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

Send us Fan Mail Remember a while back when I shared the story about the greedy King, who never smiled? He learned that there was a magical quiltmaker living in the mountains. He asked one of his soldiers why he had never received a quilt from the quiltmaker. The soldier replied, "Because she only gives her quilts to the poor." When the king demanded she give him a quilt, she refused. He...

Send us Fan Mail Last week during class, I showed my students a video clip on being resilient. After it was over, I asked them to write down everything they could remember from the clip. I'd like to ask you to do a similar exercise. Take a piece of paper and pen and for 30 seconds, write down everything and everyone you do not want to take for granted. Did it get easier the more you wrote or...

Send us Fan Mail If you reflect with me for one minute who were the three kindest people you know, who might you choose? What is the evidence that points to the reason you chose them? Would you be in someone's top 3 list of kind people? What would the evidence be that they might choose you? What gives me hope today is that kindness in the end is always stronger than hatred. It lingers in some...

Send us Fan Mail Bonnie Benard, wrote, Resiliency: What We Have Learned, in which she identifies four questions to help understand one's meaning in life. We should consider asking ourselves: 1) Who am I? 2) What do I love? 3) How shall I live? and 4) How can I make a difference. "If there is meaning," says Benard, "there is purpose." Notice that purpose does not necessaril...

Send us Fan Mail The power in stories is that you can use the same story to support many different ideas or concepts. You can also tell stories over and over because not only do we learn something different each time we hear a story, but stories ignite something amazing...connection, hope, peace, inspiration, pleasure...and so much more. I'm reminded this week of a story I have told many time...

Send us Fan Mail Dear Family and Friends,  Have you noticed that when you look through a stained glass window, you cannot see the shapes beyond it very clearly or distinctly? You can hardly even distinguish shapes or colors. But yet there is beauty and purpose in the side you do see. Stained glass is a great metaphor for life in many ways.  Today I will talk about hard things. Like looking through...

Send us Fan Mail Liese Greensfelder, from California, decided in 1973 at 18 years of age to pursue a dream to help people in time of need, so she joined The Norwegian Committee for International Education and Youth Work to work on a Norwegian farm. She was to live with a family on their farm and work over the summer. When she arrived, there was no one at the train station to meet her. She eventual...

Send us Fan Mail My dad was amazing at making relationships and initiating conversations with people. If you had asked him how he was so good at that art, he would probably have said, "Well, I ask a question, and then I listen." And that is exactly what he did. One of his favorite books was, How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie. He suggested I read it. It has since b...

Send us Fan Mail There is an African proverb that says, "if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together."  Have you found yourself in conversation with someone or a group that was so good, so nurturing to your spirit that you didn't want it to end? What is the magic found in those kinds of conversations? I wonder if it's because they bring us together with...

Send us Fan Mail I have a group of friends, Rozi, Sue, Connie, and Jennie, who are amazing quilters. Years ago, I learned how to quilt from Rozi, however, I did not keep up with the art. Though I'm not a quilter, I tell stories. So, together, this group makes the essence of today's podcast. Stories...that made the last quilt. Thanks for listening.

Send us Fan Mail A wonderful quote attributed to Anne Frank says, "No one has ever become poor by giving." In these fearful days, doing something for another is an instant antidote for the fear that can too easily have a grip on our inner peace. Giving comes in many forms...in tangible ways or in caring, listening, or doing, for example. The feeling of fulfilment and joy comes from any f...

Send us Fan Mail Thich Nhat Hanh said, “Everything – including love, hate, and suffering, needs food to continue. If suffering continues, it’s because we keep feeding our suffering.” Ghandi said, "My life is my message." Two powerful quotes by two powerful people who found their power, their influence, their purpose in living meaningful lives promoting joy, love, and goodness.  Today&apo...

Send us Fan Mail I was a sophomore in college when I first began dating my husband. I had just been awarded a college letter jacket for my role as the college's first woman football trainer. I was so proud of that jacket. Soon after receiving it, I went to lunch in the campus center and when I returned to the coat hooks, my jacket was gone. Someone took it. I was devastated, angry, and disapp...

Send us Fan Mail Phrases have always surfaced to represent a series of actions, concepts, or tasks. For example, a new one we hear about now is the concept of "onboarding," which is defined as the process of integrating a new employee into the company or institution.  Lately, I have heard several terms that are new to me and represent a good nudge that brings about change, positive growt...

Send us Fan Mail Many years ago, I went with a group of friends to Minneapolis to attend the live radio production of Prairie Home Companion ,  by the storyteller, Garrison Keillor. I sat next to a young man with a red t-shirt that said, "Kenosha Storytellers," or something like that. We struck up a conversation and I told him I always wanted to be a storyteller. He said, "Just go f...

Send us Fan Mail Margaret J. Wheatley wrote,  Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future, in 2009. In reading it, you would think she wrote it with today in mind. She describes some of the beliefs that motivate her actions. Wheatley says, "People are the solution to the problems that confront us .... I can't think of anything that has given me more hope re...

Send us Fan Mail Many of you may remember the characters in the children's book series of Junie B. Jones or Pippi Longstockings. These two girls were known for their  unconventional, independent, imaginative, and mischievous spirits. Perhaps what was so endearing is their fearlessness in being authentic, who they truly were. It reminds me of the quote I found recently by an unknown author who...

Send us Fan Mail Isn't it fascinating how in a completely dark room, lighting a single match allows you to see where to walk, what to avoid, treasures, and a way out? It shows that one small light is indeed more powerful than a great expanse of darkness. One small crack of light under a door  keeps a large room from being dark.  Perhaps in this dark time, being with a kind, hopeful, or positi...

Send us Fan Mail I love getting to know our servers whenever we go to a restaurant. When my husband, Donnie, our daughter, Maria, and our dear friend Matt go out to eat, I will ask several questions to our server, starting with what their name is if not already given, and then whatever question comes to my mind. Matt will usually chime in by saying, "She'll have your life story before we...

Send us Fan Mail In Norwegian folklore, trolls are notorious for being of large physical size and strength, but very small brains. Since trolls were so huge, the only way Norwegians were able to defeat the troll was to outwit it with their intelligence and problem solving skills.  Sometimes, it does us well to think of fear as a troll. It seems at times to have the ability to defeat us, but within...

Send us Fan Mail Long ago I heard a quote that has stayed with me. It goes, "Life is like a field of newly fallen snow. Where you choose to walk, your footsteps will show."  Have you ever hugged someone who was wearing cologne or perfume and found that the rest of the day, the scent lingered on your clothes? Did you find that as you breathed in the scent throughout the day, you would thi...

Send us Fan Mail One of my favorite shows is CBS Sunday Morning. Yesterday one of the segments depicted current survivors of the Holocaust. They are now in their 80s and 90s. A photographer, Gillian Laub, is taking beautiful photographs of as many of these survivors as she can and then displays their pictures on the sides of buildings in New York City with quotes and inscriptions to not forget wha...

Send us Fan Mail Lighthouses have been on my mind lately. Recently I was introduced to the concept of "Lighthouse Parenting," which describes parents who stand with their children to aid in guidance or direction, but do not always prevent them from making mistakes in order that they can learn from them to grow wise and strong. Today I will talk about Lighthouses again from a different va...

Send us Fan Mail I have a three-legged milking stool that used to belong to my husband, Donnie's dad or grandfather. It's a treasure to me because it reminds me of the stories shared by my parents and father-in-law of those days on the farm, milking the cows by hand. It was a lot of work. Milking cows today is still a lot of work, but in a different way.  We are doing a lot of mental wor...

Send us Fan Mail When was the last time you had a really good talk with someone? I don't know about you, but after one of those good conversations, I feel so fulfilled. There's something about sharing words and thoughts and hearing words and thoughts from others back and forth to produce meaningful interactions that puts a layer of goodness, purpose, and of course meaning to our lives. C...