What Are You Feeding?

Wolf howling in winter

Last month, I had a period of not sleeping well causing me to lose my energy, focus, and perspective. My erratic moods compelled my husband to ask me frequently, “Are you Good Diane or Bad Diane today?” It reminded me of an old Cherokee tale of two wolves: One evening an elderly Cherokee told his…

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Are You in Resistance or Resilience?

Word no to represent resistance to esilience

There is nothing more potent than experiencing something firsthand when you are writing about it. When I got serious about writing my book, (instead of just talking about writing my book), I experienced an unbelievable amount of resistance. This of course was perfect since we can’t cultivate resilience without resistance. Resistance is the conflict and…

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The Joy in NO

Joy Christmas ornaments

We have trouble saying NO for many reasons. We are good people and don’t want to disappoint anyone, we are high-achievers and think we should be able to do it, or we thrive on the immediate rewards of attention and praise. We also may be challenged with NO when we underestimate the amount of time…

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5 Reasons to Stop Shoulding

I still viscerally feel my heartbreak the day I placed my Mom in a nursing home after her one too many falls with Parkinson’s. I chose to research, visit, and relocate her so she would be taken care of in a safe environment. I chose to call her every day for almost 3 years because…

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Reframe for Easy

Reframing in The Big Easy

Last month I was honored to speak at the AORN Global Surgical Conference in New Orleans, also known as The Big Easy. There are a number of theories about where this nickname came from, but one of the more popular references is how easy it was (and still is) for musicians to land gigs in…

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Your Resilient Summer

Eighteen Summers: It’s All We Get, discusses how many summers we get with our kids before they grow up got me thinking, how many summers we all have left, especially as we know them now. Whether it’s our kids leaving, health declining, or interests wavering, summers, like everything else in life all change and end.…

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7 Acts of Loving-Kindness

Compassion is practicing loving-kindness toward ourselves and others. It is contagious because when we treat ourselves and others kindly, we can be unexpectedly showered with loving-kindness as well. Here are some simple acts of loving-kindness I was fortunate enough to receive during a busy speaking schedule: My client arranged for a late check-out of my…

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3 Words to Let Go of Your Ego

Two weeks before my hip replacement, I went to my pre-op appointment which included a group class. I didn’t think much about it until I walked into a room with 25 other people who didn’t look anything like me. They were much older, bigger, and in worse shape, with canes, walkers, and wheelchairs. After the…

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5 Ways to Clean it Up!

In her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, Marie Kondo has a system for how to organize your entire home. Her principles helped me discern and declutter many areas of my life in addition to my physical environment. Here are 5 of my favorites: 1. Discard first,…

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Trust the Storm

Springtime in the Rockies can be a challenging time of the year because of the warm weather tease we inevitably get in March (this year it came in February). Those 60 and 70 degree sunny days thaw us with warmth and delight us with tulips and new growth. And just as I am contemplating putting…

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