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

Send us Fan Mail We have so enjoyed watching our son, Andrew, and his partner, Lily, raise our grandson, Arve. One of the striking things is the way they have allowed him to learn how to make decisions from the earliest time he could respond to them during his first year of life. Lately, I have started to realize more and more what a strength that will be for him throughout his life.  The ability...

Send us Fan Mail I just finished grading papers from my summer school students studying to become school counselors. The class I taught was an introduction into the skills they would need to counsel people in their new career. It was so inspiring to read that after immersing themselves in these skills how alive they felt and so motivated in this newfound purpose.  Purpose can provide a hook to som...

Send us Fan Mail  When my dad would wake up in the morning, he would just lay there and think for a while. I don't remember how many times in my life he would say sometime during the day like, "You know what I was thinking about this morning?" And I knew it was something he pondered in those morning moments before he got out of bed when he would let the magic of wonder fill his mind...

Send us Fan Mail A Lesson from Milly – It doesn’t take much to alter an opinion of another person. I can think of two specific times when someone has said only one positive thing about a person who initially I was not too sure about. That one statement helped me totally reframe my opinion of those people and eventually they became dear friends. Likewise, it doesn’t take much to make a good or bad...

Send us Fan Mail This past week was a delightful time of connecting with graduate students in professional school counseling and doing what I love so dearly...teaching counseling skills. There are so many hurting people, and being able to teach students who are so passionate about helping others who struggle with life's challenges is so meaningful.  Light dawns in the eyes of those enlightene...

Send us Fan Mail It started with my sister's question about "home." The very word conjures up many different emotions in people. But the concept of home is universal. We all come from one, make one, or yearn for one. It's a need and a luxury to have that place where we can feel safe and loved. We go from it and we go to it. So, what is home? Thanks for listening.

Send us Fan Mail In the song, Impossible, from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, we hear of all the things that should be impossible but were not for Cinderella’s magical night. The verses talk about the world being full of people who may be looked at as rather crazy because they don’t believe in “sensible rules” or do what “sensible people say.” The lyrics go on to say that these people “keep...

Send us Fan Mail I’ve kept a journal since 2004 and they are filled with so many things of interest I have gleaned from life. Over the years of teaching at graduate counseling students at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, IA, I have often played “The Journal Game” with my students. I have a student call out a number and then I read what is written on that page. It so often becomes a scaffoldin...

Send us Fan Mail There are several times in my life when I was at a crossroads, knowing I needed something better fit for me in my career life. I remember times when I just couldn't get inspired or motivated...a lull seemed to settle over my "every day." Today's podcast touches on the journey out of those times when we seem wedged in an unfulfilling pattern of life. Where is yo...

Send us Fan Mail Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat , spoke once of going to his favorite pancake house in Minneapolis, MN where he grew up. He was meeting with another journalist at the time and when the server came he engaged in a conversation about her work and how she liked it (or something like that). Well, when she returned with their orders, she bent down to whisper to Thomas Frie...

Send us Fan Mail I will never forget the time I watched the legendary director, Weston Noble, of Luther College’s Nordic Choir in Decorah Iowa rehearse before a concert in a small church in southern Minnesota. At the end of the rehearsal, he explained how he wanted the choir to process out of the church after each set. He told one row to go this way and another that, etc. Then Crystal, in the back...

Send us Fan Mail When was the last time you did something you really loved doing? How often do we call it “wasting time?” Or how often do we think in our minds, “I should be doing something more productive,” or “I have so many other things I should be doing?” I heard a psychologist say once, “We should not “should” on ourselves. However, in this country, we even call doing the things we love a “gu...

Send us Fan Mail I just returned from a convention in Houston. While walking to the convention from the hotel one morning, a homeless man walked along with us a bit. He asked us where we were from and other friendly questions. Then apologetically, he asked if we had any money to spare so he could get something to eat at McDonald’s. He said, we could go with him and get it for him if we wanted. I a...

Send us Fan Mail I told my kids recently that one of the wonderful roles of a grandparent is our willingness to do the same thing over and over with our grandchildren. We have the time and the inspiration to do it. And ohhhh, the joy when they want you to repeat it again!!  Not all things that need repeating to become better or instilled in us come with that same kind of joy. But, when it has grea...

Send us Fan Mail As I walk, I love to look at the tables with four chairs on many of the patios of the homes I pass by. Often I imagine people sitting and sharing conversation together. It makes me wonder, where do those words go? Today's podcast is on gossip. Where do those words go? And, what power do the words that we share about people have on them and on us? Hard things to think about, b...

Send us Fan Mail We all have a need to know we have a reason to be here, not necessarily in our career, but simply to exist. How do we find it? It’s a journey that can change throughout our lives, but it is important to discover. It is one of those tools that helps us to be resilient during challenging times.

Send us Fan Mail There are  moments that sent us somewhere in life that we would never have been to unless for a happenstance moment. The older we get the more amazing those moments become. The magic of those moments is in reflection. We don’t see them coming and even when they happen we don’t know their significance until we look in the rearview mirror of life. 

Send us Fan Mail Our emotions can be stirred so easily these days. Maybe it's due to the tensions that have been so predominant in our news and minds for what seems like such a long time...keeping us in a state of anxiousness. We see people react with anger or rage without thinking, destroying careers and opinions that had once been that of respect. It doesn't have to be like that...we d...

Send us Fan Mail This week’s podcast speaks to the heart of our role as humans on this journey of life. There are many people who feel invisible and unwanted. Most of us have probably felt that way sometime in our lives. Many people feel that way everyday. Every day we have the opportunity to assign value and show love to those we meet. We never know who is aching to be recognized.

Send us Fan Mail Forgiveness...may be the hardest thing to do and the most freeing. The choice is ours.

Send us Fan Mail The most difficult thing to deal with is often the thought of suffering. So how do we prepare and ultimately endure? Some thoughts today will hopefully give you the courage that you need to endure and prepare.

Send us Fan Mail There are moments we encounter when we experience a life change. My moment happened on a plane and affects me in such a positive way to this very day.

Send us Fan Mail Mentors, elders, "go-to" people in our lives can have a profound effect. They can also be a safe haven, a vessel of wisdom, a guardian of our fears, questions, ideas, and suffering. We are the better for having such people in our lives...

Send us Fan Mail Today’s podcast talks about wounded people. It includes all of us. We all carry some kind of wound. What we do about those wounds makes all the difference in our lives and often in the lives of others, especially those closest to us. 

Send us Fan Mail One of the most common concerns currently lurking in the minds of many is the divisiveness we are experiencing in our country. We have seen relationships defined by “if they agree with me” or “if they are on that side.” Friendships and family relationships have often been strained because of this trend. This week I share some ideas on connecting and reframing the relationships we...