ThriveologyPodcast – Thriveology

(and how to get unstuck). We all get stuck. We want to move forward… but something holds us back. WE hold ourselves back. But WHY do we get so stuck? Well, we do it to ourselves. We don’t mean to do it, but we just get in our own way. Which also means that once you understand WHY you get […]

and Happy Holi-daze!. And just like that, the Holiday season is upon us! All the hustle and bustle. All the events. All the demands… in the midst of a time that you want to be enjoyable, meaningful, and manageable! Why the stress? In this week’s Thriveology Podcast, I discuss the causes of holiday stress. But more importantly, I […]

“You can’t. . . .”  “I can’t. . . .”  That pretty much ends the conversation. Which is unfortunate.  History is littered with people doing the very things someone else said, “You can’t do that.”  Turns out, you can. And many times, we do the same things to ourselves.  We start tell ourselves, “I can’t,” […]

Using Gratitude to Thrive. In the United States, we turn our minds this week to being thankful. . . right before we turn our minds to sales, merchandise, consumption. . . and all the things we don’t have. It always strikes me as ironic that on Thursday, we are likely going to share the things for which we are […]

Do you ever hear yourself say (or just feel), “I’m just not happy”? What does it mean? What’s keeping you feeling better?  It might be depression. But it might be something else. (If you are concerned about depression, CHECK OUT THESE RESOURCES.) There are some other reasons for “just not being happy.”  In fact, in […]

Your mindset doesn’t change what is happening “out there,” but it can change how you perceive it “in here,” in your mind and thoughts.  Which can also change your actions. The circumstances are the same.  But whether you feel stuck or empowered, that depends upon the mindset you carry. Over the years, I have worked […]

You’ve got this muscle in you that you might not know about it.  Maybe it is strong, just naturally.  Or maybe you have built it on purpose.  Or maybe it needs a little strengthening. The muscle? Your “resilience muscle.”  It helps power you through tough times, so you can bounce back from the struggles. Here’s […]

I noticed it sometime around September of last year. . . I was getting sucked into the news!  And for several years, I had done a pretty good job of limiting my exposure to the “news.” It seems more like an addiction. . . one little taste. . . and you are pulled right back […]

Raising Thriving Children Series. Start with where you want to end.  Always a good plan for any trip.  Including the long-range trip of parenting.  We need to know where we want to go, if we want any hope of getting there. This week, we close out the series on Raising Thriving Children with a few reflections and final thoughts. […]

Raising Thriving Children Series. “I expect you to _____” is the starting point to many dead-end conversations.  First, it is not a conversation — it is a demand.  Second, it often leads to resentment, resistance, or both. And yet, it tends to be the default for many parents. Why? Because they don’t see an alternative. Let me suggest one: […]

Raising Thriving Children Series. In my recent book, Thrive Principles, I provide 15 strategies for living a thriving life.  In that book, I note that this does not mean an absence of struggle and tough times.  I suggest, instead, that these tough times are the fuel for thriving.  They are the times we build our thriving muscles — IF […]

Raising Thriving Children Series. Have you noticed that the world is getting more and more narcissistic?  More “Me-Me-Me” thinking is infecting society — to the detriment to the environment, civility, and those at risk. We can’t stay on this course. Is there an alternative? I believe there is a clear antidote to the narcissistic culture.  And I believe parents […]

Raising Thriving Children Series. Have you ever made a recipe — but forgot a key ingredient?  Or maybe put in the wrong ingredient?  One time, I left salt out of a cookie recipe.  It was pretty bad.  Another time, I accidentally put salt in instead of sugar.  It was awful. Ingredients are important. So, what are the key ingredients […]

Raising Thriving Children Series. There are so many influences on kids these days.  They are pulled in so many directions.  This has always been true.  The influences might change, but the fact that outside influences pull at kids is consistent. In the 1950’s, resilience research started to emerge.  It came about because some researchers who were looking at societal […]

Raising Thriving Children Series. Summer has flown by!  Here we are, already at Labor Day in the States.  That kind of marks the end of summer for many.  Most schools are back in session and schedules start to be a wee bit more important.  Structure returns. And parenting may be ratcheted up just a bit. It’s a great time […]

Raising Thriving Children Series. If you are a parent, you know that hope/fear.  You hope to raise a wonderful human being, and you fear making a mistake on the way. This week, we begin a series on raising thriving children. During this series, we will look at the goals of parenting, the limits of parenting, and what a parent […]

Tools To Thrive Series. Confidence.  We all want to feel it.  We are in a culture dedicated to the importance of strong self-confidence.  And yet, it always seems out of grasp. Why is that? Because we want confidence to be “there,” already present.  We want it to be a preset of living.  You know, just an innate part of […]

Tools To Thrive Series. Goals are great.  Except they give you no path to get there.  And goals can interfere with your happiness.  If you can’t get there, you feel frustrated.  Once you do get there, you can feel let down, not sure what to do next. But you need goals, right? Well, they are a starting point. But […]

Tools To Thrive Series. It happens automatically.  You don’t even think about it.  Unless you choose to notice it — or even change it.  And it’s a good thing it happens automatically.  Otherwise, you would not last long. Breathing. Even if you don’t ever think about it, your breathing will keep oxygen coming into your body and carbon dioxide […]

Tools to Thrive Series. Your brain is really only capable of being in one of two modes:  fear/threat or love/appreciation. Unfortunately, the fear/threat mode is pretty much the default and automatic. Fortunately, changing to manual and shifting to love/appreciation is not complicated. More than that, there is plenty of research to point to the specific benefits of that shift: […]

Tools To Thrive Series. Do you find yourself chasing after all of those “urgent” tasks, only to discover that they really don’t matter? President Dwight Eisenhower said, “I have to kinds of problems.  The urgent and the important.  The urgent are not important and the important are never urgent.” Sometimes, the urgent things ARE important.  They probably get done [&#8...

Tools To Thrive Series. Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a built-in detector that let you know when something is important?  Kind of like a treasure detector to point out when to pay attention and dig in? Guess what? You do! But you probably aren’t using it the way it was designed.  Most people aren’t.  In fact, most […]

Tools To Thrive Series. As I ran through the woods, I could only see the trees and path right in front of me.  I had no idea how far up the mountain I had climbed.  I had no idea about the turns in the trail ahead.  And I couldn’t even see very far back, given all the twists.  My […]

Tools To Thrive Series. E + R = O It’s one of my favorite formulas.  And it isn’t even math! Well, it kinda is.  It is the Responsibility Formula Dr. Robert Resnick developed, and Jack Canfield popularized. And it is powerful. Like most formulas, all the parts must be present. Many times, people assume that what happens around them […]

Tools To Thrive Series. Isn’t it interesting how much time people spend trying to control what they can’t control, and how little time we spend trying to control what we can control? Imagine what would happen if we could flip that.  What if we spent our time trying to control what we CAN control.  And what if we released […]