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

Send us Fan Mail We all are careful to keep a phone charger handy so if ever our phone runs out of battery, we can quickly power it up. If it were so easy with human beings! Many people are running on "low batteries" today with no charger cord in sight.  We hear the need to keep our balance and make time for ourselves, but it's not easy. Just listening to a 5-6 minute podcast takes...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever struggled to live up to someone's expectations? Or have you tried and tried to live up to someone's expectations only to learn they never had those expectations of you in the first place? Or have you been disappointed when someone didn't live up to your expectations? Expectations are powerful. Our daughter, Maria, maintains that she doesn't have e...

Send us Fan Mail Many, many years ago I came across a quote by Gordon MacDonald that urged me to look at leadership in a new way. He said, "A community will grow no higher than the quality of its leader." It bids us look around at the people under someone's leadership. Those cultures exist in families, in the workplace, in communities, and in whole countries. That quote says so much...

Send us Fan Mail What gives us courage to stand up for ourselves, face someone who intimidates us, or look at scarry political outcomes? Sometimes fear is worse when it is contained in our mind than when it comes to pass and we deal with whatever it is.  I have a friend, Jennie Spencer, who has leukemia. She knows her time is probably short and yet with that knowledge, she has learned to dance wit...

Send us Fan Mail Right before I began this intro today, I went on the CaringBridge page of a relative. Kelly had included a quote by Christine Caine that fits the podcast today as well as the times in which we currently live. It says: "Sometimes when you are in a dark place, you think you've been buried. But you've actually been planted." As we traverse the difficult days of tr...

Send us Fan Mail Do you remember hearing the phrase "6 Degrees of Separation?" If you haven't, it refers to a concept that all people average about six or fewer social connections from each other. The studies researching this phenomenon have found surprisingly accurate results.  We all hold a curiosity to discover mutual acquaintances. But there is another kind of connection that I...

Send us Fan Mail Happy New Year!  I continue to be amazed how little phrases, usually conceptually connected to a conversation or moment, can stick in one's mind, beckon a deeper understanding, or can motivate change in a way of living. It's like the mystery around what movies end up becoming classics. You just never know. That is why it behooves us to stay alert, observe, and be an open...

Send us Fan Mail This podcast airs on Christmas Day. The time of year dedicated to giving. There are so many gifts exchanged, but there is one gift that can be given and that can be received that costs nothing to the giver and can be given over and over. It never ages. It can even be regifted over and over. It's the gift of love and it comes in many forms...a few of which are sacrifice, adora...

Send us Fan Mail I have always admired Mother Teresa and all she did to bring notice not only to the needs of the world, but our responsibility as human beings to respond to those needs.  Here is a quote by Mother Teresa that is one we should hang in a prominent place in our homes to remind us of our responsibility to humanity: "If you can't feed a hundred people, feed just one. Never wo...

Send us Fan Mail Today I was at a doctor's appointment. The question was asked to me during the appointment, "what do you like to do?" Oh, my!! I started listing all my interests and it just felt so good thinking about those things that bring me so much pleasure. For some people, the list of interests is long, and for others it is short. There is no law or rule about that.  Another...

Send us Fan Mail Some years ago, I received one of my favorite quotes from a dear friend, Ron Matthias. Over the years we have expounded on the wonder of life and often dug deep into its meaning. He shared a quote with me by Abraham Joseph Heschel that I absolutely love. Here it is: "Wonder rather than doubt is the root of all knowledge."  I am so thankful for that quote. It gives me hop...

Send us Fan Mail We are now moved and settled in Rochester, MN. I have a magic place for my office and happily wrote this week's podcast from that little perch in our new home. But...there are boxes with my office "stuff" that I don't have room for and am struggling with to eliminate. Hence the reason for the topic. Moving is always a wonderful time for all of us to examine our...

Send us Fan Mail I sent a podcast to you today that was a repeat of last year's Thanksgiving podcast because we moved this week and I just did not have the chance to write and record a new one for you! Because of a computer change this summer, my recorded podcasts were lost. So, I only have those that I sent before August 7.  I'll send you a new "old" podcast from not so long a...

Send us Fan Mail Are you waiting for anything? Anyone? The dictionary describes the word "wait" as a transitive verb meaning, to stay in place in expectation of: AWAIT. As an intransitive verb it means, to remain stationary in readiness or expectation, to pause for another to catch up, or to look forward expectantly. I like the last one...to look forward expectantly. It's like peeki...

Send us Fan Mail Remember that old adage, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again?" Trying again is in the hands of the person required to try. Sometimes the barrier in trying again is the one who holds the opportunity for the 2nd chance. I recently experienced the bliss that comes from giving a 2nd chance to someone who was beyond grateful for the opportunity. It can be...

Send us Fan Mail Many years ago I was asked to give a talk on the positive effect of laughing. From my research, I learned things that changed my approach to life that are with me to this day. One of those things is the importance of belly laughing. It exercises your body, but also your spirit and your soul. I had to reflect about the last time I had belly laughed. Now, because I decided to listen...

Send us Fan Mail Over the last year and a half, you have heard me repeat quotes that connected to the message of the podcast many times. I have said some of them over and over, like the three words from my dad, "Assign people value," or from Frances Hodgson Burnett, "We learn things by saying them over and over until they stay in our mind forever," or from Viktor Frankl, "...

Send us Fan Mail On this week's podcast, we explore change. Since recording it 12 hours ago, my family has experienced more change! We may have found a new home! As you listen, you'll find we were at a roadblock only 12 hours ago. This only goes to show that change can happen abruptly or gradually. Whatever the case, people still must deal with change.  How does the thought of change aff...

Send us Fan Mail Have I told you that one of my "un-gifts" is math? I'm pretty bad with numbers!! But when it comes to making relationships, I feel at home.  I'm listening to the book, Outliers , by Malcolm Gladwell right now. Gladwell talks about the human potential and what goes into making it uniquely suited to different people. That being said, I don't know why exactly...

Send us Fan Mail Don't you wonder if cavemen/cavewomen had junk drawers? How about those who lived in the Middle Ages? Here's another question. Do you know people who have a terribly messy desk or workshop OR a stuffed junk drawer, and yet they know exactly where something is if you ask for it? We're all like junk drawers in a sense. We may be hiding within ourselves or cluttered wi...

Send us Fan Mail My dad always told me the story about a man who lived in the town of Reeve, Wisconsin, close to the town where my dad grew up. He said that no one really knew the man because they couldn't understand him and he dressed funny and consequently kept to himself, living in a house on the edge of that town. No one reached out to him or got to know him because he seemed strange to t...

Send us Fan Mail I love the latest Disney version of the movie, The Lion King. In that movie, Simba, the lion, has grown from a cub to a full grown lion, but still lives with the guilt that he may have caused his  father's death. Rafiki, the wise jungle counsel, takes him to a pool of water, encouraging him to look into the water. Simba says,"That's not my father, it's only my...

Send us Fan Mail In today's complex world, we are often drawn to things that seem to simplify. How many articles are entitled, 5 Easy Ways to... or `8 Ways to Grow Your Team," etc. The other day I listened to the podcast, Hidden Brain.   Shankar Vedantam was interviewing a researcher on aging. She mentioned that as we grow older, we are able to see things more easily in a simpler form. A...

Send us Fan Mail I'm reading a book about the life of Michelangelo, the Italian sculpture, entitled, The Agony and the Ecstasy. It is fascinating. But interestingly, several different times in his life, a plague went through the land. One sounded similar to the COVID pandemic that we experienced. Though he lost important people in his life, he continued forward, never leaving the path which w...

Send us Fan Mail I just copied a quote from the ancient Chinese philosopher, Lau Tzu, in my journal today. He said, "If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present." This week, I will talk about all three, the past, the present, and the future.  Influence touches all those times in our...