Written by Libby Taffin Sooner or later, life hands out a season of painful loss and change. There will come a time when the bottom seems to fall out of everything, and the feeling of plunging deep into a dark, dark pit seems uncontrollable. Much like a dream experienced in the depth of night that…
The Tongue of Life & Death
“How do you make the switch from a negative mindset to a positive one?” It begins with a simple process: awareness, reflection & rephrasing.
A Thousand Miles
“The Journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.” ~Lao Tsu I read in an article that people with positive attitudes are more likely to see opportunity. Although it comes in many disguises, opportunity can be disguised as failure. It may come clothed as a bad turn of events. It might even reveal…
Can You Beat Rejection?
The Question: Have you ever noticed that a certain amount of fear goes with just about any change? Whether it’s asking for a raise, quitting an old job or starting a new one, buying a home, beginning a new relationship, selling a car, or bringing home a new baby. There’s that “What have I done?”…
The Road Not Taken
I was very young the first time I heard the poem The Road Not Taken. At the time “a yellow wood” had little meaning, except in the context of fall. Mrs. Carpenter read the poem full of thoughtful meaning to a class of wriggly 6th graders who were more concerned about lunch or recess or…
What Life Do You Really Want? 7 Questions to ask.
One dear friend of mine and Jack’s was born in China. As a little girl she moved to the United States. In her predominantly white school, she looked and sounded different and was small. She’d left behind extended family, aunts and uncles, cousins and ancestors. Because she was always getting picked on, Helen felt sad…
Can You Teach an Old Dog New Tricks?
I’m sitting on the couch with my then-boyfriend on New Year’s Eve. We are with his mother a petite and loving woman who I respect and trust. Someone mentions my eighteenth birthday which is about a week away and right then, I get smacked with a realization: I have no life plan. People considered me…
Dreams Like Strings of Lights
What are you dreaming of? It has long been my goal to work for myself. In my early years, I’d been trained that a person got up before the sun, went to work for eight or nine hours and came home beat. For this, you got a paycheck at the end of the week, or two,…
Dream House
I share a lot about having a dream. They’re mighty powerful motivators. They can help you get through a tough job. Dreaming about how you’ll use your degree helps you get through four years of college. My dad was a dreamer. He wanted to build a house and live in the country. He had a…
Learning to Fly
Do you have some goals you’ve hope to accomplish? What’s holding you back or blocking your progress? One thing that held me back for years was lack of clarity. I couldn’t bring into reality my biggest dreams because they were too vague. The first time I hit a bump or it doesn’t go as hoped,…
What a Dull Knife Taught Me
An acquaintance of mine once found herself in a jam. An art show was to be in town and she needed to chop a bushel of tomatoes for her sandwich wagon by the next day. I wanted to help out and offered to chop tomatoes. “Show me your knife.” I pulled one from a drawer….
Paying attention to people around you
Whatever you’re working on, keep going. I talk a lot about showing up to the page. It’s kind of like a train going from station to station. It runs a course, stays on track, gets to destinations. Of course, sometimes they get derailed and so do we. But if you don’t show up, you…
Juli Ocean 