumstances.
Remember this the next time you’re facing a big change in your life – your brain is going to resist, and remind you of all the times in the past that you didn’t get something quite right. That’s just the grey goo inside your head trying to hold on to the status quo. Ignore it, square up your shoulders and take on the change that your personal growth is requiring.
The courage to take the first step is the same courage that will carry you triumphantly through.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattractio…
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Jan 16, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Giving Yourself Permission to Feel Bad
It’s good to be strong and resilient. You feel competent and purposeful when you’re being strong and resilient through a difficult job or difficult situation in your life.
It’s good to be strong and resilient…right up until it isn’t.
You might think that someone who believes in the power of wellbeing and happiness so strongly that she even put “happiness” in the company name will tell you to just get happy, no matter what you’re dealing with. Here’s what I know – eventually you will get happy again, and in the middle of a rough patch there will be moments of lighter spirits. They might even surprise you when they happen.
As humans we have a full range of emotions, from despair and powerlessness through anger, doubt, pessimism, hopefulness, all the way up to eagerness and joy. Those are all yours to feel as you move through that difficult job or situation. When you allow yourself to feel, you are making a healthier choice than if you just demand strength, resilien…
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Jan 15, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Finding Compassion for a Jerk
Did someone cause you pain? It might have been emotional pain or physical pain, and it hurt. A lot. It’s tempting to want to get back at them, or to defend yourself or explain your side of the story to others.
Tempting, and for your wellbeing, please resist the temptation.
The desire for revenge is a deep-seated human desire that lights up the same place in our brains that being rewarded lights up. That means that it feels good to think about exacting revenge, and might even feel good in the moment that we get sweet revenge. After that, though, if you’re like most people you’ll keep thinking about how they wronged you and how you got back at them, and when you do that you’ll be stuck in the pain.
Take that need to explain or defend or get back at the person who wronged you and put it to constructive, not destructive use. Grow yourself emotionally. Find a little bit of compassion for that person.
After all, it’s hurt people who hurt people, so they’re broken in some way.…
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Jan 14, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Disliking Someone isn't a Team Sport
Is there someone you have to deal with that you don’t like very much? No matter how hard you’ve tried, you just can’t seem to connect with them, or they’re loud and obnoxious, or maybe their personal hygiene is off-putting?
It’s OK to not like someone, just as it’s OK for someone to not like you. You weren’t put on this earth to be liked by everyone, nor do you have to like everyone, though it’s best for your wellbeing if you can find something to appreciate about everyone in your life.
If there’s someone in your life that you have to deal with and you prefer not to spend too much time with, it’s OK to dislike them. Do it quietly, though – don’t recruit your friends and co-workers into disliking them with you. If you’re a team lead and you hear co-workers talking badly about someone on the team, remind them that teams work when everyone can find something to appreciate about each person on the team.
Focus on what you appreciate, and then focus on getting th…
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Jan 13, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Answering a Really Tough Question
I have a potentially uncomfortable question for you: Whose approval do you crave?
Is there someone in your life who purports to like you or love you and yet they rarely give you what you need? Maybe they’re a co-worker who withholds information you need in order to do your job well, or a friend who shrugs off your successes, or a partner or spouse who is emotionally distant?
If you’re in any kind of a relationship with people who behave like this towards you, you may unconsciously be trying hard to get their approval and support. Stop. Stop shaping your behavior to try to appease someone who doesn’t care. If they cared, they wouldn’t treat you badly in the first place.
Trust me on this – it’s not you, it’s them.
They’re clearly showing you who they are, and nothing you do will change who they are. If it’s a life partner, work with a counselor, even if your partner won’t go. If it’s a job or friend, find another one and ditch the drama and disfunction. Your lif…
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Jan 12, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - A Quick Exercise to Boost Your Confidence
Who are you? More than your name, more than the role you play in the lives of others – who are YOU?
Take five minutes to write down the things that come to mind for you – maybe words like playful, adventurous, smart and reliable come up for you. Use the five minutes to write down everything you can think of and then tuck the paper into your purse or pocket and get on with your day.
Later, when you have a bit more time, take out that list and look at it. Think about how those words showed up in your day today – what did you do that was playful and how did others react to it? Go through your words and appreciate how they are expressed through your interactions with others.
If this exercise feels good to you, commit to doing it a few times a week. In this way you’ll be acknowledging your strengths, recognizing how they show up in your life, and you’ll be boosting your confidence and self-esteem.
Powerful exercise, right?
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Ha…
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Jan 11, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Fine Art of Growing and Adulting
Do you notice when you’ve grown? No worries if you haven’t up until now – most people don’t.
Sure, when you were a kid, you noticed that you outgrew clothes and shoes and beds, and that’s not the kind of growth I mean. The growth I’m talking about is emotional growth – the kind of growth that shows you that you’re more mature and have a higher emotional IQ.
When something not optimal happens, do you react like your 14-year-old self or have you discovered the centeredness your old self used to feel? When you have a chance to either ridicule or use a mistake as a teaching moment, which do you choose? I guarantee that if you choose to teach, that indicates emotional growth.
As you go through your day today, look for the reactions you have and examine them. Are they different than, and maybe better than, they were in your past? Celebrate your emotional growth, and look for ways to grow even more.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside J…
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Jan 10, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Accelerating Passage of Time in Your Life
Are you at the place in your life where it seems like time is just whizzing by? You blink your eyes and a week has passed, you wake up and half a year has gone by and when the next year arrives you wonder how on earth that happened?
Many people, when this begins to happen to them, focus on the number of years they’ve been on the planet. They start feeling old and past their prime. If you are someone like that, may I offer you a different way to look at the concept of age?
Age is energy and mindset.
Human beings made up the concept of time and the passage of time. It’s a handy way to keep track of things, for sure, and is an unfair yardstick to whip yourself with.
Think of your age as energy and mindset. Are you still excited to learn new things? Then you’re not old. Are you still happy to have new experiences? Then you’re not old. It’s when you believe that you’re old and you’re supposed to stop learning and doing and let others care for you that your energy and minds…
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Jan 9, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Taming Chaos in One, Two or Three Easy Steps
Is your daily life often filled with what feels like chaos?
Maybe at your job there’s no such thing as a “routine” day. People in medical professions – veterinarians, doctors, dentists, nurses, EMTs – rarely have routine days, because what they do is predicated on the needs of their patients each day. Likewise for firefighters, police officers and people in the hospitality industry.
When chaos threatens to undo your professional demeanor, stop and take a breath. Remember that peace begins and ends inside you – it’s not what surrounds you that threatens your peace, it’s how you react to what surrounds you. When you notice your own clenched jaw or tight shoulders, stop and take a long, slow, deep breath. Take two or three or 15 if you need them.
That attention to your inhales and exhales signals your brain that all is well, and will relax you and help you feel more in control, no matter what your job is or what the day is throwing at you.
Want more? Click here for a…
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Jan 8, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Creating a More Beautiful World is Completely Up to You
You’ve probably heard the phrase, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” at some point in your life. Have you examined it to find the essential truth in it? Let’s unpack it now.
Chances are, you heard someone say it because they couldn’t see the beauty someone else was seeing. As a matter of fact, it was said to me when I was dating the man I was married to for 30 years. Was he handsome? No. Could he make me laugh even when I was PMS-ing? Yes.
Not everyone could appreciate his humorous streak, though everyone could see the physical person. I chose the aspects of him I wanted to focus on, so he was “beautiful” to me.
You can do that, too, with people, situations and life’s inevitable stumbling blocks. Next time you’re faced with something that’s not exactly what you would prefer, instead of focusing on the unattractive aspects of it, find at least one attractive one and focus on it.
When you purposefully look for aspects you can appreciate in even the least-attra…
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Jan 7, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Be Selfish - Deliver Great Service
What does “good service” mean to you?
I heard a story of a man who, while painting a rowboat, plugged a hole that the boat’s owner forgot to mention. In so doing, he probably saved the lives of the owner’s children, who took the boat out the next day and didn’t drown due to that hole. The man who fixed the rowboat didn’t demand extra money for the extra service he performed – he just did what was necessary without even mentioning it to the boat’s owner.
Have you ever been the recipient of good service like that? How did it make you feel?
Now, flip the tables around – how can you give good service like that? Because here’s the magic of good service: people feel it, know it and appreciate it, even if they don’t let you know they do. And people who appreciate your good service refer you to their friends who need the kind of service you give, because they care about their friends and want them to be taken care of, too.
When you put the needs of those you serve at…
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Jan 6, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Are You Making a Mistake or a Choice?
Have you made a mistake today? If you answered “no” chances are it’s really early in the day for you!
Seriously, part of being human is making mistakes. Mistakes are how we learn and grow, so they’re essential to our own personal development. Yes, mistakes are annoying and can be humiliating, and yes, they are necessary, so embrace them.
Do you know someone who seems to make the same mistake over and over again? I do – matter of fact, this person has married several of them. Making the same mistake, whether it’s falling for the same type of person, or partaking in the same bad habit, stops being a mistake and becomes a choice.
When you make a mistake, analyze it. Think about it…have you made that mistake before, or maybe a mistake that’s very similar? Ask yourself why you made the same decision again when it didn’t turn out well before. Go deep on this and discover the reason you made the same not-optimal choice yet again.
When you can discover a pattern to your m…
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Jan 5, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Handling a So-Called Friend
How do you react when someone you thought was your friend talks badly about you? Maybe you overhear the conversation, maybe you learn it from an unimpeachable source – you’re not just believing idle gossip, you KNOW that person said bad things about you when they thought you couldn’t hear, and then continued to act like your friend to your face?
Most people – myself included, in younger years – get hurt, defensive and angry at the so-called friend. That’s a normal, reasonable response, and yet it’s not the best one for you.
In the quest for mental wellbeing, happiness, and success, getting angry and defensive about things makes you feel worse, not better. How can you soothe yourself in a situation like this? See the bigger picture – you’ve just learned a valuable lesson about someone you thought was your friend. With this new information you can move on, drifting away from that person who clearly can’t be trusted.
You know that phrase, “with friends like that,…
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Jan 4, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Why Selfies are Historically Correct and Perfectly OK
Do you take and post selfies? Or maybe you’re on the other end of that spectrum – not only do you not share selfies on your social media, you sometimes find yourself questioning the depth of character of those who do share them.
If you’re in that second category, how does it feel when that judgmental part of you rears it’s not-terribly-attractive head? You don’t mean to be judgey – it just crops up when someone flaunts themselves like that.
Guess what? Way back in 6200 BC people felt the same way about their peers who admired themselves in polished obsidian rocks because mirrors and cell phone cameras hadn’t been invented yet.
Humans are innately fascinated by our own image. It’s ok – it’s human – and just like those of us with a lot of experience on the planet grew up using mirrors, not polished rocks, to examine ourselves, those who came of age in the late 90’s 'til now are using selfies as their mirror.
If you’re not in the habit of using your phone as…
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Jan 3, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Easy Way to Spread Happiness and Joy
Do you want to spread more joy in the world and you don’t know how? Or maybe you want to feel more joy more often? You can do both by doing the same thing – take more pictures and videos and share them on your social media channels.
People get joy from seeing others live life – that’s part of why television shows and movies are so popular.
Every day, think of something fun or unusual or lovely that you can take a video or picture of, and do it. Share it on Facebook or Instagram or Linked In or YouTube, and then go on about your day. It may not happen right away, but if you do this every day or even almost every day, you’ll start seeing people liking and commenting. Keep doing it and you’ll soon realize you’ve created a bit of a following and that people appreciate your posts, your effort and you.
Doesn’t it feel good to be appreciated, especially when it’s for something you’re doing to make other people happy? Go ahead – share your pictures and videos and make…
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Jan 2, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Quit Derailing Your Own Future
Do you sometimes – maybe even more than “sometimes” – dwell on the past, what you wish hadn’t happened, how you wish you’d handled things differently, maybe even speculate about how your life would be different if your life didn’t include those past events? Most of us do, at some point in our lives, and yet it’s an exercise in futility at best and a pathway to stagnation and depression when taken to extremes.
That train of thought starts off as a derailment because there’s nothing you can do about past events. No amount of wishing, dreaming or scheming will change the fact that those things happened. They happened in your life and that’s that. You can choose to marinate in the aftermath or let it go and move on with your life.
When you marinate in past painful events, you’re stuck. When you let it go and choose to move on, your life is one of endless possibilities that you couldn’t see when you were looking backwards at your past. Don’t look back – you’r…
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Jan 1, 2023
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Oh, the Curse of Goals
Oh, the curse of the goal!
Goals are a double-edged sword – many of us are raised to set a goal, reach for the goal, achieve the goal, and then set another goal. The good edge on that sword is that goals keep us motivated and moving forward. The not-so-good edge on that sword is sadly very common – the assumption that reaching the goal will finally make life what it’s supposed to be, or better somehow.
News flash – as long as your heart is beating, you’ll never reach a place in life where you’re finished growing and changing and can just sit back and enjoy the view. Life changes every moment, and when you reach a goal it feels good for a little while, and then the itch to grow takes you on another journey towards another goal.
While goals are good, the journey is what it’s all about. When you can focus on enjoying the journey to the goal, you create more wellbeing, balance and success in your life.
Want more? Click herefor a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside…
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Dec 31, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Is Your Life Living You?
Do you live life or does life live you?
If you spend your time waiting for someday or someone or something to happen, life is living you. Your body is going through the motions because that’s its job – you don’t even have to think about that. When you just go through the motions with it, you’re not truly living, you’re merely existing.
Do you want to live life and you’re not sure how?
All of your life happens right this moment, and in this new moment and in this brand new, never-been-seen-before moment. What is happening right this moment? Do you love it or do you wish it was something else?
The art of living life is to pick a path to something you want, follow that path with gusto and expectation, and if along the way you see a better path for you, follow that one. As far as we know, we have this one life. Decide to live it, and revel in the choices you make and the paths you take.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #veterin…
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Dec 30, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - How to Keep Dreaming Your Dreams Until They Happen
How often do you talk yourself out of doing something you would like to do – maybe even have dreamed of doing for a long time – because you think it’s impossible?
When you do that, you gut your sense of self-worth, you gut your sense of confidence, and you gut your ability to achieve that dream because you’ve convinced yourself it’s impossible. Try this instead – think about a time when you were very young and you had a dream. Maybe your dream was to have a pony or to fly like a bird or to be a superhero. Whatever it, remember how magical and fun it felt when you thought about it. You may have spent time day-dreaming about what it would be like to live that dream – you could feel your superpowers, or see the clouds as you flew over them, or feel the rhythm of your pony’s hoofbeats beneath you.
While you were day-dreaming, you were living your dream. You could do it then because you still believed that everything was possible, so you made it possible.
You can make it…
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Dec 29, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Fencing Off People Who aren't Good for You
Is someone in your life a narcissist? It could be a co-worker, a boss or even your significant other.
Dealing with a narcissist is an interesting exercise in dodging and weaving and keeping your head down. In the beginning they’re charming and very adept at making you feel valuable and valued. As time goes on and they feel secure in your trust of them, glimmers of true colors start peeking through. They have to be right – they’re not coachable – they don’t care about you, just about how you can further their own agenda – and when they feel cornered or caught, no one gets angrier than a narcissist trying to argue or yell or even hit their way out of owning up to what they did.
The first rule of dealing with a narcissist is to know your boundaries, set them and defend them. The narcissist won’t respect your boundaries, which is one of the ways they’ll confirm your assessment of them.
Stand up for yourself, and if that means moving on from your job or your partner, do i…
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Dec 28, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - End Endless Meetings with This One Thing Great Leaders Do
Do you find yourself stuck in meetings that go nowhere? Meetings can be wonderfully productive or woefully exasperating, and it’s the meeting leader who makes the difference.
Productive meetings start before the meeting does – setting parameters, expectations and desired outcomes makes all the difference. When everyone knows, going into the meeting, what the goal of the meeting is, who is expected to bring what intellectual capital to the meeting, and how the meeting will be conducted, the team shows up prepared to work.
When a meeting is called with just a vague topic given to participants, they have no way to mentally prepare beforehand, so they’ll take up the first part of the meeting just getting up to speed. The best way to have a team that participates in meetings and is excited to own the outcome is to give them the tools to succeed.
Those tools get handed out well before the meeting start time by great leaders.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happine…
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Dec 27, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Be the Lotus in Your Life
Did you ever wonder about why the lotus blossom appears in the artwork and spiritual symbolism of so many cultures? They are a water-loving flower that grows well in soil or ponds, and are most often seen as floating blossoms in murky water.
Lotus flowers have long been used as a metaphor for life and spiritual journeys. They’ve appeared in artwork and spiritual manuscripts from ancient Greece, Egypt, China, southeast Asia and Australia. In the Buddhist tradition, images of lotus blossoms are used as thrones for important deities.
If you are in a “murky pond” spot in your life, can you imagine yourself as the lotus blossom, rising through the dark water to emerge, luminous and clean, as a lovely flower floating on the water? When you find yourself in a not-so-fun situation, imagine the lotus blossom, and imagine yourself as the lotus in your own life.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #l…
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Dec 26, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Turning Yearning Around for Good
Are you yearning for a romantic relationship? Do you crave the feeling of belonging that you associate with romantic love?
Think about the word “belonging.” “Be.” “Longing.”
I used the words “yearning” and “craving” purposefully – those feelings associated with a desire that’s missing fit perfectly with the word “belonging.” Longing, craving and yearning for something that’s missing feels bad. And yet you want to be in a romantic relationship, so how can you feel good about not being in one?
Try this – take all that love you want to give to one special person and spread it around. When the feeling of yearning comes over you, realize that it’s just love looking for a place to go. Look around – someone or something needs love right that very moment, so take the love you’re yearning to give and flood it all over that someone or something.
The good you do will come back to you, I promise.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness…
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Dec 25, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Science Behind Drifting Apart
Most of us have friends who once were very close and now aren’t nearly as important in our lives. Sometimes it’s physical distance that alters the relationship and more often it’s a distance of a completely different kind – emotional intelligence.
Harvard Business School Online calls emotional intelligence the ability to understand and manage your own emotions, as well as recognize and influence the emotions of those around you.
People gain emotional intelligence as they grow and mature, and they do it at differing rates. Just as some people learn language easier than others, and some learn advanced mathematics while others struggle to remember their times tables, some people gain emotional intelligence easily while others never do.
When you think of friends that are no longer close, it could well be because you’re at very different levels of emotional intelligence. Don’t beat yourself up over not wanting to be around them, just understand that you’re in different plac…
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Dec 24, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Big Bang Theory and Change
Are you familiar with the Big Bang Theory? No, not the old sitcom though that’s pretty good too…the theory that the universe began as a small, dense, hot piece of matter that exploded, setting into motion what is measurable today – the expansion continues as galaxies move away from each other and from our earth.
That expansion is change, and everything is always changing, not just the stars in relation to each other. Change is the one constant in our lives and is the thing that we humans want to try to control. Some change in your life you can control if it’s within your power, and some you can’t because it’s not.
The key to mental wellbeing is to know the difference and to only try to control what’s within your power to control. You won’t stop change – you can shape the inevitable change in yourself and your life.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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Dec 23, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - How to Become More Confident
Don’t you wish you could run out and get a shot of confidence?
Sometimes, especially when doing something new, it’s very human to feel a lack of confidence. It’s also very human to bow to social conditioning that taught many of us that showing confidence was arrogant and wrong, so we learned to block our own feelings of confidence in order to be accepted by others. A lack of confidence doesn’t feel good, though, so how do you get more?
Confidence comes from keeping your promises to yourself and overcoming fearful situations, thoughts and actions. Confidence comes from you showing yourself that you are trustworthy and capable. Confidence comes from living life, learning from it, and growing in knowledge and in compassion, for others and for yourself.
There…how’s that for a shot of confidence?
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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Dec 22, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - An Open Heart Throws No Stones
Pope Francis said, “If our hearts are closed, if our hearts are made of stone, the stones find their way into our hands and we are ready to throw them.”
What a wonderful, visual way of reminding us that conflict comes from a lack of desire to understand and accept another point of view.
Notice I said a lack of desire to understand, not a lack of understanding.
It’s the desire to understand that’s important because when we truly want to understand a different point of view, then our hearts are open. As grow-up human beings there are a lot of things we believe strongly, and that’s ok. A closed heart feels that those who disagree with what we believe are wrong. An open heart feels that others haven’t lived the same life as we have, so may have a different point of view, and their point of view is as valid to them as ours is to us.
Next time you hear something you disagree strongly with, check your hands – are there stones there, ready to be thrown? Open your heart and fe…
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Dec 21, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - An Attorney's Touching Touchstone
Do you have a touchstone that you can use when you’re in a rough patch in your life? An inspirational phrase that calms your fears and helps you feel balanced? That’s a wonderful way to remind yourself that the rough patch is simply that – a chapter in your life that you’ll move through and grow from.
There was an attorney in Iowa named Max Ehrmann who wrote a poem called Desiderata in 1927, and if you’re searching for words to soothe you in the middle of turmoil, maybe these will help:
“You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.”
Max was right. Be kind and gentle with yourself always, and especially in tough times. You have a right to be here.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job" #veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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Dec 20, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Affirmations for Better or for Worse
Do you use affirmations? Many people do, and they swear by the power of intentionally shaping their life experiences with affirmations. Many people have tried them and swear they just made things worse.
Both groups of people are right – affirmations can help you shape your life experience positively, and can also keep you stuck or worse yet, can be detrimental to your wellbeing.
The key is in your belief – when you believe the affirmation you’re using, it keeps you focused on your goals. When you try to use an affirmation like a magic wand to conjure up something you want but don’t believe in, it keeps you focused on something you don’t believe you can have. Maybe you feel it’s too outrageous for you to really ever achieve, or you’re not worthy of it - for whatever reason, your focus is on what you think is wrong.
When you focus negatively, it’s almost impossible for you to see the possibilities that could lead you to what you want. Affirmations work if you believe i…
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Dec 19, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Treating Yourself Like a Dog
Do you have pets? The other day I saw a meme about talking to dogs and the silly things we say. I started listening to how I talk to my own two dogs and laughed, because the meme was right on target. Then, as I was headed to the kitchen to make something for lunch, I caught my brain telling me that I was too fat and flabby.
Ouch!
I thought about the “talking to dogs” meme and wondered how it would sound if I talked to me like I talk to my dogs.
* “Let’s go play outside for a while” instead of “you should exercise more.”
* “You’ve done good work today – here’s a cookie” instead of “you’re fat.”
* “Lemme see that belly” instead of "what shirt will hide this?”
We spend a lot of words and emotions approving of our pets, and often spend a lot of words and emotions disapproving of ourselves. Try talking to yourself in the same loving, sweet way you talk to your pets. If it makes you laugh out loud, even better.
What it will do is help you create…
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Dec 18, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Perks of Getting Older
When I was a teenager, having to work on Saturday night was a huge issue that felt like it could change the trajectory of my love life forever. Now sometimes I choose to work on a Saturday night and it energizes me.
What changed? In that example, both versions of me are working on a Saturday night. The young version of me resented it bitterly, while the older version of me is fulfilled by it. What changed was my view of my own life, and my control over how I feel about it.
Along with the grey hair, wrinkles and occasional aches, I gained a broader sense of perspective. Things that felt catastrophic as a 15-year-old are now just minor ripples in a calm life.
I bet you can think of things that felt terrible just a few years back, and now, the older, wiser version of you can roll with them, too. If you’re struggling with something now that feels big, try to see it as the grey-haired version of you will see it. Let go of the drama that you now feel and imagine the broader sense of per…
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Dec 17, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The One Very Most Important Thing
Think about your day today – what is the one, very most important thing on your to-do list? Pay bills? Close a deal? Get a mammogram?
Now think about this year – what is the one, very most important thing you have done so far this year? Start a new job or business? Support a friend going through a tough time? Take that dream trip you’ve always wanted to take?
Now think about your life – what is the one, very most important thing you will do in your whole life? Here’s a hint – it isn’t a thing, it’s a feeling.
Love. The very most important thing you can do in your life is to love. Feel love for your family and friends and for yourself. Feel love for your home and your car and that person who just cut you off in traffic. Yes, people who behave in unlovable ways deserve your love, too. They need it more, and so do you.
When you feel love for everything in your day to day life, your life gets better. Your relationships get better. You get better. The one, very most impo…
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Dec 16, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Inspiration Versus Motivation
How’s your day going today? Is it flying by in a fit of productivity or does it feel like it’s already been about 6 years long?
It’s so odd how some work days feel so good while some make you wonder why you’re even doing the work you’re doing. What’s the difference? Some days you feel inspired and some days you need external motivation to keep you moving forward.
Those inspired days are wonderful – filled with things and people that hold your intellectual interest while also feeding your sense of belonging and purpose. The uninspired days might be filled with more mundane tasks, or they could include interpersonal squabbles on the team or some office politics that are upsetting.
The way to make more of your days feel good is to teach yourself to focus on the things and people that feed your soul and pique your brainpower. When you feel the day starting to drag, check your focus – what are you thinking about that’s slowing you down? Interrupt that thought and focus…
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Dec 15, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Hearing What's Not Said
The most important thing in any conversation, especially sensitive or difficult ones, is what’s not being said.
People hold words inside for many reasons – they don’t want to hurt the person they’re talking to, they have a hard time admitting they’re wrong or they need help, or maybe they fear negative repercussions if they say what they really think. Learning to respond to the words that aren’t being said is a skill worth honing, because when you can do that, people are more likely to open up to you.
That seems counter-intuitive and it’s not. When people feel understood they trust you more. When you can seemingly read their mind because you’re paying attention to how they feel, not just what they say, then you are making them feel understood. In conversation, feel your way, don’t just listen and respond. Feel the other person’s mood and let it be part of the conversation, too.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veteri…
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Dec 14, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Gutting the Gossip's Power
A friend calls people who love to talk about other people a “puddin’ stick” because they like to stir the puddin’. Do you know someone like that?
At some point in nearly everyone’s life they are the target of a puddin’ stick. It’s not fun – I say that from personal experience. When it happened to me the last time, I discovered the way to gut the gossiping person’s power – ignore them. Don’t defend yourself, don’t explain yourself, don’t try to get others to see the real you.
Ignore it all.
This is harder than it may sound because it’s human to want people to like and understand you, and when someone is going out of their way to trash your reputation you want to defend yourself.
Don’t. Ignore it all.
When you don’t react, the puddin’ stick will move on to their next target. They’re all about the drama, and when you refuse to play then you take the fun out of it for them and those who were enjoying watching you squirm. When you’re able to ignore…
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Dec 13, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Feel Stuck? Make a Choice
When you feel all bound up in a problem, that feels pretty bad, doesn’t it? It can feel frustrating or disempowering or like you’re stuck in the center of a big ball of goo that you can’t see a way out of.
When something in life has you feeling any of those feelings, use that big, wonderful brain of yours to solve the problem, or at least help you feel better until the problem is resolved.
Here’s how – make a small decision and act on it. The decision doesn’t even have to be about the problem – set the problem aside mentally and move on to something else.
Make a decision – maybe to go to lunch – and act on it. By taking yourself away from the mental angst of being stuck in a problem you give your brain the opportunity to quit spiraling in the problem and work on something else. Salad or sandwich? Chips or a cookie? Give your brain little problems to solve and soon the solution to the big problem will become clear.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "…
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Dec 12, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Subtle Art of Being OK
Life handed me lemons recently. Really disappointing, really expensive lemons.
Has that ever happened to you? Something you’d planned didn’t work out, or something you’ve worked hard to achieve didn’t happen? It feels awful, doesn’t it?
Not gonna lie, the day my lemons showed up wasn’t my most productive day, by a long shot.
A lot of people will tell you to dig deep, tough it out, fake it ‘til you make it, and I’m here to tell you it’s OK to feel the disappointment. It’s ok to want what you want and to not be happy when it doesn’t happen. We’re human and we have a full range of emotions for a reason.
Mourn the loss of your dreams and plans and remind yourself that often when something feels like it didn’t work out, it really did. For reasons we may not know until later, our dream didn’t fit right now so it didn’t happen. That doesn’t mean it never will, just that it might take a bit longer.
Slowly add sugar to the lemons as you think of ways to soot…
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Dec 11, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Brain Science of Being OK
Do you love old Fleetwood Mac songs? The sound of Stevie Nicks’ voice enthralled me, and her lyrics inspired me. Her songs are often about the moment when life changes in a big way – like the painful betrayal that ends a relationship in The Chain and thinking about the mortality of a parent in Landslide.
Even though her songs were often written as a way for her to get through the not-OK times in her life, she’s a role model for being OK. In an interview she said, “All the things you’re afraid of will come and they will go, and you’ll be alright.”
Behold, Stevie Nicks, the scientist.
When something bad happens, the brain gears up for it. Coping mechanisms are put into place without us even being aware. Have you ever looked back at a crisis that happened to you or around you and you’re kind of in awe of how you handled it? Hold that thought…hold that feeling. Stevie Nicks has it just right – when we focus on our fears we scare ourselves. When the thing we fear happ…
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Dec 10, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Healing What Ails You
Wellbeing isn’t about your physical body, it’s about your emotional state. Wellness is physical, and often what ails you isn’t physical at all.
Down in the dumps … bored … melancholy … moody… heavy hearted – those are normal human ways to feel. We don’t celebrate them and we don’t seek them out, and sometimes we find ourselves in the grips of a lack of wellbeing. When that happens, try this – step away from any screen you might be interacting with and go outside.
Seriously…set the phone down and walk away from even that screen.
Spend 10 minutes outside. Walk if you want to, run if the spirit moves you, or just sit on a bench or a rock or a tree stump. Spend ten minutes outside and let the magic of having no roof over your head soak into you. Spend ten minutes doing nothing and let the stress seep out of you. Don’t fret about whatever was bothering you – turn those thoughts off if they try to intrude on your outdoor time.
When you’re ready, go back to w…
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Dec 9, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Feeling Unappreciated All Starts With You
We all have days where we might feel a bit unloved, taken for granted or unappreciated.
I remember being a teenager and coming home from school, crying to Mom that nobody liked me and everyone treated me badly. She listened, and then did what felt like the strangest thing – she told me to stand up and walk across the room. I did, and then as I was about to walk back, she told me to look in the mirror as I walked back. Wow…I looked like a loser! My head was down, shoulders slumped and there was no pep in my step. She told me to imagine I’d just won some big award and to walk across the room again when I had that feeling. Wow again…this time I looked like someone people might want to get to know – head up, confidence radiating in every step.
We teach people how to treat us by the way we show up – show up like a loser, get treated like a loser. Love yourself – feel confident – appreciate the day you’re having and the life you’re leading, no matter what it is, and peo…
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Dec 8, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Facing Reality
Someone I know works in a difficult environment. She is surrounded by people who aren’t her co-workers, they’re her competitors. The company fosters the competition between employees, and while some of them thrive in that environment, my friend doesn’t.
The money is good. The benefits are solid. And she’s miserable.
Instead of being proactive and looking for an environment more suited to her strengths, she keeps beating her head against the wall and then complaining about the wall. She rails at how unsupportive her boss is, how cut-throat her co-workers are and how she’s not appreciated. And she is creating all of that angst for herself by not facing reality.
Her boss got to where she is in that company by being competitive, and by fostering the competitive nature in her team members. Her co-workers are cut-throat because that’s what’s expected of them. And she’s not appreciated because she’s not a good fit.
Maybe you can relate? Next time you’re in a spot like…
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Dec 7, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Changing Channels
Mac McAnally and Jimmy Buffett wrote a song called "Changing Channels.” It’s a song that speaks to the desire to stay in one place even as the world changes around you, and plays with the word “channels” as life events and also as waterways to new destinations.
What if you could view the changes that happen in your life as simply changing channels?
Can you see the end of a relationship as just a change of channels? Can you see the need to move to a new place of employment, or maybe even start your own business, as a new channel in your life?
When you can view your life as something you’re in charge of, so in charge that you can choose to change channels whenever you please, then you remove most of the sources of stress in your life. You are in control, and you operate as if you’re the captain of your own ship, choosing your channel as you navigate your own life.
Mac and Jimmy would be proud of you!
Want more? Click herefor a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside…
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Dec 6, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - How to Stop Piling On Your Own Pain
Are there people who have abused your good nature in the past? Maybe you valued them, and they betrayed you, and you feel “less than” from that experience.
Can I offer you a different way to look at it?
You went into the relationship – work, romance, whatever – with trust and an open heart. That takes courage. You gave them the benefit of the doubt, even when there were subtle warning signs. That takes strength of conviction. And you’re here now, hearing this or reading this because you survived the betrayal. That takes perseverance.
You aren’t “less than” – you’re literally more than you were before the betrayal happened. You are strong, brave and resilient. Please don’t beat yourself up because someone else abused your good nature – that’s you, doing to yourself what was done to you. Do better – appreciate your strength, your growth, and your trusting heart.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian…
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Dec 5, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Who's Your Biggest Fan?
Are you a fan of something? Chances are, you’re a fan of a lot of things – maybe your college sports team, a sport you play, a certain musician or type of music – most of us are fans of a lot of things.
When you’re a fan, it means you’re focused on something in a positive way – appreciating it, hoping good things happen to it and for it, and finding ways to incorporate the object of your fan-dom into your life more often.
So as you make the list of the things you’re a fan of, do this – add your name to that list. Become your own fan – appreciate yourself, root for yourself, and find ways to celebrate yourself more often in your daily life. When you become your biggest fan, what you’re actually doing is paving the way for a happier, more successful life.
I dare you – be a fan of yourself!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #vettech #notonemorevet #petindustry #wellbeing #success #leadership #lawofattrac…
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Dec 4, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Wisdom from a Children's Author
Pardon me if I burst into rhyme in this podcast – I’ll do my best to refrain from channeling Dr. Seuss.
Did you have his books when you were a child? If you have children, do your children enjoy his silly words, rhymes and deep wisdom? Yes, wisdom from Dr. Seuss – his books are filled with wisdom and life skills tucked in among the colorful pictures.
One of my favorite Dr. Seuss-isms is “you have to be odd to be number one.” Or maybe that’s a quote attributed to him and he never said it. It sounds like he should have so let’s say that he did. We’re all a bit odd in some way, and sadly many of us are more concerned with fitting in, so we try to hide our oddness. It’s that oddness that makes us unique, so embrace your inner odd, let it shine and get set to be number one!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #vettech #notonemorevet #petindustry #wellbeing #success #leadership #lawofattraction
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Dec 3, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Power of the Intuited Apology
Someone has done you wrong. You could probably tell the story of how they broke a promise, took something you valued or even physically harmed you. And to a lot of people, the worst part of that wrongdoing is that the person never owned it, never apologized, never made amends. They just went on with their life, leaving you to deal with the aftermath.
How do I know this about you?
Because everyone has at least one of these stories.
Stop telling the story. Stop picking the scab off. Stop defining yourself by an old wound.
They never apologized? So what – pretend they did so you can move on.
We’ve talked before about how your brain can’t tell the difference between an actual event or the memory of the event – harness this brainpower to make yourself feel better. Change the story – the person is remorseful and wishes they hadn’t hurt you. They’ve grown and changed over time and one day they get the strength to show up on your doorstep, teary-eyed and full of apologies. Y…
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Dec 2, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Hidden Power of Thank You
Were you taught to say “please” and “thank you” when you were a child? In my family those words were called magical, and what we wanted didn’t happen without a “please” attached to it, so they did feel kind of magical.
And “thank you” has a hidden, even more magical power.
Most of us remember – at least some of the time – to thank those who do things for us. When we thank them we make that other person feel good, which makes them more likely to do nice things in the future. That’s a powerful way to impact the world, and yet there’s another power that “thank you” has – it’s a polite way to ignore unsolicited advice.
People give advice because they want to help you, yet often the advice is unwelcome, unwanted and unuseful. (is that even a word?) Instead of arguing with or ignoring the person who’s trying to help you, say “thank you.” Nothing else – just “thank you.” You let them know they’ve been heard and appreciated and you’re free t…
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Dec 1, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Possibility Power
Possibly the most potent word in any language is “possibility.”
The possibility of something is where innovation happens. The possibility of improvement is where change happens. The king of harnessing the power of possibilities was inventor Thomas Edison, who said “When you’ve exhausted all possibilities, remember this – you haven’t.”
If something is feeling impossible to you today, shift your focus to something else. Dwelling on something that feels impossible usually makes it feel less possible, not more possible.
Borrow my mental game – when I don’t know how to do something I give it to the committee in the back of my head. By that I mean I hand off the need to think about it until a good idea occurs to me. When it does, I give the credit to the committee in the back of my head and celebrate their brilliance.
Behold the possibilities of possibility!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #vettech #notonemo…
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Nov 30, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Finding Love in the Right Place
Have you ever counseled a friend and said something like, “you’re looking for love in all the wrong places?”
Heck, there’s even at least one old country song with that title!
Brain science is clear – humans gravitate to the familiar, even when it’s bad for them. This is as true of relationships as it is with food, tobacco and alcohol.
One of the main ways most humans create their own stress is by looking to others for appreciation, acknowledgement and love. Maybe you know someone who is completely driven by the need for recognition – it gets exhausting, doesn’t it? Sometimes they’re sulky for no apparent reason, and it’s because they need to feel loved and appreciated and don’t.
Love, appreciation, acknowledgement, and recognition feels good and here’s the secret – it feels real when it comes from us first. When you love and appreciate yourself, you don’t need it from others.
And when you’re not needy it’s easier for others to love and appreciate yo…
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Nov 29, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Are You a Goal Addict?
Are you a type-A personality? Driven to achieve, a bit of a perfectionist and someone who moves from goal to goal without stopping to celebrate your achievements?
A lot of leaders are just like that, so if that’s you, you’re in good company.
A lot of leaders suffer from stress, lack of work/life balance and disillusionment, and if that’s you, then here’s an easy tool to help you find more balance and pleasure in life – focus on the steps toward the goal instead of the goal itself.
Let’s say the goal is to ride a horse from one end of a 5-mile road to the other – break that goal into the steps it will take to accomplish it. First, brush the horse down. Enjoy the peace of being in the company of a willing partner. Tack the horse up – bridle, reins, saddle blanket and saddle. Marvel at the training that’s gone into the horse as it patiently allows you to dress it. Get into the saddle. Enjoy your new view of the world from a higher stance. As you and the horse take you…
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Nov 28, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - What's the Argument Really About?
Are you someone who finds yourself in arguments more than a couple of times a week? Or maybe you live with or work with someone who likes to argue?
What’s the argument really about?
Arguments are almost never about what they seem to be about – it’s not whether or not the trash is staying in the kitchen too long or the pants are hanging on the hanger wrong or the copier paper trays were all left empty…again! People who argue a lot do it because they want recognition and validation, and if they have to argue to get it, so be it.
In a supportive environment, that recognition and validation will happen naturally – that’s how great teams operate. In an environment that might be lacking empathy and understanding between team members, arguments are the natural outgrowth.
People want to find a solution that will solve a problem, once and for all.
In a supportive environment, they work together to solve it. Otherwise, they argue and nothing gets solved. If you’re surrounde…
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Nov 27, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Using Your Words on Purpose
When did that phrase “use your words” become popular? Best guess is sometime in the late 1980’s or early 90’s when it started showing up in parenting books, television shows and comedian’s stand-up routines.
While it’s an odd way to phrase it, “use your words” is great advice.
We all think people understand us way more than they do. Even those closest to us don’t know what’s really going on inside our heads and our hearts. So – when you’re feeling frustrated, say so. When you’re feeling elated, say so. Sad? Share with someone close to you how you’re feeling. Angry? Don’t make people guess why – say what you need to say. Feel like you were wrong? Apologize. Out loud. To the person who needs to hear it.
Our ability with language sets us apart from most of the other mammals on the planet. Our inability to use it when emotions are strong is the cause of almost all the misunderstandings in our lives.
When your feelings are feeling strong, use your words.…
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Nov 26, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Using the Power of the Past
Are you facing a problem right now? Does it feel big, like something you’re not sure you can handle? Usually I tell you to let go of the past, but at times like this it can be good to embrace the past.
Specially selected pieces of the past, though.
Grab a pen and paper and give yourself a few minutes to think of times in the past when you faced a big problem. Don’t concentrate on the problem, just jot it down. Jot down as many as you can think of in a few minutes, and then stop and look at your list.
* Look at your list, then notice your heartbeat.
* Look at your list, then notice the temperature of the air around you.
* Look at your list and appreciate the fact that you survived all the things on your list.
You’ve done it before and you will do it again. Problems are part of life. Confidence is knowing you’ve been through problems before and you can and will get through this current one, too.
Use this exercise whenever you feel like you have a too-big-to-handle prob…
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Nov 25, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Superpower of a Great Leader
A lot of people are in leadership positions they didn’t really seek out. I’ve been there once or twice – you, too?
Maybe you’re perceived as the leader because you’re in a decision-making position, even though you’re not technically the staff supervisor. That can be tough – you have all of the responsibilities with none of the authority, and yet the staff still looks to you for direction.
Even if you never wanted to be a leader, you need to act like one, and this one tip can help. Do your best to understand each person you work with.
* What lights their fire?
* Where did they grow up?
* Where are they in the birth order?
* Where are they where significant relationships are concerned?
* If money was no object, what would they do with their time?
Find out who they are at a heart level, not just a head level. When you reach for understanding you invite understanding, and when a team understands each other, they work well together.
Want more? Click here for a…
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Nov 24, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Secret to Finding Yourself
Do you know anyone who’s trying to find themselves? Maybe you?
The feeling of being lost in your own life is disconcerting – it can feel like you’ve been set adrift in an ocean of unknown. The feeling of needing to find yourself often happens in the wake of a major life change, like the loss of a loved one or relationship, or a life milestone like graduation or marriage. Suddenly there’s a very new, different dynamic and it feels unfamiliar because it is unfamiliar.
The secret to finding yourself when you’re feeling lost is to realize your brain knows the old pattern and it will take a few days for it to get up to speed on your new life and new routines. Be kind and patient with yourself while your brain figures out the new pattern. You won’t feel the need to find yourself anymore because you’re not truly lost.
You’ve been there all along.
Want more? Click herefor a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #vettech #notonemorevet #petindustry…
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Nov 23, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Shedding the Fairy Tale
Are you stuck in a land of fairy tale expectations?
No, I’m serious – many people grow up believing that life should be like a fairy tale. They don’t intentionally believe it – they read and heard those fairy tale stories so often in their lives that they internalized a false narrative filled with heroes and villains. In those fairy tales, the villains get their come-uppance, and the heroes live happily ever after.
Life isn’t like that at all – life is a series of decisions we get to make, then we see if we like the way it turns out, and then we make some more decisions.
There isn’t some hero who’ll ride in and magically make your life OK – you are the hero in your life.
You are the one who will choose what looks like “happily ever after” to you, and then decide if you want to change it. There’s not one event in your life that will magically make your life good forevermore – there’s one you, deciding that you are your own hero, in charge of your own happ…
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Nov 22, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Good News, Bad News
There are a lot of cliches about laughter:
* Laughter is the best medicine.
* Laugh until you cry.
* Laugh all the way to the bank.
* He who laughs last laughs loudest.
* I’ll be having the last laugh.
* I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing with you.
There is no doubt that laughter is good for you, body and soul. Laughing releases your body’s feel-good chemicals, lowering your blood pressure and easing stress. Laughing with a group of people creates a release of oxytocin, the hormone closely related to feelings of connectedness, community and caring. Laughter therapy has even been incorporated into chemotherapy regimens, which seems to help cancer patients handle the chemo better and has been associated in some research studies with better long-term survival rates.
There’s a ton of evidence that laughter is good for you, so making ways to intentionally add more levity into your day is a great idea. The bad news about laughter is that, no matter how hard you tr…
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Nov 21, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Your Life in Stories
Your life is created by the stories you tell. What kind of stories are you telling?
And are you mentally arguing with this premise right now?
It’s ok…many people would. My Grandma Faught told stories of her poor health, poor bodily functions, and poor relationships with people. She was always the unfortunate, sad focus of her stories, and her life, just like her stories, was filled with doctor visits, unpleasant procedures and neighbors who didn’t like her and wouldn’t help her.
There’s brain science to back up how your life is created by the stories you tell – in every moment, there’s far too much input for your brain to be able to capture all of it, so it captures and catalogues the kinds of things you are generally focused on. Our brains unconsciously shape our perception of reality to meet our needs, desires, and past experiences.
So once again, take in this thought and apply it to yourself – your life is created by the stories you tell. What kind of stories do…
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Nov 20, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Problem with Strong, Silent Types
Do you know someone who is the strong, silent type? Maybe you?
People who seem to go through life meeting every challenge, quietly dealing with major life problems, and being the rock for others are easy to take for granted. They don’t ask for help. They don’t even seem to need help. The strong, silent type is the person others go to for help, and then move on when their problems abate.
The strong, silent type of person has problems, too.
If you know someone who fits this description – maybe you – that person needs a friend who’ll listen. A friend who’ll ask questions until the silent one starts talking. They need a place to be vulnerable and ask for a listening ear, a caring heart and maybe even a little bit of help. We all need someone like that.
If you know a strong, silent type, please be that friend.
If you are the strong, silent type, please let your friend in.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #vettech…
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Nov 19, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Rating the Loves of Your Life
What do you love?
I love stars, sand on my toes, silliness from my dogs, pumping tunes when I’m rolling down the road, and the toy that grows out of the top of my head, my hair. I love my independent streak, my pretty, fun-to-drive car, clouds, and the sound of moving water.
What do you love? Make a list of the things you love and beside each item, rate it for how often you focus on and enjoy that item. Give it a 1 if it’s not very often and a 5 if it’s something you experience and enjoy daily. Now, for the next week, keep your list handy and see if you can create more 4’s and 5’s from the things that might only be 1’s or 2’s right now.
When you focus on what you love, you create more contentment in your day, and when you have more contentment in your day, you open the door to more happiness and success. Just by focusing on what you love.
So…what do you love?
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #vettech #not…
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Nov 18, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Owning Your Expertise
Are you good at what you do? Sure you are – because that’s who you are. You show up and do the best you can do every day.
Are you an expert at what you do?
If you’re like most people, you might resist calling yourself an expert out of modesty or maybe even a bit of imposter syndrome. You know things. You have experiences. You have a unique point of view, and when that’s added to your experience and knowledge, you are literally the only person on the planet who can do what you do the way you do it.
What is your goal for your next career move, and why aren’t you moving towards that goal? There are people who are doing what you want to be doing who have less knowledge and experience than you, and yet they’re doing what you want to be doing.
Do you think others look to them as an expert? Those same people would value your expertise, too, so go for it. One life, as far as we know, is what we have to play with, so go for your goals and dreams, you expert you!
Want more? Cli…
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Nov 17, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Helping Someone Overcome Adversity
There are a lot of examples of overcoming adversity in the world around us.
* Salmon swim upstream and leap up waterfalls – it’s their only way to keep the species going.
* Trees sway in wild storms, sometimes losing branches but remaining flexible enough to remain standing against Mother Nature’s worst.
* Airplanes take off against the wind, not with it – it’s the only way to get the lift needed to defy gravity.
Adversity happens to everyone – no one gets through life without having to overcome obstacles. When someone you care about is in a tumultuous place in their life, it might help them to hear about the salmon and the trees and the airplanes. The salmon don’t stop at the top of the waterfall to tell all the other salmon how hard the climb was. People in painful conflict often do just that – they wallow in the difficulty instead of growing through it.
Help that person you care about – maybe you – flourish instead.
Want more? Click here for a free au…
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Nov 16, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Celebrate Your Bad Manager
Do you have a manager who behaves badly? What if, instead of expecting them you change, you embrace their style as an opportunity for you to grow?
Radical thought, right?
First, you can’t make them change. Second, you’re part of their team, which means you report to them and they have a certain amount of control over your livelihood and advancement. When you break it down like that, you have two main courses of action – either choose to leave the company and hope you’ll find a better manager at your next job, or use this manager grow your ability to relate to and work with all kinds of people.
When you take the second decision, you embark on a journey of personal growth and become the kind of person more companies want on their team. And who knows – your current manager may watch you cope and grow and start behaving better with you!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #vettech #notonemorevet #petindustry #wellbeing…
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Nov 15, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Amping Up Your Compassion
Would you like to know how you can be a more compassionate person?
Would you be thrilled to learn that you can become more compassionate in the privacy of your own life, without having to go anywhere or learn something new and complex or even break a sweat?
And would you be chomping at the bit if I told you that the same thing that’ll make you more compassionate will also help your physical health?
OK, I’m through teasing you – dozens of scholarly research studies show a link between healthier vital signs like blood pressure and stress hormones and meditation, and now new studies show that a person becomes more compassionate when adding meditation to their daily routine.
Build 5 to 15 minutes into your morning routine for an eyes-closed, sedentary self-care session and watch your blood pressure drop and your caring heart enlarge. There are meditation apps you can put on your phone, and the Center for Workplace Happiness has a meditation podcast called the Mind Body Soul Session…
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Nov 14, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - What True Love Really Is
A friend recently gave money to a woman sitting in car that had a flat tire. Something told her the woman wasn’t fine, even though she said she was. When she shared the story, she said, “May we love those who are in front of us.”
Does that sentence hit you like a prayer, too?
May we always love those who are in front of us.
Do you have a hard time asking for help? Most people do, so when you feel that someone isn’t OK, love them enough to help them. The help may be to give them cash, like my friend did. The help may be to keep asking questions until they’re willing to talk to you. The help may be to sit with them in silence, just letting them know someone cares.
May you love the person who is in front of you enough to know the help they need and may we all remember to love those who are in front of us more often.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #vettech #notonemorevet #petindustry #wellbeing #success #leadershi…
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Nov 13, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Three Degrees of Happiness
When you’re around someone who’s in a really good mood, does that make you feel uplifted, too? Researchers at Harvard and University of California San Diego conducted a study of about 5,000 people over the course of 20 years and found that one person’s happiness affects those around them positively. They put data to anecdotal evidence and in so doing, showed just how powerful that one person’s happiness can be – three degrees of separation from the happy person still showed an uptick in happiness.
What does this mean for you? When you’re the happy person, you affect your friends, family and co-workers, PLUS you affect those people’s friends, families and co-worker, PLUS you affect all of their friends, families and co-workers.
By intentionally keeping yourself in a contented mood, and allowing the moments of humor, happiness and joy to shine when they hit you, you are literally changing the lives of the people around you.
Happiness is powerful – pass it on.
Want mor…
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Nov 12, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Problem with Solving Problems
We’re taught from childhood to solve problems. Weigh the pros and cons of a situation and choose the appropriate plan of action. We learn well that when we can figure out what’s wrong, we can fix it.
What we’re not taught is to evaluate a problem and decide whether or not it’s ours to fix.
Much of the stress many people feel is because they’re struggling with solving problems that they simply can’t, because it’s not in their power to fix.
* Want that new job you interviewed for last week? It’s out of your hands – the hiring decision belongs to someone else, so let go of the anxiety of waiting for news.
* Want your co-worker to carry her weight? She either will or she won’t, so unless you’re her manager, quit expecting her to behave in a way she clearly doesn’t want to behave.
* Want someone to love you? You can’t make them, so please stop changing yourself into something you’re not.
Be so focused on being the best version of yourself that you can b…
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Nov 11, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Navigating to Joy
There are times in every life that are tough.
Been a teenager may seem like a wonderful time, except that for most teens there are conflicting expectations from adults coupled with the struggle to understand their changing bodies.
Graduation may seem like a wonderful time, except that for most people it’s a huge shift in focus coupled with the uncertainty of putting that degree to work.
Marriage and parenthood are life milestones that are touted as wonderful things and yet the joys are mingled in with new, stressful experiences.
When someone you know is going through one of these life events that are celebrated, remember to watch for signs of stress. Help them put the new stress into perspective so they can navigate to the joyous parts faster.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #vettech #notonemorevet #petindustry #wellbeing #success #leadership #lawofattraction
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Nov 10, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Limiting Your Limitations
“People might think I’m weird.”
“I might not get it right.”
“What if it turns out badly?”
So many people limit their own horizons because of thoughts like these. I’ve limited myself with those kinds of thoughts…I remember never wanting to do sports in school because I wanted to be good at it and feared I wasn’t.
Have you limited yourself too?
In a conversation with Mom when I was about 16 years old, I confided that I was afraid to go to the prom because what if I made a fool of myself in front of the cute boy who asked me? Mom answered simply, “what if you don’t?”
When the voice inside your head starts asking you limiting questions, take Mom’s words and use them to stop limiting yourself. Who cares if people think you’re weird, or if it isn’t perfect on the first try, or if it does turn out badly? Heck, even Albert Einstein took eight tries to mathematically prove the theory of relativity.
We’re human, which means we’ll get things wrong. The fun…
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Nov 9, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Channeling Your Inner Elsa
Have you been hurt by someone you loved and trusted? Most people have at some point in their lives. We know what our hurt feels like and have no idea how others feel about the broken trust and broken heart, so it’s easy to discount the pain of others while feeling like our pain is different, and maybe even worse.
Stop. Stop so many things about that scenario.
First, stop comparing yourself to others. It’s unproductive and often undermines your confidence and sense of self-worth.
Second, stop focusing on what someone else has done to you in the past.
The past is done. You can’t do anything to change it, and when you keep focusing on it, you keep it alive in your mind and your body. You do physical damage to your physical wellbeing because your brain floods you with the hormones associated with pain and loss all over again. That’s why you feel bad – because your brain can’t tell the difference between the event and the memory of the event.
When you’re rolling around in…
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Nov 8, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - A Corny Way to Create Deeper Connections
Maybe something like this has happened in your office or your life: someone tells you something about another person, and what you hear makes you feel a bit guarded about that person.
Maybe you think back on something that happened that you didn’t understand, and now, with this new information, it makes perfect sense. That person is bad! They’re stirring up intrigue…they’re trying to take your job or your significant other or whatever. You stew over this new revelation about that person and you vow to not fall for their games. You put up your guard when you’re around them, and maybe even warn others about them.
Oops…you have violated the Golden Rule.
Can you think of a time when someone misjudged you? Remember thinking, “why didn’t they talk to me about it?” Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you. Instead of going with the flow of your brain making assumptions, do something crazy – ask them. Talk to them. Understand them.
Things go so much better t…
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Nov 7, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Trying to Change the Weather
My friend Arvind is as wise as he is outspoken. His Facebook posts always garner a lot of attention and a fair amount of debate. So when he wrote, “What a boring world it would be if we all agreed on everything. Respectful debate, engaging conversations, and varied opinions make life flavorful and colorful. No one ever has to agree for me to know I am right” I laughed out loud and asked permission to quote him.
It would be boring if we all agreed on everything. It is important to be respectful in our disagreements so that we can have engaging conversations and incorporate varied opinions into our lives and maybe even beliefs.
That last sentence – “No one ever has to agree with me for me to know I am right” cracks me up and reminds me that, inside our own heads, we’re all right.
Trying to change someone’s mind is like trying to change the weather – impossible and frustrating. Enjoy the differences in life, including differences of opinion and beliefs, without trying t…
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Nov 6, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Trusting What Your Body Says
Do you notice when something feels wrong? Do you feel the little hairs on the back of your neck bristle? Do you get that “iceberg in the pit of the stomach” feeling that’s apprehensive to the point of being fearful? What do you do when you notice your body reacting like that?
Please get into the habit of paying close attention.
Your body can sense things in ways that science is only just now beginning to discover. The incredible neural network in your intestinal tract talks to your brain about more than just hunger and digestion. The largest organ in your body, your skin, is in contact with the world outside your body and is able to perceive tiny changes in sound, air movement and other important clues that something might be amiss. So when something feels wrong to you, get into the habit of paying attention to the feelings and to the world around you.
Your body really is trying to tell you something.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Jo…
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Nov 5, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Step Away from the Punching Bag Role
Is life feeling hard for you right now?
In everyone’s life there are times when it feels like we’re the punching bag and life is just landing blows hard and fast. First, remember that it’s just a chapter in your life, not your whole life. Second, instead of focusing on the hard things, look for what’s softer and easier to focus on.
Things like the fur of your pet, the feel of the sun on your skin, the sound of the breeze through the leaves, the flicker and fragrance of a burning candle, the familiar comfort of your favorite blanket or favorite book.
Focus where it’s soft and easy and soon you’ll be through the hard chapter and on to a more enjoyable chapter in your life.
Want more? Click herefor a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #vettech #notonemorevet #petindustry #wellbeing #success #leadership #lawofattraction
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Nov 4, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Right Now Matters a Lot
What are you thinking of right now? What are you doing right now? How are you feeling right now?
And why am I asking so many nosey questions right now?
Because right now matters. A lot. Right now is your life.
You can spend right now thinking about the past, and you’re using up your right now by doing that. You can spend your right now procrastinating, and you’re using up your right now doing that. You can spend your right now feeling sorry for yourself or mad at someone or just feeling blah, and you’re using up your right now by doing that.
Right now is your life. Use it wisely.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #vettech #notonemorevet #petindustry #wellbeing #success #leadership #lawofattraction
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Nov 3, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Quick, Share Your List
If I asked you what bothers you most, you could probably tell me a list of things pretty quickly.
It’s ok – that’s a very human trait. Even the most positive people focus often enough on what bothers them that they could spit out a list, too. The thing that very positive people have in common is that they also focus on what delights them. They created the habit – consciously or not – of noticing and appreciating good things as well as noticing the irritations in their life.
Did you hear the very good news in what I just said?
If you want to learn to be more positive, teach yourself to notice and appreciate the things that most people take for granted. Enjoy your body’s abilities, whatever they are, to help you navigate your day. Walking is amazing, and if you can’t walk well, isn’t it wonderful that someone created canes, rollators and wheel chairs to get you where you need to go? The taste of food…the smell of your child’s hair…the feel of a light breeze acros…
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Nov 2, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Making People Love Your Leadership Style
Are you a leader, either in your family, your job or your life?
Most of us are leaders in one way or another, whether we know it or not. People look to us for cues on how to navigate a problem in the office, how to deal with yet another break-up, or maybe it’s your child looking to you for reassurance that there really are no imaginary monsters.
In order to be the best leader possible, tap into your loving self, especially when your angry self wants to take over in a difficult moment. Instead of thinking the worst in a situation, think of the most benign reason something might be happening. Instead of condemning, try to commiserate. Instead of blaming, try forgiving.
Your anger only teaches others to hide their mistakes from you. Your compassion teaches them to trust you and learn from you. As a leader, how do you want your people to feel about you?
Want more? Click herefor a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #vettech #notonemorevet #petindustry #we…
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Nov 1, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Looking for a Better Love
Are you looking for love?
Lots of people are – they are either looking for a better relationship than the one they’re currently in, or are looking to be in a relationship. Often, in the looking, people choose relationship partners that are just like the ones they’ve had in the past…some people like to be with people they can help, some like to be with people who like to argue…you’ve seen it in your friends.
Have your friends seen it in you?
If you’re looking for love, stop looking for a moment and examine your previous relationship partners. Our brains like patterns, and look for patterns that are familiar. If you’ve chosen partners who had similar behaviors, it’s normal, and it doesn’t have to be your destiny.
If you want something else, then teach your brain to look for that. When you see a trait in someone that you would like to see in your ideal life partner, appreciate it. Mentally celebrate it. Turn the memory of that wonderfulness over and over inside you…
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Oct 31, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Living Up to Someone Else's Ideals
A few years ago, I was training one of my dogs in the local park. We were working on a musical freestyle routine – basically a string of dog tricks set to music, so we appeared to be dancing. I overheard someone say, “wow she has no inhibitions at all!” as if it was a bad thing.
When Duffy and I finished up our training session, loaded up and headed home, and as I drove, I thought about the person who made that comment. It’s pretty normal to assume others should have the same sensibilities we have, and to be shocked or surprised when they don’t. I thought back to times when I had judged someone else by my life rules, and realized I didn’t want to do that to people anymore.
You may have heard me say in these podcasts, “what other people think of me is none of my business,” and yet that day, it was my business. That person reminded me that I have no business expecting others to behave the way I think they should, either.
Food for thought for you, too?
Want more? Clic…
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Oct 30, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Kindergarten Wisdom
A colleague of mine was cleaning her office recently and ran across a box of childhood paperwork. She found something she’d done in kindergarten, a fill-in-the-blank sheet that the teacher handed out. Her 5-year-old self loved having gym class, making things and defined happiness as “when somebody makes somebody else happy.”
Fast-forward to her grown-up self, and Christine often reminds audiences that “it’s good to have a good day, and it’s better when someone else has a good day because of you.”
The brain science backs that up – when you make someone else happy, witnessing their happiness, or even just thinking about it, boosts your happiness hormones, too. To have a better, more satisfying, more successful life, make at least one person happy each day. That guarantees that you’ll be happy each day, too.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #vettech #notonemorevet #petindustry #wellbeing #success #leadership…
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Oct 29, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Just One Word
There is one word you need to remember when you’re feeling overwhelmed. It doesn’t matter what is going on in your life that is creating the feeling of overwhelm – it could be personal, financial, professional, or even all of the above all at once.
There’s still only one word you need to remember… ONE.
All of life is one step at a time, one task at a time, one moment at a time and one breath at a time. One. Just one.
You can’t fix everything you think needs fixing all at once, so focus on one thing you can fix and fix it. The focus on one more thing. And then one more. Time will pass…tension will ease…and most of the time whatever has created the feeling of overwhelm will loosen its grip and move on. And because you’ve focused on one thing, accomplished one thing, and then focused on the next thing, you’ve shown yourself that no matter what is going on, you can still handle it.
One step at a time, one task at a time, one moment at a time and one breath at a time…
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Oct 28, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Getting to Easy the Simple Way
Today I got some push-back on creating success through creating mental wellbeing and happiness. “It can’t be that simple or everyone would be doing it” is what was said.
And I agree – it does sound easy, these little game-braining tools I throw out there for you to use.
The process is simple – but not easy. The tools are simple – but not easy to remember to use. Remember, the same brain you’re trying to train is running a pattern it’s run for your entire life. It takes focus and commitment to notice a thought that is part of a pattern you’ve followed for years, interrupt the pattern your brain is running and intentionally shift your focus so you can create a new, better-feeling pattern that supports your growth, success and happiness.
So yes, it’s simple and everyone can do it. It’s not easy, which is why everyone’s not doing it. And you can still do it if you want to.
Want more? Click herefor a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinaria…
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Oct 27, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Doubt vs Magic
Doubt is the destroyer of magic. Don’t doubt me on this.
You know that feeling when a great idea pops into your mind? You can’t wait to see how it will play out…can’t wait to start working on the planning stages…can’t wait to tell friends and loved ones all about it. And then that little voice inside your head pipes up with all of the reasons why it can’t and won’t work.
Doubt begins, and once doubt takes hold of your thought process, those good feelings of anticipation, preparation and sharing the excitement just dissolve like morning fog as the day warms up. The magic of the idea…the magic of the moment…the magic of those great feelings vanishes.
Doubt is the destroyer of magic. Next time doubt tries to throw a wet blanket on your great idea, thank it and usher it right out of your mind. Your ideas are too good to let doubt destroy their magic.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #vettech #notonemorevet…
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Oct 26, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Creating Acceptance of Yourself in Spite of Others
Is there someone in your life who tries to control you through their expectations of you?
It might be a parent or a boss or a friend – anyone. They might look at you after your latest hair appointment and it looks like they smelled something stinky. They might ignore your good work and point out your shortcomings on a project. They might make passive-aggressive comments about your weight or your car or your income.
Those people, if you let them, can gut your self-confidence, so don’t let them. If you’re in a relationship where you can voice your feelings about their behavior, do it. If not, when they try to control you through their disapproval, remind yourself that they are out of line and aren’t living your life.
You are living your life – you are in charge of you – and what you believe about yourself has nothing to do with what they think. PS…please let that last part sink in so you can move through your day and your life confidently, no matter how that judgmental p…
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Oct 25, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Comparing You to Only You
Do you ever find yourself comparing where you are in your life, your career or your knowledge with someone else?
It’s very human to measure ourselves against others, and it’s also very human to believe they’re better off, smarter or luckier than we are. It’s that negativity bias at work again – our brains are wired to go to the negative conclusion more than to a positive one.
When you find yourself starting down the comparison road, remind yourself that your brain has that negativity bias, and then remember this: you’re never making an apples-to-apples comparison when you judge yourself against someone else. You aren’t living their life, you don’t know the troubles and triumphs they’ve had, you don’t know what comes easily to them and what comes hard – you don’t really know anything about them.
And they haven’t lived your life, either – you’re both on completely separate paths, even if you’ve been best friends since kindergarten and have attended exac…
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Oct 24, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - What's Your Definition of Success?
When you think about your day yesterday, does it feel like it was a successful day, a so-so day or a frustrating day? Stop whatever you’re thinking about right now and think about yesterday.
Who did you smile at yesterday?
Who were you kind to yesterday?
Who did you compliment yesterday?
Whose life did you save yesterday, maybe even without knowing it?
Now how does yesterday feel? We’re so good at focusing on what we think went wrong that we forget to focus on what we did right.
To quote Ralph Waldo Emerson, “To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” Every day, remember to focus on the good you did the day before.
Because every day, you do succeed.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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Oct 23, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Perfectionism Experiment
Are you a recovering perfectionist, too?
One of the ways that perfectionism showed up in my life was that I wouldn’t try things I felt I couldn’t do. Can you imagine what that did to my self-confidence? Yep, if you just thought “gutted it” you’re exactly right.
When we’re hard on ourselves, expecting perfection from even our first try at something, it often means we lead self-limiting lives and lack confidence. If you think you might be doing that to yourself, even a little bit, try this – once a week, try something you’ve never done before, just as an experiment.
Be playful with it and with yourself – you’re a scientist running an experiment just to see how it goes. When it goes well, great! When it doesn’t go well, put your scientist thinking cap on and try to figure out how it could go better next time.
Get playful with new things and soon your scientist self will boot your perfectionist self right out of the laboratory that is your life.
Want more? Click…
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Oct 22, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Worrying About Worrying
Do you worry? Have you been called a worry wart? What the heck is worry, anyway?
Worry in a person with a normally-functional brain is a bad habit that the brain has created – that’s all it is. Our brains have a negativity bias, which means that it’s easier to think a negative thought than it is to think a positive one. Over time, you have let the brain focus on potential negative outcomes, which created the tendency to worry, because the brain developed the habit, or pattern, of focusing on potential negative outcomes.
Has worry ever fixed anything in your life? Probably not. And if you really think about it, the things you’ve worried about probably haven’t even come to pass.
When you worry, you flood your body with stress hormones as it prepares to deal with the bad situation. Put up your mental stop sign at the first sign of worry, and do your best to think of a potential positive outcome instead of a negative one. Get in the habit of anticipating good outcomes instead…
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Oct 21, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Paradox of Giving Advice
Can I give you a piece of advice? Most people don’t need advice.
Oops…I think I just screwed up right there!
When someone is struggling and needs help, it’s human nature to want to help them, and some help is great and some help is very unhelpful.
I’ll give you a ridiculous example – say someone has fallen on the sidewalk and you rush to help them up. Helpful – yay, you! If you then go on to tell them that their choice of shoes is wrong and they need to wear something more appropriate, that’s unhelpful. You may mean well in the moment, and yet you know nothing about what caused the fall. You know nothing about them at all, you’re just dishing out facts that may or may not be helpful.
Lift them up, literally and figuratively, by letting them know you see them and care about them. That’s the best way to help anyone, no matter what they have going on in their life. If they want your advice, they’ll ask for it.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course,…
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Oct 20, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Love Letting Go of the Reins
Are you in a place in life where you’re feeling out of control? Like the river of life is sweeping you downstream and you not only don’t have an oar to help you steer, you don’t even have a canoe?
What if I told you that’s one of the most powerful places in life to be because of the potential to learn and grow?
When you feel out of control, don’t fight the feeling, believe it. Most of what happens in every single person’s life is out of that person's control, and yet most of us try hard to create the outcome we want.
How has that worked out for you in the past? Yeah, me neither!
When you feel out of control, embrace the feeling. Examine the feeling. Love the feeling, because that out of control feeling is reminding you to let go of the outcome and trust yourself to be able to deal with whatever happens. That’s where your power is.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawof…
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Oct 19, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Living Life on Your Own Terms
Do you ever get advice from people, warning you that when you’re old you’ll wish you did things differently?
I’m childless by choice. Even when I was only single-digits old I knew I didn’t want to raise children. Well-meaning people said things like, “who will take care of you when you’re old” and “some day when it’s too late you’ll regret not having a family.”
People who say things like that are trying to get you to measure yourself against their yardstick. They might be even a little jealous of your braveness in making a decision so different than what they would do.
When you hear their well-meaning advice, think about this – do you want to make your decisions based on what feels right to you, or do you want to shape your life based on what someone else thinks you should do?
Shake off the “shoulds” of others and live your life on your own terms.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #pet…
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Oct 18, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Learning to Love the Unlovable
Is there someone you know who is unkind to you, or unkind about you behind your back?
At some point in most peoples’ lives we have to deal with a petty, insecure, bitter person who targets us with gossip, hostility and even bullying.
It’s not fun to be the recipient of this kind of treatment – believe me, I’ve been there! – and it’s easy to feel like we have to defend ourselves against it.
Don’t.
You just give the other person more energy and ammunition to torment you with. Instead, can you ignore them? Can you find compassion for them? Can you know, in the depths of your soul, that what this person is doing to you isn’t about you at all, it’s about them?
When you can truly understand that they are broken, when you can feel compassion for their brokenness and be OK with keeping them at arms’ length, then you are making the best of an uncomfortable situation.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #pe…
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Oct 17, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Learning Self-Confidence
Do you feel good when someone compliments you?
Most people like when someone else notices them in a positive way. And yet it can be tough to acknowledge the compliment. Often, instead of accepting the compliment, they parry back with something like, “oh, I just threw this outfit on – it’s nothing special,” or “you think my hair looks good? It’s so unruly today!”
If you respond to compliments in a self-deprecating way, can I suggest something else? Smile and say thank you. That’s all you have to do and say. Look the other person in the eye, smile, and say thank you.
With their compliment, they’re acknowledging that they see you and appreciate you. When you argue with them, you negate their lovely action. Instead, acknowledge them – smile and say thank you.
The bonus is when you accept compliments graciously you bolster your own self-confidence!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #petindustry #wellbe…
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Oct 16, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Learning to Honor Your Own Needs
Have you ever pushed through physical exhaustion?
Have you ever kept working on something when your brain was fried?
Have you ever been on the brink of tears, swallowed hard and hidden your feelings from those around you?
Society puts up statues for people who’ve done heroic things, which makes us think that we should push ourselves hard – far too hard sometimes.
When you deny your body the rest it needs, you invite injury.
When you push your brain to focus when it is screaming for rest, you invite injury and mental breakdown.
When you swallow your feelings instead of addressing them in the moment, you lie to yourself and those around you and you undermine your own sense of self-empowerment.
Honor your body when it needs rest. Honor your brain when it says it needs a break. Honor your feelings, understand them, own them and move through them, as you would move through a rainstorm and come out fine on the other side.
You matter. Honor you.
Want more? Click here for a free aud…
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Oct 15, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - How to Stop Playing the Shame Game
Do you feel ashamed when you fail at something? Many people do – it’s almost like we’re hard-wired to beat ourselves up when things don’t go as we planned.
Can I give you a different way to feel? And remember that you can feel one way, decide it’s not the way you want to feel, and talk yourself into a different feeling – that’s called neuroplasticity and you can rewire your brain by intentionally changing your thoughts and feelings.
When you try something and it doesn't turn out the way you expected, banish the automatic feeling of shame and congratulate yourself. You tried. You went for it. You learned something new – at the very least, you learned a way that won’t work. Next time you try it, you’ll have a different, better outcome because through the failure, you learned and grew and changed.
Yay, you!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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Oct 14, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - How to Love a Negative Nellie
Someone I know lives in a bubble of her own creating. She can’t see beyond the bubble, and inside her bubble everyone has the potential to be evil. She sees bad motives nearly everywhere, even in what the rest of us would consider very benign behavior. When anyone tries to suggest that not everything is bad, she’s very good at pointing out the badness in even the best things.
Do you know someone like that?
They’re very tiring to be around, and no matter how hard you try, you’ll never speak words that will touch their heart in a way that they’ll see the world in a more balanced way. The best you can do is set a great example of love and acceptance.
Yes, you even have to accept their choice to live inside their negativity bubble. People like this can be hard to be around – use them like free weights to help you build up your love muscles. Love them in spite of the bubble they’ve trapped themselves in.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an I…
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Oct 13, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - How to be Right Every Single Time
Maybe you’ve heard the saying, “perception is reality.” In marketing this is proved over and over again as people pay more money for an inferior product that they’ve been led to believe is superior and necessary in their lives.
There’s a more personal application though – what you believe is what you see.
Your perception of an event is shaped by all the life you’ve lived before that event, and by what the people who raised you believed about such events. Their perception becomes your perception, and so when you see this event in your life, you think and feel and behave accordingly.
If you believe it is bad to run a red light, you’re far less likely to run a red light, plus you’re far more likely to have a negative perception of someone who does. That’s a simplistic example, and here’s the point: Everyone’s life has shaped them differently, so their perception and reality could be quite different than yours.
And you’re both right.
Want more? Click here f…
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Oct 12, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Focusing on Your Dreams
Can you give yourself 5 minutes at some point today? Five minutes alone, just you and a pen and a blank piece of paper?
Just five minutes…can you do it?
When you do, here’s a mental game you can play that can help focus you on what matters in your life. When you’re alone, take a minute to think about your dream life – who’s in it? What’s in it? Where is it? Write it all down on that blank piece of paper. Be as detailed or as general as you want – write down your dreams.
If you run out of paper before you run out of time, great. If you run out of ideas before you run out of time and paper, that’s ok, too.
Give yourself five minutes a day to write down the ingredients of your dream life – when you make it a habit, your dreams come into clear focus for you, making them easier to achieve.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#veterinarian #petindustry #wellbeing #leader #lawofattraction
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Oct 11, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Creating Good Memories Out of Bad Ones
Do you ever look back on things you’ve done in the past and felt bad about how you behaved? Maybe you think you over-reacted, or maybe you think you were unfair or unkind. Maybe you even feel shame to the point of blushing or wanting to cry every time you think of it?
That’s your body, reminding you that your brain can’t tell the difference between the event and memories of the event. Here’s the deal – you can’t change the past because it happened. It’s over and done with.
You can change the present – which is new in every moment that you live.
Right now, stop dredging up memories that make you feel bad. Stop. Stop it!! There is nothing you can do about it and while you’re thinking about it, you’re damaging your physical and mental wellbeing.
Your physical and mental wellbeing are of paramount importance, don’t you agree? So much more important than re-telling old stories you don’t like the ending of, anyway. Each time a bad memory tries to rear its ugly h…
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Oct 10, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - An Exercise in Stress Relief
Quick…do a body-check. Where are your muscles tight?
In your forehead?
Your jaw?
Your neck or your hands?
Chances are that at least one of those places in your body was holding some tension instead of being relaxed. Do you ever wonder what that is? That’s stress hormones expressing themselves in your body.
One of the most common places we hold stress is in our shoulders, clenching upper back muscles and shoulder muscles so hard that our shoulders rise significantly. Know why that is? Because the neck is a very vulnerable stalk that connects the brain to the being, so it’s the first place the body tries to protect in a stressful situation.
Make a point of doing a body-check for tight muscles several times a day, and when you find tight shoulders, ask if there’s really anything in your life in that moment that is truly threatening your neck? Of course not, so laugh, relax, and get on with a less stressful day.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an…
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Oct 9, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - You Earned It, Now Own It
I remember being a child who loved bedtime stories. Mom or Dad read stories to us, and I longed for the day I could look at the funny black squiggles on the page and make them come to life, too.
Now I read all the time, never giving a second thought to the major growth in my abilities that learning to read represents.
You, too? What talents do you have now that you once dreamed of having? What abilities do you have now that you take for granted? And what can we both do so we’ll remember how far we’ve come in life, and remember to celebrate that growth?
We as humans take our strengths – even those we worked hard to learn and develop – for granted. We mentally downplay our own superpowers because we mistakenly believe that what comes easily to us now is easy for everyone else, too. No, it’s not.
You ARE special. You worked for the growth you have achieved. Celebrate your unique talents and abilities for the evidence of the progress you’ve made in your life.
Want more? C…
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Oct 8, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Upheaval, Disruption and Your Brain
Can you think of a time in your life where there was a major upheaval? Maybe you lost a loved one, a marriage or even something as seemingly positive as graduating with a degree you’ve worked hard for years to earn.
Life was suddenly different and you were suddenly left feeling slightly confused and quite unmotivated. When that happens, it’s very human to beat ourselves up to try to kick-start some momentum, and that just adds to the problem.
The feelings of confusion and lack of motivation in the wake of a major life change are NORMAL. The brain likes to run patterns, and suddenly a major pattern has been disrupted. The pattern-running part of the brain suddenly can’t run normally, and the feelings of confusion and sleepwalking through your life are common. And here’s the good news – they’re also fleeting for most people.
Be kind to yourself in the wake of a major life change, safe in the knowledge that you and your brain are creating new patterns to go with your new li…
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Oct 7, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Turning a Bad Start into a Great Day
Today, things went wrong for me, right out of the gate.
The alarm didn’t go off.
The computer wouldn’t boot up.
Both dogs were misbehaving, one very loudly, and there was no time for my normal morning routine because…the alarm didn’t go off!
Maybe you’ve had days that start like that? It’s easy to let the beginning of the day set the tone for how your day goes, and it’s important to remember that we have the power to decide. I remembered that things work out just the way they’re supposed to, and always in my favor in the long run.
A mid-morning appointment went better than expected.
The mailbox held a couple of delightful surprises.
And I’m finishing up the day sitting on the sun porch, two dogs napping in shafts of late-day sun while an early fall breeze carries birdsong and the scent of flowering basil on it.
The frustrations of this morning were washed away by the decision to have a great day, in spite of how it started. You can do this too – next time your d…
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Oct 6, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Caring Person's Deepest Dilemma
Do you think of yourself as a caring person?
Be honest about this – do you care about the people in your family? On your team? Do you care about your pets? Pollution? Recycling? Politics? The world?
You have to have said “yes” to at least a few of those questions, so you are, in fact, a caring person. My bet is that, at least on a topic or two, you sometimes have to choose between doing what feels like the caring thing – pleasing another person – and what you need to do for yourself.
Admit it – sometimes you do something you’d rather not do or something that interferes with what you really want or need to do for yourself.
That presents a deep dilemma – please yourself or please someone else. The more often you put yourself second in that equation, the more you gut your sense of self-worth. The more often you put yourself second, the more stress you pile on yourself, whether you realize it at the time or not. The more often you put yourself second, the more the peopl…
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Oct 5, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Navigating a Career Turning Point
Are you unhappy in your work life most of the time?
Maybe, when you first started doing what you’re doing, you were elated, looking forward to making a difference through the work you’ve chosen. Fast-forward to today, where maybe most days you walk through the front door feeling dread about some of the people or some of the tasks ahead of you.
What changed, and more importantly, what can you do about it?
First, prioritize your wellbeing into the equation – you’ll need to either find a way to regain your enthusiasm for where you are or you’ll need to be OK with making a change in where you are. Once you understand that you are free to choose the path that suits you best, you’ll feel more empowered and in control.
Then take an objective look at what’s creating the unhappiness – make a list of everything you can think of. Then look for commonalities, including what you’re bringing to those situations. Decide to fix what’s in your power to fix, or decide to find a w…
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Oct 4, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - How to Become a Recovering Perfectionist
Want to lead a fabulous life, secure in the knowledge that you can handle whatever this world throws at you?
Embrace your imperfections.
You heard that right – accept that you are human, you will screw up, and that when you do, you didn’t intend to hurt anyone or cause a problem. You were just being fabulously human, imperfect you.
I am a recovering perfectionist – but only where I am concerned. I never expected others to be perfect, but I did expect me to get everything right all the time.
Wow…that’s exhausting, and impossible, and a the sure-fire way to gut your self-confidence.
So go ahead – I dare you to do what I did – embrace your imperfections and go out and live your fabulous life. Things will go wrong. You’ll handle them. Feelings might get hurt. You’ll heal them. Friends who love you will love you even more, and the best part is – you’ll understand why they love you and you’ll love you, too.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happi…
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Oct 3, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Fostering a Happier Disposition
Have you heard the saying, “your day will go the way the corners of your mouth turn?” The meaning behind that is pretty clear – foster a happy disposition and you’ll have a happier day, and foster a grumpy disposition and you’ll have a grumpier day.
How can you foster a happier disposition?
The easiest way to do that is to have a morning routine that supports your mental wellbeing. Think about what makes your heart happy first thing in the morning.
Maybe it’s quiet time drinking coffee and listening to the birds in your neighborhood.
Maybe it’s some alone time reading an inspirational or motivational book.
Or maybe it’s a three-mile run through the streets of your town.
Whatever it is, build it into your schedule and let what you love to do support you on a daily basis. That’s how you foster a happier disposition, and how you will enjoy your days more because you’ve intentionally created upturned corners on your mouth.
Want more? Click here for a free audio c…
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Oct 2, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Easing the Pain of a Difficult Team Member
Is someone on your team a bit…difficult? Defensive? Withdrawn? Uncommunicative? Is this new behavior or something that’s been there all along, and now it’s bothering you?
If it’s new behavior, chances are that something is going on in their life that they’re not processing well. Help them – offer to listen, and then listen. Resist the urge to talk – let them unfold their problem to you without interrupting or trying to offer suggestions.
The less you talk, the more they’ll feel heard, and the more willing they’ll be to change the way they’re behaving at work.
If their difficult behavior has been there for as long as you’ve worked with them, it’s up to you to find a way to mentally let go of it. Go to MSU – when they’re defensive, make up a story in your head that they were raised by wolves and can’t behave in a civilized fashion. Make yourself laugh with your Making Stuff Up stories inside your head and soon you won’t even remember why you didn’t wa…
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Oct 1, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - A Powerful Way to Get Unstuck
Are you feeling a little bit stuck? Most of us do, from time to time. When a big decision is looming, stuckness can feel overwhelming.
I remember at the end of my 30-year marriage, when I had to figure out where I could live with two dogs, a bunch of furniture and very little cash flow – there were days when I didn’t even want to get out of bed!
Here’s the good news, though – I wasn’t stuck then and you’re truly never stuck, either. You might feel stuck, just like I did, and we both were missing the big picture – life is always changing from one moment to the next, offering new opportunities, ideas and energy. We just have to remember that, and be open to considering the possibilities.
So the next time you get that “stuck” feeling, remind yourself that life goes on and you’re going with it. Then take a deep breath, square up your shoulders and look for the ideas, opportunities and possibilities that are all around you.
Want more? Click here for a free audio co…
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Sep 30, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Stop Doing That to Yourself!
Did something happen to you that really upset you? Do you find yourself telling that story over and over again, either to others or inside your own head?
When you do that, you are literally reliving the event. Your brain can’t tell the difference between the actual event and your retelling of it, so it floods you with the same stress hormones it did when the event happened. It speeds your respiration and heart rate, causes your muscles to tense and re-creates the awful feelings of “fight or flight” in your body and your mind.
The only difference between the actual event and retelling the event in your head or to others is – you didn’t do anything bad to yourself when it happened, and you are the ONLY person doing something bad to yourself in the retelling. Until you stop telling that story you will never be free of the trauma you’re inflicting on yourself.
Let.It.Go.
Release the need to relive and retell old traumas and you’ll release an enormous amount of tension an…
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Sep 29, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Nothing is Better than the Wrong Thing
Something isn’t better than nothing.
Let me say that again…something is NOT better than nothing.
Ok, if we’re talking about material objects or money, something can be better than nothing. If we’re talking about relationships, it’s always better to have the relationship you want and need, instead of a relationship that doesn’t suit you in every way.
It doesn’t mean you’re with a bad person or you are a bad person for wanting more – most people are good people, and yet most people are not a good fit for you. Finding the person who makes your heart sing is always worth the wait. Why settle for someone who makes your heart mutter when you can – and will! – find one who makes it sing?
Someone isn’t better than no one, and the wrong person being in your life will keep the right person from showing up.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#vetlife #veterinarian #vethospital #vettech #notonemorevet #pet #petindustry #an…
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Sep 28, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Honoring Your Reason for Being
What are you living for? What lights you up and makes you want to do it more and more? What do you love so much you’d do it for free if you had no bills to pay?
That’s what you need to do more of.
For me, it’s doing things with my dogs, and with people who love dog sports. I love dog sports so much that my Wednesdays are loaded up with dog training classes that I’m either taking or teaching.
Whatever it is for you, honor your need to have it in your life. Schedule it into your calendar when you can – plan vacations around it – invite friends who love it to join you in doing what you love.
When you do what you love to do, it elevates everything else you do because it’s a wonderful way to relieve stress. So find that thing that you’re living for and do it as much as you possibly can.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#vetlife #veterinarian #vethospital #vettech #notonemorevet #pet #petindustry #animals #wellbeing #succ…
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Sep 27, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Holding Up a Mirror on Leadership
Are you in any sort of leadership position? It could be in your family, your job, your church, your hobby – whatever. If you make decisions that affect others, you’re in a leadership position.
And the very best leaders aren’t bosses, they’re inspirers.
They inspire those around them to want to work towards a goal set by the leader. They inspire those around them to do more than is required of them. They inspire those around them to grow into a better version of themselves.
The truth is, to be a great leader means you hold up a beautiful mirror for each person you lead, showing them their strengths and their superpowers, and allowing them to showcase those strengths in the work they do. A great leader spends their time creating more great leaders.
Now the secret is out – you know it – how will it affect the way you lead your team? Mirror, mirror on the wall – you can be the best leader of them all!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Insi…
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Sep 26, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Giving the Heave-Ho to Permission
Get ready to go deep – who do you look to for permission?
When I was a young woman just out of school, still trying to figure out who I was and what I would do in the world, I felt the need for permission. As a child and while we’re in school, adults around us give us permission – permission to play outside before doing homework, permission to wear something daring, permission to leave the classroom for a bio-break, permission to skip PE class – you remember all that, right?
It’s kind of jarring to be out on your own with no one granting permission for the dozens of things you want or need to do each day. If you’re still looking for someone to give you permission, or are allowing someone in your life to be the person you look to for it, you’re giving away your power.
Each time you feel the need to ask permission, remind yourself that you’re in charge of you, and no one else is. Give yourself permission to stop asking for permission!
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Sep 25, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Give Yourself a Good Talking-To
Do you ever have days where you feel powerless? Talk yourself into your power.
Seriously.
When you’re feeling frustrated with a situation you can’t resolve, sad about something you can’t change, or even depressed about where you are in life, find a place where you can give yourself a good talking-to. A loving talking-to, out loud, is just what you need to remember just who you are.
When you’re alone, start talking, reminding yourself of the achievements you’ve made in your life so far. Reminding yourself of the good you put out into the world on a daily basis. Reminding yourself of the love and loyalty you give to those who are important to you. Keep talking until you don’t feel powerless, you feel powerful. You remember who you are. You know what’s in your power to change and what isn’t, and you remember to let go of what you can’t change and focus on what you can.
Talk yourself into your power on a daily basis – it’s a great habit to create!
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Sep 24, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Deciding to Decide
Do you find it difficult to make decisions? A friend never wants to be the one to decide which restaurant we’ll go to or what time to be somewhere or even what drink to order.
If you also find it tough to make decisions, this Tiny Bite is for you. Someone in your life taught you to feel wrong or incapable of making good decisions, so now you may not feel confident in your ability to decide.
Confidence comes from experience. Make more decisions. Make small ones at first – ones that only affect you. The white phone case or the red one? Don’t try to figure out the “best” decision, just choose the one that makes you smile. Pretty soon you’ll start feeling more confident about making bigger decisions and then you’ll look back on your old, indecisive self and wonder who that person was.
Make decisions. Feel confident. Lather, rinse, repeat!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#vetlife #veterinarian #vethospital #vettech #notonem…
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Sep 23, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Banishing the Unworthiness
Do you ever feel a bit unworthy? Most of us do from time to time, and sadly, some people live there.
Where does the feeling of unworthiness come from? From being told and shown that we had to do more or be better in order to deserve good things in life. Those subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle messages come from everywhere – parents, religions, advertisements – and are 100% false.
You were born worthy. If your heart is beating right now, you are worthy of whatever you want in life. The only person stopping you is you, listening to old programming that was never right.
Decide what you want, design the best path to it, and go for it, you worthy person.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#vetlife #veterinarian #vethospital #vettech #notonemorevet #pet #petindustry #animals #wellbeing #success #leadership #leader #lawofattraction
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Sep 22, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Dealing With the Default You
Who is deciding your future? Is it you, or is it the default you?
What…you didn’t know there’s a default you? Yep…we all have one. It’s that version of ourselves who sits on the couch watching tv mindlessly. It’s that version of ourselves that hits the drive through instead of the grocery store. It’s that version of ourselves that promises to stop that bad habit…tomorrow.
Habits are hard-wired into our brains by repetition – the more you do something, the easier it is to keep doing it. That’s good when it’s something good like brushing and flossing, and not so good when it comes to other things.
Make the brain’s love of routine work for you – pick one thing you’d like to stop doing, focus on it, and each time you find yourself doing it, do something fun instead. For instance, I wanted to keep the TV off until after dinner, feeding dogs and cleaning the kitchen was done each day. Each time I found myself reaching for the remote, I picked up a dog toy inste…
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Sep 21, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Conquering First-Day Fear
The first day of something new is kinda scary, right? Even if it’s something you’ve dreamed of, worked for and finally achieved, walking in on that first day can be very daunting. The fear might even threaten to make you turn tail and run.
I remember the very first time I turned on the microphone in the radio studio to talk – if the guy who was training me hadn’t been standing right behind me, I might still be running, and that was a few decades ago!
When you first experience something you’ve planned, worked and dreamed of, the fear might be so strong that you feel like you have to give up.
Don’t.
Instead, take a deep breath, stand up a little straighter and walk like you have a crown on your head. You did it…now go do it!
Want more? Click herefor a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#podcast #vetlife #veterinarian #vethospital #vettech #notonemorevet #pet #petindustry #animals #wellbeing #success #leadership #leader #lawofattraction
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Sep 20, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Can You Identify as Ignorant?
Wisdom is where you find it, right? A meme rolled across my Facebook news feed the other day, and it simply said “Be selectively ignorant of everything irrelevant.”
Wow…at first it made me question whether I wanted to identify as “ignorant.” Most of us don’t, right?
Think of the power of that twisted little sentiment, though – when you can be selectively ignorant of things that don’t matter to you, think of all the things you can tune out of. Things like people complaining about everything…things like news stories the media is focusing on that don’t touch your life at all…things like all the little things you can’t do a thing about and yet for some strange reason you find yourself focusing on them.
When you find yourself thinking about something that doesn’t make you feel good, examine it – is it irrelevant? Turn on your selective ignorance and shine on!
Want more? Click herefor a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
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Sep 19, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Your Daily Wellbeing Inventory
Do you have days where you feel emotionally and physically exhausted by the end of the day? And do you have days where your workload was the same as normal and instead of being tired at the end of the day, you felt inspired, maybe even elated?
What’s the difference between the good days and the draining days? If the work you do is basically the same, and the people you deal with are basically the same, what’s different?
It’s your focus.
At the end of each day, pay attention to how you feel – exhausted or exhilarated or somewhere in between – and then think about what seemed to dominate your day.
There’s an old saying – it’s not climbing the mountain that wears you out, it’s the pebble in your shoe as you climb. Identify the pebbles in your life and do your best to not focus on them. Support your mental wellbeing on a daily basis.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#podcast #vetlife #veterinarian #vethospital #vettech…
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Sep 18, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Your Brain as a Lab Experiment
What would happen if you treated your thoughts like an experiment? Not all of them – treat your automatic negative thoughts and feelings like an experiment – question them.
Next time something sets you off, instead of going with the flow of the negativity, try to step back and observe the reaction and question it – “where did it come from, why is it coming up now and is it necessary that I feel this way”?
If you’re stuck in the automatic negativity your answers might be something like, “what that idiot driver just did caused this, and of course I have a right to feel this way!” Truthful, perhaps, and completely unhelpful. Step back a bit further – why are you angry and do you want to be?
You’re angry because you usually get angry at what looks like a dumb decision made by another driver. Do you have to get angry? No, of course not – it’s a habit. Do you want to feel angry? Empirically, no, but your body could be addicted to the adrenaline the anger produces.…
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Sep 17, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - What is True Love, Really?
Think about the people you deal with all the time – how many of them do you love? If you have a spouse or partner, children, parents, siblings and other relatives, you might love them most of the time. There might be co-workers that you’re very fond of and occasionally feel love for.
When was the last time you felt love for yourself? Think about it – seriously. When was the last time you felt love for yourself?
The hardest person on the planet for you to love…is you. And the only person you will spend your entire life with…is you.
If you want your life to be as pleasant as possible, try to love the person you’ll spend your life with. Find one new thing every week to love about yourself and focus on appreciating that thing about yourself. Maybe you’re a rock-star friend who is always there for your friends – love that aspect of yourself. Maybe you have really pretty eyelashes – loves that aspect of yourself. Each week choose something about yourself to love and focu…
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Sep 16, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Watching Yourself Grow
Is something chewing at you right now?
I remember back when I was first married, had a bunch of friends and a husband who loved his circle of friends. Call me slow – it took me a while to realize that he expected me to do couples things with his friends and was never available to do things with mine. One day he said, “my friends are our friends, your friends are yours.”
That hurt.
I fretted and stewed about it for days, trying to understand such a strange, anti-social point of view from a man who seemed to be very social and extroverted. I’m not ashamed to tell you I cried over it. I didn’t jettison the friends, just lived a segregated life where they were concerned. I’m proud to tell you that if the same thing happened today I’d wonder what was wrong with the husband, not what was wrong with the friends.
What’s changed? I’ve learned and grown as a person, and I bet if you looked back in your life, you’d find a thing or two that you’d do differently. Look at h…
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Sep 15, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Terrible Two's, Adult Version
What is it that makes one person be mean to another? What is it that makes one person constantly bully another? What is it that makes one person try to destroy another?
It’s the same answer for all three questions – pain.
Insecure people, people who are afraid of losing out, and people who mount behind-the-back smear campaigns designed to ruin someone else’s reputation or chances for advancement are people who are in pain, maybe even mental anguish.
The truth is that people who behave like bullies and cut-throats are people who don’t know how to get what they want. They’re stuck in two-year-old behavior, throwing blocks and toy cars instead of sharing. The adult version of throwing blocks can look more like passive-aggressive comments, openly aggressive comments and behind-the-back smear campaigns, and yet it’s still throwing blocks.
Ignore their bad behavior, feel sorry for their lack of socialization and move on with your life.
Want more? Click here for a free au…
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Sep 14, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Rented Mule Diaries
Are you harder on yourself than you are on your team and your family members? Do you set high expectations for yourself and beat yourself up when you don’t quite hit the mark? Do you sometimes find yourself calling yourself things you would never call anyone else? Things like clumsy, clueless and maybe even stupid?
Consider this – what if you were as hard on one of your co-workers as you are on yourself? What if you talked to them out loud the way you talk to yourself inside your head? How would that change your relationship with them? How would it change the quality of work they were willing to do for you? How would you feel about yourself, talking to someone else like that?
I’m gonna let that sink in…and then tell you something that will change your relationship with yourself. If high expectations and being hard on yourself worked, wouldn’t your life be perfect now?
Stop mentally treating yourself like a rented mule and start treating yourself like your most valuable tea…
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Sep 13, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Quick Treatment for Mental Exhaustion
So much busyness!
Some days I feel consumed by all that needs to get done – do you ever feel that way, too? I keep a “to do” list on a white board in my office as a way to keep me focused, especially when my thoughts want to wander in a different direction.
It’s good to be focused and productive, and sometimes it’s good to flip a proverbial bird at your to-do list and go rest instead. When you’re feeling overwhelmed, rest. It’s the best thing you can do for yourself and your productivity that day.
Recognize the difference between a wandering mind and an exhausted one. One needs focus, the other needs you to close the door, turn down the lights, close your eyes and just be. Meditate or simply relax with deep, slow breaths for ten minutes or so. When you’re mentally exhausted those quiet minutes are your key to recharging yourself.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#podcast #vetlife #veterinarian #vethospital #vettech #n…
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Sep 12, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Tell Yourself Good Stories
Did you do something today that made you smile? Maybe it even gave you goosebumps or made you a tiny bit teary eyed? Revisit that – what did you do that created that moment of happiness inside you?
Today I saw a mom and her daughter walking hand-in-hand in a parking lot. They were going into the store I just came out of. Mom looked frazzled and her 3- or 4-year-old girl was lagging behind looking like she might burst into tears at any moment. The little girl and I locked eyes, I smiled at her and told her she was the best helper for her mom and wasn’t it fun to help her in stores. Her little face went from mad to curious, and then I said she needed a shirt that said Best Helper Ever because that’s what she was.
It was like a cloud lifted off of her – she lit up with a smile, skipped a step or two to catch up with her mom and my guess is that the shopping experience was better for them both today. And I had to wipe my eyes a little bit.
I don’t know where the words came fro…
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Sep 11, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Take That, You Compliment You!
Do you have a tough time accepting a compliment? Many people do – myself included! If your knee-jerk response when someone praises you for your looks, your outfit, your work, whatever, is to deflect the praise, try this instead: “thank you!”
Praise is the ultimate soul food – if you’re not in the habit of dishing it out, start today. Look for something to praise in people you interact with, either on a daily basis or casually. When you see someone with a great smile, tell them. When you’re at the gas station with someone who drives the same kind of car you do, tell them they have excellent taste in cars. When someone on your team shows initiative, praise them for it.
When you’re comfortable dishing out praise, you become more comfortable accepting it with those two simple words – “thank you!”
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#podcast #vetlife #veterinarian #vethospital #vettech #notonemorevet #pet #petindustry #an…
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Sep 10, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Making What-If Work for You
Do you what-if yourself? Most of us do. Sadly, because of the negativity bias in our brains, most of that what-iffing takes us down a negative path.
What if the car won’t start? What if I get caught in traffic? What if I work hard and don’t get the promotion? What if I get the promotion and don’t like the new boss? What if … arrrrgggggghhhhh! Stop it!
What if the car starts like it does every day? What if your drive to work is like it usually is? What if you do get the promotion, and you love your new boss?
It’s so easy to let our minds wander through self-made mine fields. Catch yourself what-iffing and consciously what-if in a fun, positive way.
What if a unicorn slides down from a rainbow, lands on a leprechaun and they shower you with the pot of gold? What-if yourself until you’re laughing, and go have a great day!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#podcast #vetlife #veterinarian #vethospital #vettech #notonemorevet #…
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Sep 9, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - De-Pressurizing Your Life
Tik Tok challenges…Instagram influencers…Twitter mobs…the pressure to think and do alike has never been more intense.
This is hard for children, teens, and adults to handle. As humans, we’re hard-wired towards community, which includes a desire to fit in. We were raised by people who used the concept of approval and disapproval to teach us how to sculpt our behavior, our beliefs and even our looks to please those around us.
It’s no wonder that, even though the world seems to be preaching an appreciation of diversity and inclusion, the subtle messages we get all day long from media – mainstream as well as social – is to fit in. But to live who we authentically are is vital to mental wellbeing.
You don’t have to live yourself out loud, though if that works for you then go for it. Simply resisting the pressure to do thing, be things and think things because it’s what everyone else is doing is you, standing in your power and your authenticity. Go, you!
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Sep 8, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Decisions Decisions Decisions
Do you ever feel wishy-washy?
Most of us do sometimes, and the quickest way to snap out of that helpless powerless feeling is to make more decisions. You make a lot of decisions every day without realizing it. Some decisions are pretty low-impact, like what color your outfit will be today. Some decisions are more impactful, like will you do the drive-through for dinner or go home and whip up something healthier?
Pay attention to the decisions you make as you’re making them, and pay attention to how you feel after each decision. Celebrate the decisions that make you feel good and make a mental note of the decisions that you may not want to make again because they didn’t make you feel good.
Noticing your decisions as you make them, noticing how they play out and make you feel and then making a decision about how to make the best choice for you in the future is brain-training that will create a better, more successful life for you.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course,…
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Sep 7, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Calibrating Your Sigh Meter
I have a friend who says she has a sigh meter. When something is beautiful to her, she says it moves her sigh meter. When something touches her heart, she says it moves her sigh meter. When a situation is just right she says it moves her sigh meter.
I love her sigh meter, have stolen it for myself and suggest you think about using it too.
When you’re appreciating a thing or a feeling or a situation enough to realize it, then you’re present. When you’re present, you are at your most observant. When you’re observant, you can learn and grow and connect deeply with the people around you.
So be like my friend – take your sigh meter with you wherever you go and remember to notice it when it moves. You’ll be surprised at what you’ll learn about yourself and the world!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#podcast #vetlife #veterinarian #vethospital #vettech #notonemorevet #pet #petindustry #animals #wellbeing #success #leadership…
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Sep 6, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Approving of Disapproval
Can you say this out loud? “Your approval or disapproval doesn’t matter to me.”
If that just shocked you or scared you, it’s ok – most people can’t comfortably say that without lots and lots of practice and self-reflection. What if I told you that being able to say and mean that is one of the most powerful gifts you can give to yourself … would you be willing to hear me out?
Children are raised to sculpt their behavior based on the approval or disapproval of the adults around them. Were you a child once? Then you were indoctrinated in the notion that in order to succeed, you needed to care what others thought of your words and actions.
Starting today, when you’re by yourself, start saying “your approval or disapproval doesn’t matter to me” in front of a mirror. Say it several times a day until it feels true. Then, when you need it for real, you’ll be ready to stand up for who you really are.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is a…
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Sep 5, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Where is Life Taking You?
Maybe you’ve heard the saying, “don’t look back – you’re not going that way.” Heck, I’ve said it in at least two of the 300+ Tiny Bite podcasts before this one.
Oops…I just looked back!
Where are you going in life? If you’re like most people, you have a general – or maybe very specific – idea of where you’d like to be in two years or five years or ten years, and not one of those goals includes finding a time machine and going backwards.
Progress means to move forward or onward in space and time and that’s the direction you’re going. So you can look back if you want to, but only to encourage those who are following you. Otherwise, don’t look back because you’re not going that way.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#podcast #vetlife #veterinarian #vethospital #vettech #notonemorevet #pet #petindustry #animals #wellbeing #success #leadership #leader #lawofattraction
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Sep 4, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Key to Becoming Undead
It’s ok to do nothing.
Many of us are raised to value constant movement and work. We feel our worth by what we produce and how much we do and how busy we are. There is value in doing what you’ve agreed to do efficiently and well, and because you’re human, there exists the necessity for rest.
Sometimes people say “I’ll rest when I’m dead” or “you can rest when you’re dead” and guess what? That’ll make you dead quicker than if you rest along the way.
The human body, mind and soul need rest, and it’s imperative for your health to rest when you need it.
Feeling worn out or burned out? Do nothing. Do nothing unapologetically. It’s up to you to take care of you. If you don’t do it, who will?
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#podcast #vetlife #veterinarian #vethospital #vettech #notonemorevet #pet #petindustry #animals #wellbeing #success #leadership #leader #lawofattraction
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Sep 3, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - A Fun Way to Improve Team Dynamics
Do you lead a team that could work together better than they currently do? Try laughter.
Research into laughter – not the face people make when they laugh, but the sound they make – shows that people who laugh together like each other. And people who like each other want to collaborate and succeed together.
I’m not telling you to whip out old copies of Mad Magazine – just look for times when you’re all together and can share a laugh. That “all together” part is very important – laughter has a dark side when it’s used socially to ridicule a person. If there’s a sitcom dealing with your industry, maybe have a shared lunch each week and watch an episode. Find stories you can tell on yourself so that you’re the butt of the joke that your team can laugh along with. If something happens and it makes your team laugh, see if it could be a running joke. As long as it isn’t at a co-worker’s expense or making fun of a client, create a running joke and run with it.
T…
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Sep 2, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Why Explaining Yourself Backfires
Do you know that it’s ok to say “no” and stop right there?
It’s perfectly ok to want to help when someone asks you to, evaluate the request, realize that it will take too much time or too much energy or too much whatever, and say “no.” You don’t need to give a reason for your answer.
Reasons don’t matter anyway, and feel like excuses to the other person. Even worse, if the other person really wants your help, they can use your reasons against you, defusing them one by one until you’re boxed into doing something you don’t want to do. And knowing you and your kind heart, you’ll do it, hopefully without beating yourself up about it.
If you can suggest a person better equipped to fulfill the request, by all means suggest them. If a request feels like something you can’t or don’t want to do, don’t do it. And don’t explain why, either.
“No” is a complete sentence that will serve you and your mental wellbeing very very well.
Want more? Click here for a…
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Sep 1, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Complete Yourself
Are you waiting for that perfect person to come along and complete you? The person who makes your life worth living and who will be your partner and best friend for life?
The romantic notion of that once-in-a-lifetime love is so pervasive in society and yet it’s as much a fairy tale as Cinderella or Jack and the Beanstalk.
Love has to come from you before it can come to you, so if you want to feel love, just go ahead and decide to feel it.
Feel love for your car.
Feel love for your pillow.
Feel love for your pets if you have any.
Feel love for the woman struggling with her crying child in the cereal aisle of the grocery store.
Really feel the love – feel love for yourself. Appreciate your body and whatever it does to support you through the day. Feel love for what you know and what you’ve done and what you’ve overcome to be the person you are today.
Feel love for the real perfect person in your life – the one who completes you, celebrates your growth, makes your life wor…
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Aug 31, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - A Science-Based Self-Improvement Process
Are you like me - a big fan of process?
Do you like processes that are science-backed?
Would you like a simple, science-based process for self-development?
Here you go – a study conducted by the University College of London in 2009 and published in the European Journal of Social Psychology found that a behavior can be changed, and that it takes an average of 66 days to do it.
Here is your formula – form the intention to change or add a certain behavior, perform the behavior around an already-established behavior each day, keep a log or journal as you work to add the behavior and don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day. Just do it the next day as if nothing happened.
Soon, you won’t have to think about doing the new thing – it will be a practice, then will be a routine, and then it will feel weird to not do it.
Got something you want to stop doing or start doing? Now you have the process. Neuroplasticity for the win!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happ…
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Aug 30, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Let's Talk Loyalty
Do you feel loyalty to anyone or anything in your life? Do you feel loyal to your employer? Your partner? Your school or your mentor or your dentist? Just what is loyalty, anyway?
The Oxford dictionary defines it as a strong feeling of support or allegiance, and for most people there are a handful of people and institutions that they feel loyal towards.
Remember, though – you can feel loyal towards a person and they may seem to be loyal to you when they’re really only loyal to their need of you. When they don’t need what you were giving them anymore, watch the loyalty you thought you had vanish as the person vanishes from your life.
It’s OK – let them go. You’re worth true loyalty, the kind of loyalty you give, not the fair-weather kind that person gave you.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#podcast #vetlife #veterinarian #vethospital #vettech #notonemorevet #pet #petindustry #animals #wellbeing #success #leadership #leader…
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Aug 29, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Taking a Friend Break
Have you and a friend had a falling-out?
Is it a big one – the kind where you won’t talk for days or maybe even weeks?
Have you had that kind of falling-out with the same friend before?
If so, it’s time to examine what that friendship really is. Is it just a habit? Is it a co-dependency? Is it a need to hang on to a certain period or part of your life experience, no matter how dysfunctional holding on to it might feel at times?
Before you try to heal this falling-out with your friend, ask yourself how this friendship makes you feel. Do you usually have fun when you’re together? Does making plans with this friend make your heart sing? When something wonderful happens in your life, is this person at the top of your list to call and share the news?
If you can’t answer “yes” to all three of those questions, this person may not be a real friend. Take a break. Take a long break. No calls, no texts, no DMs – nothing.
Does it feel good to be free for a while? Then don’t g…
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Aug 28, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Feeling All the Feels on Purpose
Pop quiz… what are your feelings right this very moment? Contented? Irritated? Worried? Optimistic? Happy?
Seriously…examine how you feel, without creating any judgement around it. Notice your feelings, and then think about how often you might feel that same way. Does it feel normal to feel worried or irritated or optimistic or however you’re feeling? Do you like the feeling or would you rather feel better?
Brain imaging has shown us that you can change the way your brain is working for the better simply by choosing to feel better. Choosing to feel better can be tricky, though, because you have to be aware of how you feel in order to feel better.
Here’s the great news, though – you just now showed yourself how to tune into your feelings.
Can you do that several times a day until it becomes a habit? When you can tune into your feelings you can create a better atmosphere inside your head, inside your body and inside your life.
Want more? Click here for a free audio cours…
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Aug 27, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Here's Your Quick Diversity Check
Are you hard on yourself?
Do you sometimes – or maybe often – compare yourself to others and feel inferior?
Are you near a window?
Look out the window and find two pieces of nature that are similar – two bushes, two trees, two birds – whatever you can see. As you look at the two things, are you comparing them and condemning one of them? Probably not – you’re probably noticing differences between them and not making judgements about what you see.
We value diversity in people, in thoughts, heck, even in snowflakes! We’re taught from youngest childhood that it’s a miracle that they’re all complete individuals.
Please stop comparing yourself to others. You are you and not one other person on the planet can say that. Go be the best you you can possibly be, because you are a unique and fabulous individual!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
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Aug 26, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Wisdom from a Century-Old Poem
No matter how hopeless things feel, it can help to remember that people have felt helpless before you and people will feel hopeless after you and yet hope is always within your grasp. In 1921, the poet Edgar A. Guest published a poem called "Keep Going” that is as relevant today as it was a century ago.
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must—but don’t you quit.
Life is like the stock market – it’s full of highs and lows, and when you sell stock at a loss, you lock in the loss instead of holding on until the inevitable rebound occurs.
And there’s always a rebound. Always.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
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Aug 25, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Deploying Your Mental Growth Chart
Want a way to quickly kick up your self-confidence?
When something happens that used to make you angry or sad, notice it. Notice how you’re feeling about it now that you’ve grown wiser. Then laugh, forgive your past self for not knowing everything there is to know, and give yourself a mental hug for the growth you’ve achieved.
Need an example? Recently I was second in line at a red light. When the light turned green, the person didn’t go. And didn’t go. And didn’t go! My younger self would have been impatient, blowing the horn and blowing her top. That day, that didn’t happen. Instead, I wondered if they were lost in sad thoughts because of something happening in their life.
I felt compassion instead of consternation, and no matter what was causing that driver to be inattentive, I felt a lot better than when I used to get angry. And isn’t feeling better worth the mental gymnastics?
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
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Aug 24, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Self-Esteem Self-Test
How’s your self-esteem?
A quick way to self-assess is to pay attention to what your brain says when something happens. Let’s say your lover broke up with you – is your brain more likely to say, “we had a good time while it lasted” or “what’s wrong with me – I can’t manage to stay in a relationship?”
If it’s the former, yay, you! You’re maintaining a good sense of perspective, along with understanding that some things are not in your control.
If your brain beats up on you with that “what’s wrong with me” kind of thinking, you could use a little self-esteem tune-up. When your brain is telling you that it was your fault, it’s saying something to you that you would NEVER say to your best friend.
Don’t let your brain beat up on you – put up your mental stop sign and think about something else. Every time your brain tries to take you back to the breakup and how it was all your fault, think about something else. Do something that occupies your mind so i…
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Aug 23, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Insidiousness of Imposter Syndrome
I won an award recently. I’m not telling you this to brag.
It was a very big one, the most prestigious that the organization grants, and it was a surprise. As I listened to the presenter, it slowly dawned on me that he was talking about me – that I was the person winning the big award.
First came shock, then pleasure, then imposter syndrome reared its ugly head in that subtle way it has of bursting balloons. Thoughts of “but I didn’t do anything special” and “anyone in my position would have done the same thing” and “maybe no one else was nominated.”
Seriously? Yes, seriously – imposter syndrome can and does undermine some of the best moments of our lives if we let it.
In that moment, before I took the stage to accept the award, I reminded myself that others had been in my position and didn’t do what I did. That what I did was special. That, whether anyone else was nominated or not, the services I had provided to that organization warranted the recognition.
I…
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Aug 22, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - You Can't Make Someone Happy
Is there someone in your life that you’re trying to make happy? I don’t mean someone you do nice things for because it makes you feel good, I mean someone who is in some sort of relationship with you, doesn’t seem entirely satisfied with that relationship, and you find yourself making decisions based on how you think it will make them feel?
Take a moment and think about this – as powerful and as wonderful as you are, you do not have the power to make someone happy.
You can give them a raise if they’re your employee, you can change the way you wear your hair if they’re your life partner, you can make all the external changes they seem to want from you and guess what – they will only be happy when they choose to be happy.
What they’re choosing is to be unhappy and blame you for it.
That’s a losing situation for you – you can never win. It’s time to decide what would make you happy in that relationship and go do it. Life is far too short to be another person’s…
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Aug 21, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Why Hindsight is Always 20/20
Look back on your life a few years ago. Did it feel more predictable than it feels now?
You know that saying, “hindsight is always 20/20?” There’s neuroscience behind that.
First, when you look back at events in your past you’re looking through the lens of what you learned from those events. Your brain is filling in the gaps you had at the time of the events, so of course it feels more comfortable now than it did then.
Second, because life is a journey and you haven’t taken the next step yet, the present and future feel unpredictable, while the past has happened so there’s no need to speculate.
Your life was never more predictable than it is right now, and was never more filled with potential, either. So enjoy those steps you’re taking now and the ones you’ll take tomorrow and the day after that.
Stop looking back…you’re not going that way.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
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Aug 20, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - What's Your Mental Toughness Look Like?
Strength – there are so many different forms of mental strength, and my guess is that you have a lot of them living inside you.
The strength to do one more thing when you’ve already put in a long day.
The strength to smile when you really would rather cry or scream.
The strength to share your hopes and dreams and fears.
The strength to talk about what’s bothering you instead of bottling it up inside.
All of those strengths are important, and being strong enough to share your pain and ask for help is important for your mental well-being. If that’s a strength you struggle with, practice it. Just like muscles, your mental strength gets stronger through exercise.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
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Aug 19, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Well, Excuse Me!
Do you make excuses for your looks or your behavior or your attitude? Can I help you stop doing that?
Successful people don’t make excuses.
Strong people don’t make excuses.
Resilient people don’t make excuses.
Life throws a lot of stuff at us a lot of the time, and we roll with it. When someone questions your looks or your behavior or your attitude, you do NOT owe them an explanation. As a matter of fact, you don’t owe them anything. They haven’t lived your life, they don’t know your heart, and if their comments were rude, they’re not going to care about your excuse, it will just give them more ammunition to beat you up with.
You are you, fabulous you, warts and all. The life you’ve lived has shaped you and honed your intellect, your wit and your heart. You don’t owe anyone an explanation or an excuse.
Ever.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
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Aug 18, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Incredible Power of Calm
Want to know one of the most powerful skills you can learn? How to stay calm, no matter what’s going on around you.
When you’re calm, you can think clearly. When you’re calm, you can problem-solve. When you’re calm, you can help someone who’s hurting. When you’re calm, you can make great decisions.
The first step to remaining calm is to take a breath. Don’t react. Take a breath. Take another one if you need it. Give the frontal lobe of your brain the time to bring clear thinking and logic to whatever is happening around you.
When you master calm, you master a great leadership skill as well as a great life skill.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
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Aug 17, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Dark Side of Being Needed
It’s good to feel needed, right? It is good to feel needed – right up until it isn’t.
When someone in your life crosses the line between healthy and unhealthy neediness, it can be a bit disconcerting. Suddenly the things you did for them because it felt good to help them don’t feel so good anymore. It might feel a little like coercion or like they feel you owe them those things you use to feel good about doing. Whatever you do, don’t discount that little voice inside your head that tells you something is wrong – because something is wrong.
Keep people in your life that you love and want in your life because they help you feel good. Don’t keep people in your life who don't make you feel good, or from a feeling of obligation, or because they try to convince you that you should be with them.
When neediness tips over into coercion it’s time for a change of scenery. Value that little voice inside your head and trust it, and go where you’re valued, not where you’re cha…
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Aug 16, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Tackling a Tough Day, Week, Month, Etc.
Are you having a tough day? Or maybe even a tough year?
Life is a leisurely stroll most of the time, a mad dash at others, and sometimes it feels like life is a hike straight up a rocky mountainside.
If your life is in the “rocky mountainside” phase at the moment, maybe try focusing on what’s positive about the steep hike. You’re developing more skills by handling new challenges. Perhaps there are people who are taking a different path, whether by choice or not, and that feels painful. Remind yourself that you are the only person who absolutely has to be with you for the rest of your life, and you’ve been through painful experiences before and can do it again.
And when you’re having a moment where it feels like you can’t climb even one more step up your rocky mountainside, think about what it will be like when you reach the top. Because you can and you will reach the top. Enjoy thinking about the view as you climb.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Hap…
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Aug 15, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Sensing a Pattern
Are you tethered by time?
Gravity ties us to the earth, and for many people, time tethers us to a schedule. And the way the brain works, once you’ve done the schedule long enough – for some people it’s two weeks, for others it could be up to 8 months – the brain latches onto that schedule like it’s a new religion. We call it “creating a new habit” and in the brain it’s really creating a new pattern to run.
Brains love patterns because it allows them to focus on other things while running the pattern. What that means is that, just by creating a pattern, your brain tethers you to the time the pattern uses up. That’s why some people don’t take vacation days – it breaks the pattern, and that’s hard. That’s why some people can’t be spontaneous about going out with friends – it breaks the pattern.
Take some time today to think about the patterns your brain runs and whether you’d really rather have some of that time back for other things. Get intentional abo…
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Aug 14, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - How You Make a Difference
Do you often feel like you’re here in this world to make a difference? Like you have a mission to complete? And do you sometimes feel like you don’t know what your mission is, and that you’re not making a difference?
Think of one person who has made a positive difference in your life. For me, it was my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Sharrett. I don’t know how many hundreds or thousands of students she had during her career, and it doesn’t matter – she made me feel special.
How did she do that? She showed she cared. That’s it. She showed she cared.
She showed it to other kids in my class, too, and it somehow made her seem even more special and magical. When I look back, she was just going through her day, being herself.
I hope she knew how magical she was, and how much of a difference she made in a lot of little lives. And I hope, as you reflect on the person who made a positive difference in your life, you realize that not only was your special person magical, so are you. Ju…
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Aug 13, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Glitter On, Life Changer!
Who did you interact with yesterday?
Seriously – think for a moment about who you talked to, even if it seemed inconsequential and fleeting. Co-workers and family members, probably – who else? Someone at a drive-through? The person ringing up your groceries? Clients, customers and the letter carrier who dropped off the latest junk mail collection? That lady on the walking trail, lost in thought, who managed a smile when you said good morning?
Those interactions may feel routine and hardly worth noting, and yet the other people have a completely different experience. To them, you were caring. To them, you were a smile and greeting when they were feeling blue. To them, you were a kind word in someone else’s otherwise routine day.
You carry a sparkle with you wherever you go, and you can’t see the glitter you leave on other peoples’ lives. But you do.
Glitter on, you sparkly person, you!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
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Aug 12, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Death, Taxes and the Power of Words
Mom taught me a lesson that has served me well throughout my life – words can never be taken back.
Never.
You can apologize and explain and cry and do whatever you can think of to make the other person feel better after you say something hurtful, and you can never undo how your words made them feel.
Some people are really good at weaponizing words – they get in those little digs meant to sound like jokes, or they just come right out and say words that should have remained inside their heads. Those people are such gifts in life – they show us exactly how they feel about us, so we can feel good about removing them from our lives.
Words can never be taken back – weigh yours well.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
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Aug 11, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Change Glorious Change
Remember those yearbook messages from your friends – “don’t ever change” is a pretty common one, and illustrates the naivete of young adults.
Change is who I am. Change is who your high school best friend is. Change is who you are.
You were you as a two-year-old…you were a different version of you, but still you, as a 10-year-old. You were you when you graduated high school and you as you tackled your first “real” job and you’re you today. Not a single one of those versions of you is the same.
Sure, the same person, and yet not – because every day you live new experiences. Every day you meet new people. Every day you make new decisions about who you are, based on things that have just happened.
Embrace the change that is you – it’s where the magic happens!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
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Aug 10, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - BS vs Broadway
Are you dealing with BS at work? Yep, that sounds about right, because there’s always BS at work. Even in the workplaces with the best team dynamics, friction will occur. Great leaders understand the need to refocus the negative energy – great team members do, too.
If you’re in the middle of a bit of workplace drama, try to mentally step back from the details. Try to focus on the shared mission and the things you do like and admire about the other person or people involved. If you can’t do that, try to ignore the drama and keep your head down, focused on what you need to get done.
And if all you can do to make yourself feel better is sing the theme song from the musical Annie in your head, do it. Heck, make people laugh – sing it out loud! Tomorrow, tomorrow…!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
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Aug 9, 2022
Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - About Being Triggered
Do you work with someone who is easily offended? Maybe they’re constantly talking about someone who triggers them, and uses that as their reason for being offended or angry?
Does this person work for you or with you? Help them understand the difference between someone intentionally causing offence and this person feeling offended.
A fun way to do this is to mirror their behavior back to them when they “offend” you. Pick a word they use, make up a silly reason why you would be offended by it, and look for moments when it’s only the two of you to tell them how much they just offended you and that the word they used triggered you.
Then, follow up by gently comparing what you just did to them to what they often do to others, and remind them that just as they didn’t mean to offend you, their team members don’t mean to offend them.
When they can learn to not take everything personally, they’ll lead a happier, calmer life and will be a much better team member.
Want more? C…
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Aug 8, 2022
Veterinary Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - What Your Dreams May be Doing to You
What are you working for? What are you dreaming of? Are you working for a better tomorrow, and dreaming of someday?
That’s very human – as a matter of fact, brain imaging shows that inside most peoples’ heads, there’s a lot of activity when they’re thinking about their goals, hopes and dreams. The brain imaging doesn’t tell the whole story, though – chemically, when thinking of goals, hopes and dreams, many people are feeling stress, not happiness.
When researchers look at people who are focused on the people, animals, plants, and events around them, chemically many of them are in a state of satisfaction and happiness.
Sure, it’s great to have goals, hopes and dreams. It’s better to focus on the steps on the path to those goals – stay present and focused on right now and let your head and your heart guide you on a satisfying path to those goals, one step at a time.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
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Aug 7, 2022
Veterinary Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - The Pain You Inflict on You
Did someone hurt you, disrespect you or otherwise do you wrong? That’s on them. Do you carry a grudge, tell the story of their bad behavior, or relive that story inside your head over and over?
That’s on you.
As long as you interact with other human beings, something is bound to bruise your feelings, make you mad or break your heart. Stuff happens. What you do with that stuff, and whether or not you choose to heal the hurt and move on, is completely up to you. Wallowing in the story, in the hurt and in the betrayal is pain you are choosing to inflict on yourself.
Make a choice that allows you to move on and heal.
When the story starts to play inside your head or come out of your mouth, remind yourself that you already felt that pain once – there’s literally no need for you to feel it again. Then square up your shoulders, put a smile on your face and move into a new, healthier chapter of your life.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside J…
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Aug 6, 2022
Veterinary Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Taking Control of What's Controlling You
Do you feel like you’re drowning in your job? Overloaded with responsibilities and ridiculously high expectations?
I know someone who is amazing at what he does. He’s an amazing manager, an amazing client service person and an amazing juggler of the million responsibilities that come with his regional position. And he’s miserable, and is taking a salary and responsibility cut so he can have his life and sanity back.
That is strength that I admire. You, too?
Think about your current situation. Can you value yourself enough to honestly evaluate your day-to-day responsibilities, weighing the pieces of your job that bring you joy against the pieces that stress you out? Can you value yourself enough to delegate what you can, say “no” to what you can, and focus on the pieces of your position that you love, like the man I know is doing?
Do it – I double-dog-dare you to take control of your job so you can have your life and sanity back, too.
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Aug 5, 2022
Veterinary Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Tackling the To-Do Ta-Daaaa!
Is your to-do list a mile long today? Are you having trouble figuring out what to tackle first? The inability to decide where to place your focus just compounds the problem.
Take a walk…seriously! Even if it’s just up and down a long hallway, the process of alternating arm swing and leg swing helps re-set your brain’s ability to process things easily.
When you’re stuck in that feeling of overwhelm, stop. Walk. And as you walk, remind yourself to focus only on what you can do something about. When you’re done walking, go back to your to-do list and cross off the things that aren’t in your control, or that require someone else to do something before you can do what you need to do.
Take your focus away from things you can’t do anything about right now – give your energy and focus to the things you can tackle right now. There…now go tackle your day!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
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Aug 4, 2022
Veterinary Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Something to Crow About
Human beings are our own worst enemies. Seriously!
Someone offers us an opportunity – we hear about a job we’d love to have – and we start second-guessing our qualifications, abilities and worthiness.
Today I watched a flock of crows working on a piece of bread, each trying to get a bite. Not one of those crows hung back, seemingly doubting itself. Each vied for position, hopped in when they could, and snagged a morsel or two. Somehow they all managed to get enough, and you can, too.
When opportunity knocks and that little voice inside your head starts in with the negativity, channel your inner crow – go for that piece of bread! It’s yours, you earned it and you deserve it!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
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Aug 3, 2022
Veterinary Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Silence is Powerfully Golden
Have you heard the old saying, “Silence is golden?” There’s sooooo much truth to that.
When someone says something that makes you feel defensive, be silent.
When someone is rude to you, be silent.
When someone is argumentative, be silent.
If it’s tough not to open your mouth, think now of something you can say, over and over inside your head, to keep you from reacting. I like to remind myself “it’s about them, not about me.”
When someone makes me feel defensive, it’s about them, not about me.
When someone is rude, it’s about them, not about me.
When someone is argumentative, it’s about them, not about me.
That’s true in your life, too. It’s about them, not about you. You don’t have to respond when people are disrespectful to you or of you. It’s about them, not about you. There is so much power in that knowledge!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
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Aug 2, 2022
Veterinary Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Prioritizing Your Priorities
At the beginning of each day, what are your priorities? Let’s say it’s a work day – do you run through your important to-do’s for the day as your day begins? What’s on your list?
Seriously – think about it right now – what’s on your typical daily priority list? Are you on that list? If so, yay! And if not, this Tiny Bite is for you.
The things you accomplish each day are the things you make a priority. You keep hearing that self-care is important and you probably mean to do something about figuring out what self-care looks like for you…one of these days.
Can you commit to making “one of these days” today?
Because until you make a plan for your own self-care, it won’t be a priority for you. And what’s not a priority doesn’t happen. Click the link below and listen to the free audio course for ideas on making yourself and your mental wellbeing a priority today and every day.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
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Aug 1, 2022
Veterinary Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Hitting the Mute Button on Yourself
Did you make a mistake yesterday? Welcome to the human race – we all do. Maybe yours was a bigger-than-average mistake – how did you feel? Did the voice inside your head chime in with their opinion?
And if you’re thinking, “I don’t have a voice inside my head,” that’s the voice inside your head saying that!
No one will talk to you as much in your life as that voice inside your head talks to you. Most of the time, we listen without questioning. I want you to question. When the voice inside your head says things to you that you would NEVER say to someone else, challenge that.
Why are you allowing the voice inside your head to be rude, mean or even nasty to you? When the voice inside your head starts that same old negativity, hold up your mental stop sign. Change the subject. Recite a poem. Sing a song.
Stop allowing the voice inside your head to talk to you in ways you would NEVER talk to another person. You deserve better.
Want more? Click here for a free audio co…
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Jul 31, 2022
Veterinary Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Get Set for the Good Stuff!
Prepare yourself – good things will happen to you today. Seriously – prepare yourself for the good things that will happen so you can enjoy them when they do.
I met a woman as I was walking my dogs and she was walking hers. One of her dogs looked familiar, and when she told me where she adopted him from I remembered – he was an owner turn-in that I evaluated and groomed for the county animal control so he would be more adoptable. To see the love on that woman’s face and how well-cared-for he was brought tears to my eyes. Heck, it just did again!
Wonderful things like that – thinks you could never expect or predict – happen to you, too. Prepare yourself to receive the sweet little moments today, and know that you earned them and you deserve them. Thank you for the things you do that become good things in other peoples’ day, too!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
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Jul 30, 2022
Veterinary Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Focusing on Others for the Fun of It
Do you believe that everyone you meet can teach you something?
I love going through my day wondering who I’ll meet and what I’ll learn. Sure, it sounds nerdy and weird to some people – leaving myself open to learning from others means that I’m paying attention to the people around me.
I spent about an hour giving blood one day last week and the man who was vampiring my arm was so much fun to play with! He was retired Navy and the two of us ended up laughing so hard swapping stories that I thought we’d be thrown out.
When you pay attention to the people around you, sometimes it turns out great, and sometimes it reminds you how you don’t want to show up in the world. And when someone you care about exits your life, remind yourself that sometimes people show up in your life to help you learn how to let go.
Everyone you meet can teach you something.
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Jul 29, 2022
Veterinary Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Don't You Want to Know?
People who have spent their lives learning things sometimes forget how to continue learning. It’s easy to hold on to what you believe, even when there’s evidence to the contrary.
Neuroscience research illustrates how stubborn our grey matter can be at ignoring information that might disprove something you believe. A really good mental stance to take when you hear something that goes against what you think is true is, “I’m doubting this but I want to know.”
When you can acknowledge the receipt of contrary data and remain open to its possibilities, that’s when you know you’re in control of your brain, your thought process and your life. You may be doubting this, but don't you want to know?
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Jul 28, 2022
Veterinary Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Different Kinds of Storm Survivors
Do you feel like you’re not strong enough? Like everyone else sails through their day untouched and the stumbling blocks litter your path?
I remember feeling totally lost when I was downsized from a job. It was beyond sad – I felt like it was an indictment of my abilities, my talents and my very beingness. There were others downsized at the same time and it seemed to me that they were all handling it better than I was. A dear friend reminded me that when a storm blows through, there are lots of survivors. Sure, a few trees break – most stand, as so most of the bushes and the grass.
You’re a living being, one unlike any other living being on this planet. When a storm blows through your life, remind yourself to appreciate your unique version of “strong.” You have handled everything life has thrown at you so far, and you’ll continue to handle everything. And the storms give you confidence in your strength, if you let them.
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Jul 27, 2022
Veterinary Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - A Quick Leadership Quiz
Do you lead a team? Are you confident in your ability to be a good leader?
Here’s a way to assess your leadership skills – how do things turn out that you delegate instead of doing yourself?
If you end up feeling like you should have just done it yourself so it would have turned out better, oops…your leadership skills could use a bit of polishing up. No worries – it takes time to grow into a great leader, and it’s a lot of skills that can be learned, and I work with people on that all the time.
Where delegation is concerned, only delegate a project to someone who already has the skills to do it well, or who is willing to learn and stretch to live up to your expectations. Teach first, then delegate – it’ll go so much better that way!
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#podcast #vetlife #veterinarian #vethospital #vettech #notonemorevet #wellbeing #success #leadership #leader #lawofattraction
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Jul 26, 2022
Veterinary Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - A Literal Kick in the Pants
A million years ago I broke up with a guy. He wasn’t right for me, and even in my teenagerness, somehow I knew I deserved better. It was hard – I tried to be kind and he wasn’t receptive, so when I had said all I could say and turned to leave, he kicked me in the butt.
Seriously!
At the time it felt like it was about me – I must be a really terrible person if I made someone want to kick me as I was leaving. I know now how ridiculous it was for me to feel responsible – maybe at some point in your life, someone has made you feel responsible for things that weren’t about you, too?
Walking away from what isn’t right for you can be hard, and it is absolutely the right thing for you to do. How others receive you is up to them, and how they react to you when you're taking care of yourself, will validate your decision to stand up for yourself. Focus on that, chin up and move on.
Want more? Click here for a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
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Jul 25, 2022
Veterinary Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites - Thinking vs Doing
Sometimes I think I’ve responded to an email or text, only to realize that I did it in my head and not in real life. Does that ever happen to you, too?
We spend a lot of time thinking about things – things we have to do, things we want to do, and things we shouldn’t do. We think about how to accomplish something, about things we’d like to accomplish, and things we dream of and can’t see how we could ever accomplish them.
Thinking is an important activity, and just like with those emails and texts we thought we’d replied to, nothing happens until we actually do something.
I’m going to go answer a couple of emails – what are you going to do today?
Want more? Click herefor a free audio course, "Happiness is an Inside Job"
#podcast #vetlife #veterinarian #vethospital #vettech #notonemorevet #wellbeing #success #leadership #leader #lawofattraction