L.I.V.E. Life Inspired Views for Everyday

Send us Fan Mail Today's podcast suggests we try using creativity in combating times of anxiousness or worry. If you don't see yourself as a creative person, that's ok, because as a tool, creativity is simply doing something you enjoy. I found some quotes in  The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity , by Julia Cameron, to encourage you. "Trust that still, sm...

Send us Fan Mail When I ask a question, ask for permission, suggest an idea, etc., I love it when people respond with, "Possibly," or "That's a possibility." Those kinds of responses allow me to dance on the edge of hope. How do we embrace the concept of possibility in our own responses, in our attitudes. Is it a mindset that can be developed? I think so. And with good out...

Send us Fan Mail I love questions. I love asking questions, because you so often find something new that you did not know. Just think of the rabbit holes of thought you have heard when people start asking and responding to interesting questions. I have a book on my shelf entitled,  Power Questions,  by Sobel and Panas. It is filled with questions that can be used in so many kinds of situations. Re...

Send us Fan Mail Several years ago, my husband, Donnie, was gifted a family heirloom, a beautiful wall clock made in Germany and most likely dating back to the early 1900s. It was brought to America by his great-grandfather, Erhardt Kaiser. The clock chimes on the hour and the half hour. When it was mounted on our wall, and the first chimes rang, Donnie was in awe. He said the minute he heard the...

Send us Fan Mail Reflect for a moment and try to remember a time when someone gave you the benefit of the doubt. Trusted you. Can you remember how that act of grace lifted your spirits and reminded you that there truly is goodness in the world? Because our newsfeed is filled with quite the opposite today, it is important to be reminded that there are good, kind, and trusting people around us. The...

Send us Fan Mail I have often said that when I die and you read my many journals, you will find that they are filled mostly with quotes that I love. However, reading those many quotes, you will learn to know who I am because the quotes I have chosen reflect my values, ways I hope to live my life. Those quotes really have shaped me by giving me impetus to work at becoming them. They have influenced...

Send us Fan Mail Alfred Mosher Butts invented the game of Scrabble in 1938. He was an unemployed architect and decided to invent a game that could distract people from the bleak lives they were living during the Great Depression. Butts wanted to create a game that used both skill and chance, combining different elements of anagrams and crossword puzzles. Today's podcast also addresses skill a...

Send us Fan Mail Many years ago, I was with some colleagues in a van driving to summer school. The weather was ominous. The clouds were turning darker and greener. The wind suddenly came up and out my window, it was as if the flying dirt met the darkness of the sky. My friend, Dan, who was driving, shouted to the rest of us, "What should I do?" I said, "Turn into this farm!" We...

Send us Fan Mail Lighthouses. They are beginning to take up residence in my mind in many ways. The metaphors contrived from their purpose and from the experiences around them intrigue me more and more. This week, I found this brilliant analogy: “The Lighthouse Theory,” by an unknown author. It read, “You don’t need to chase people to be seen. Just stand where you are and shine. The right ones will...

Send us Fan Mail I will never forget two meaningful compliments given to me many years ago. The first was from a little boy I worked with as a school counselor. Zach struggled with social cues and other challenges in his life. One day we were walking down the hall together and this little kindergarten boy said to me, "Mrs. Meyer, I used to think you were weird." I replied, "You did,...

Send us Fan Mail As my dad dwelled in the world of dementia, he would repeat several stories from his early life over and over. In reflection, they seemed to give us some kind of wisdom that he wanted to impart. In one of those stories, he recounted going to his professor's office to discuss a paper he was writing. When he came to the office, the professor didn't look up at my dad as he...

Send us Fan Mail Today is another shorter podcast. The time this past week was filled with preparation, caregiving, and finally the Celebration of Life for my sister, Freda. It was a cherished day, with love abounding.  The opportunity to gather with people after a death is powerful and so needed by humans, more than some realize. How I wish I could express how deep my gratitude is for those who c...

Send us Fan Mail This week I chose to share a potpourri of inspiring thoughts and wisdom from sources I find interesting as I peruse the writing of others. I love learning and being inspired, so this week, my podcast has no particular theme other than ideas shared by writers who make me want to live more wisely.  Thanks for listening.  

Send us Fan Mail Regrets...an easy word to say when responding with an RSVP. Often the invite states, "regrets only." Simple and easy. But it is the "regret" that often takes up residence in us as a pit in our stomach or constant recording which takes away our peace of mind because we wish we would have said or done something different. Regrets can imprison us until we make the...

Send us Fan Mail This week's podcast is late because I forgot my computer at my sister, Freda's, condo last weekend. The writing of the script was done, all I had to do was record the podcast, but I couldn't because my computer was in Minneapolis. So, you get the podcast today.  We are in the process of cleaning out my sister's condo after her sudden death. The experience is sa...

Send us Fan Mail Community...thankfulness...when challenging times come, community is what one can almost always be most thankful for.  When have you felt the power of community? It can be something we take for granted. It is definitely one of those things you know is missing when it isn't there. Community. What does it mean to you and how has it helped you through difficult times? Thanks for...

Send us Fan Mail One day I asked my sister, Freda, "aren't you glad we are sisters?" Freda replied, "Yes! How else would we have known each other?" We repeated that great nugget of wisdom many times. I'm so sad today because on Saturday, Freda died suddenly on a trip to Ireland. In times like this, hearing the simple is often so comforting, so Winnie the Pooh, the sim...

Send us Fan Mail We love stories for many reasons, but one of the comforting reasons may be because as most stories resolve, they usually end in someone figuring something out, like a problem or growing in wisdom because of the problem. As I look at all the books containing stories on my shelves, there is definitely that theme, something is somehow figured out. We read books with the anticipation...

Send us Fan Mail We all need a place to call our own. A place to fill our proverbial bucket, a place to spend time alone, or a place to take joy in the things we enjoy doing. A place. At certain times or stages in our lives, it is hard not only to find such a place, but also to find time to escape to that place. But we still need to know that "our" place exists. These places are needed....

Send us Fan Mail Some of you listening today have vivid memories of life before the smartphone. Some of you listening today can hardly remember ever being without a smartphone in your life. My Grandma Myhrwold used to tell me, "There is so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us, it behooves us all not to talk about the rest of us." I think of that quip when I thin...

Send us Fan Mail Many of us have had to introduce ourselves to a new group of some kind. The question usually goes like, "Tell us a bit about yourself." Or sometimes we are asked to give three things that describe who we are. And sometimes we are asked "would you rather" questions, such as "Would you rather give a 10-minute speech or learn to ride a motorcycle?" Whate...

Send us Fan Mail Margaret was an elderly woman I was transporting in the ambulance to the hospital. Alzheimer's had taken much of Margaret's memory. I was completing my paperwork and asked Margaret how old she was. Margaret replied, "I don't know." So, I said, "You know the old baseball player, Satchel Paige? He said, 'How old would you be if you didn't know...

Send us Fan Mail Remember that old adage we learned as kids, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words may never harm me?" We all know that there is no wisdom in that. It just isn't true because words definitely hurt the people to which they are spoken, and often in time they hurt the people who spoke them. A quote I read once said it best, "Words are a powerful vehicle....

Send us Fan Mail The Merriam Webster dictionary defines community as basically a unified body of individuals. Then it adds, "such as:" and describes an assortment of types of those unified bodies or groups. Those are fancy words to describe what happens when a few people join together in unity for anything. Hey! I just saw something in the word, "community!" "Comm" an...

Send us Fan Mail Voltaire said, "Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats." What a good quote to put on your bathroom mirror, on your computer screen, on a sticky note anywhere where you will see it every day. During these dark times, we may need visual reminders to sing and to laugh. Some unknown source bolstered Voltaire's adage with these words, "...