Here we are again, folks! Out with the old! In with the new! Many of us have already reflected a bit about the past year and prepared one or more New Year’s Resolutions. What can we promise ourselves to start or stop doing on the first day of the year, that we’d truly stick with, once decided? (If you’re reading this after day 1 of any new year, you have my permission to start wherever you are!) Often New Year’s resolutions are about kicking a habit or improving our own lives in some way. In my efforts to support and inspire others, I love to throw out random alternative ideas. We can create New Year’s Resolutions from anything that sparks us! For instance, I enjoyed fashioning this poem (of sorts) with relevant rhyming words to suggest a wider view of resolutions. (Many of these serve to share impact beyond our...

A Singing Telegram?  Isn't that when someone dresses up in a silly costume, runs up to a designated person, sings "Happy Birthday" (or something else), and does something embarrassing for the fun of it? Do they still do that? Singing telegrams have been around since 1933. Per Wikipedia, they were first delivered by Western Union, as an attempt to make telegrams more popular and fun than the standard topics of urgent news: (like "Your uncle died. Stop. Funeral in 2 weeks. Stop...." - you get the idea). Telegrams were delivered in person. When telephones became a standard household service in the 1960s, in person telegrams fell off because people could call to talk to each other directly. Western Union suspended its singing telegram services about 1974, but independent companies continued to provide them.  The practice is still very much alive today.   So, what is a singing telegram?  People often imagine sending someone dressed up in costume...

Oh my gosh! My right shoulder and arm have been feeling oddly numb and “heavy-ish” for over a week, though I have no pain. The sensation came on suddenly upon waking one morning. It is difficult to describe this vague persistent “discomfort”. Being right-handed, this has interfered a bit with a variety of regular activities. So far, I have no definitive answer about what the problem is and how to treat it. Emotionally upset, my confidence is shaken when considering future commitments. My mind races. I get anxious and wonder “What will happen next?” Am I having a heart problem? On the verge of a stroke? Muscle over-use syndrome? Nerve impingement in my shoulder or neck? A brain tumor? Multiple Sclerosis? (Is this the end?) Am I right in saying most of us have gone through similar thought processes about our health at one time or another? Have you ever driven...

PROCRASTINATION! If you are like me, your long “to do” list keeps getting moved from one day to the next without a single dent in it! Sure, I rise on time to head out for some exercise. I certainly don’t forget to eat, (and eat, and eat), sit down in front of the TV, watch the news (and the talk show, and whatever comes on next), check my e-mail, social media, “like” a few posts, pop out a few birthday greetings, look at articles (many of which aren’t 100% truth based), maybe turn on my desk top computer, then walk away to check on something I forgot in the kitchen. I started this blog more than a few weeks ago. Though I keep coming back to it, with all that procrastination, it’s a wonder I complete any task! On the other hand, nobody has complained that I didn’t respond to them,...