An Ever Changing World

Star Fish Story - Making a Difference Every Day

Baby laughing.. this made me laugh too...

Cover Tune Grab Bag - "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" and the Original song by The Beatles

The Most Important Meetings You’ll Ever Attend Are the Meetings You Have With Yourself

You are your most important critic. There is no opinion so vitally important to your well being as the opinion you have of yourself. As you read this you’re talking to yourself right now. “Let’s see if I understand what he means by that… How does that compare with my experiences? – I’ll make note of that – try that tomorrow – I already knew that…I already do that.” I believe this self-talk, this psycholinguistics or language of the mind can be controlled to work for us, especially in the building of self-confidence and creativity. We’re all talking to ourselves every moment of our lives, except during certain portions of our sleeping cycle. We’re seldom even aware that we’re doing it. We all have a running commentary in our heads on events and our reactions to them.

• Be aware of the silent conversation you have with yourself. Are you a nurturing coach or a critic? Do you reinforce your own success or negate it? Are you comfortable saying to yourself, “That’s more like it”. “Now we’re in the groove.” “Things are working out well.” “I am reaching my financial goals.” “I’ll do it better next time.”

• When winners fail, they view it as a temporary inconvenience, a learning experience, an isolated event, and a stepping-stone instead of a stumbling block.

• When winners succeed, they reinforce that success, by feeling rewarded rather than guilty about the achievement and the applause.

• When winners are paid a compliment, they simply respond: “Thank you.” They accept value graciously when it is paid. They pay value in their conversations with themselves and with other people.

A mark of an individual with healthy self-esteem is the ability to spend time alone, without constantly needing other people around. Being comfortable and enjoying solitary time reveals inner peace and centering. People who constantly need stimulation or conversation with others are often a bit insecure and thus need to be propped up by the company of others.

Always greet the people you meet with a smile. When introducing yourself in any new association, take the initiative to volunteer your own name first, clearly; and always extend your hand first, looking the person in the eyes when you speak.

In your telephone communications at work or at home, answer the telephone pleasantly, immediately giving your own name to the caller, before you ask who’s calling. Whenever you initiate a call, always give your own name up front, before you ask for the party you want and before you state your business. Leading with your own name underscores that a person of value is making the call.

Don’t brag. People who trumpet their exploits and shout for service are actually calling for help. The showoffs, braggarts and blowhards are desperate for attention.

Don’t tell your problems to people, unless they’re directly involved with the solutions. And don’t make excuses. Successful people seek those who look and sound like success. Always talk affirmatively about the progress you are trying to make.

As we said earlier, find successful role models after whom you can pattern yourself. When you meet a mastermind, become a master mime, and learn all you can about how he or she succeeded. This is especially true with things you fear. Find someone who has conquered what you fear and learn from him or her.

When you make a mistake in life, or get ridiculed or rejected, look at mistakes as detours on the road to success, and view ridicule as ignorance. After a rejection, take a look at your BAG. B is for Blessings. Things you are endowed with that you often take for granted like life itself, health, living in an abundant country, family, friends, career. A is for accomplishments. Think of the many things you are proud of that you have done so far. And G is for Goals. Think of your big dreams and plans for the future that motivate you. If you took your BAG – blessings, accomplishments and goals – to a party, and spread them on the floor, in comparison to all your friends and the people you admire, you’d take your own bag home, realizing that you have as much going for yourself as anyone else. Always view rejection as part of one performance, not as a turn down of the performer.


Action Idea: Go for one entire day and night without saying anything negative to yourself or to others. Make a game of it. If a friend or colleague catches you saying something negative, you must put fifty cents in a drawer or container toward a dinner or evening out with that person. Do this for one month and see who has had to pay the most money toward the evening.

Advice to Young Girls

The next generation of women are bombarded with so much pressure from the media and their peers. More than ever before, they need positive messages from healthy role models.

You Are Powerful

 "The message I would most want to instill is: you are more powerful than you know; you are beautiful just as you are." — Melissa Etheridge

You Are Unique 

"That each of them is already a unique and valuable person when she's born; every human being is." — Gloria Steinem

You Are Courageous 

"Courage. Also, I encourage courtesy—to accept nothing less than courtesy and to give nothing less than courtesy. If we accept being talked to any kind of a way, then we are telling ourselves we are not quite worth the best. And if we have the effrontery to talk to anybody with less than courtesy, we tell ourselves and the world we are not very intelligent." — Maya Angelou

You Are Good Enough 

"We need to help them really internalize the message that good enough is good enough. We don’t need to be perfect. We're not supposed to be perfect; we're supposed to be complete. And you can’t be complete if you're trying to be perfect." — Jane Fonda

You Are Worthy 

"That they're beautiful. That they are so important and worthy, and that they need to safeguard themselves from the messages that are out there. That our society, for the most part, when it deals with or talks about women's bodies is wrong. That you don't have to be a size zero. You don’t have to look like a 'Gossip Girl' to be beautiful. That you don’t have to be like one of these bone-skinny actresses. You can be, if that’s how you naturally are, but you don’t have to strive for that. That they're all beautiful, and that any woman has the right to be beautiful and that you can claim this for yourself." — Margaret Cho

You Are a Visionary 

"I just want to awaken [young girls] to know how much power they have. I know it sounds cliché, but I want them to know just the power of vision—because if you can see it, you can get there. I think a lot of times a lot of people are lost: they just don’t believe they can do it. And if you just make one step toward it, you can. Just envision that person you would want to be." —Charreah Jackson

You Are Intuitive 

"Don't doubt… Don't doubt what you know." — Kerry Washington 

You Have a Voice 

"When I worked with students in high schools, I advised them to learn to argue well and not be afraid of confrontations, not be afraid to disagree. If some guy or teacher is not treating you well, you have a right to speak up! You don’t have to lock it away. You don't have to pretend it doesn’t hurt. But you have to speak up in a way that is powerful. Write it down, practice, rehearse your lines if you need to, but please say something! Because if you don't, twenty years later you will still be thinking about it: 'Well, I should have said this to him.' I think we all have those experiences, and hopefully we have less of them now." — Loung Ung

Celebrity Depression Heros

Abraham Lincoln  U.S. president, known to suffer from bouts of depression, wrote this in a letter to a friend: "A tendency to melancholy... is a misfortune, not a fault."

Rosie O’Donnell says she uses inversion therapy—where she hangs upside down to stimulate her brain’s neurotransmitters—to treat her depression.

Craig Ferguson late-night comedian has often spoken publicly about his alcoholism and related depression

Art Buchwald, Mike Wallace, and William Styron  three famous writers—all depressives—jokingly referred to themselves as "The Blues Brothers?"

Jennifer Garner young celeb has not spoken publicly about bouts of depression.

Brooke Shields, well-known for her depression activism, said, "I just felt as though I would never be happy again, and as if I had fallen into a big black hole."

Courtney Cox-Arquette, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Brooke Shields all have experienced  Postpartum depression

Charlie Brown (by Lucy)  famous fictional character was told "Snap out of it" by a less-than-sympathetic friend when he said, "I have deep feelings of depression."