Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

It’s said that every journey begins with a single step. My problem is that once I take those monumental first steps, I expect to see some immediate results. Patience is not my virtue. If I’ve finally screwed up my courage to charge at that mountain, I expect that thing to move at least a couple of feet. NOW!

But it doesn’t quite work that way. Despite what some positivity gurus tell you about how you can think good thoughts and good things will come quickly, it’s not quite as easy as rubbing the lamp, making three wishes, and getting immediate results. Some work is involved … and some waiting, too. And as Tom Petty once sang, “the waiting is the hardest part.” The best way to handle it: by moving on to the next task.

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Feeling blue? You’re not alone. Major depression has been cited as the fourth most disabling condition in the world and the second most disabling in the west.

But by exploring other colors in the spectrum, you may be able to ward off the blues before they become crippling.

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When you’re trying to get across a delicate point, how you display your words can be as important as the words themselves. That’s why I recently changed the font in my personal e-mails from 14-point Tempus Sans ITC in maroon on a white background to 14-point Garamond in navy on a white background. (Your system and browser will decide whether you can see the font samples.)

You wouldn’t think a simple font change could make a huge difference in how people perceive your messages. But it can. After I made the change, my brother wrote to say how happy he was that I’d dumped the old font. A business associate almost immediately stopped complaining that my e-mails were too long, even though they were the same length they’d always been.

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We’ve all had our Manny Alpert moments.

In 1978, Alpert was an ABC-TV cameraman covering a fund-raiser for the National Hemophilia Foundation in New York’s Manhattan Center ballroom. He was stationed in the balcony overlooking the ballroom floor where University of Pennsylvania student Bob Speca Jr. had spent nine days setting up a maze of 100,000 dominoes. Speca held the record for nonstop domino toppling at 50,000 and planned to break it for a worthy cause.

The crowd of press and onlookers hushed when eight-year-old hemophilia sufferer Michael Murphy stepped forward to topple the first domino. As the small rectangles began dropping, Alpert leaned forward for a better look … and his press pass slipped free. The card tumbled into the maze, setting off a second chain reaction that threatened to ruin the event. And there was nothing Alpert could do to stop it.

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When I was a little girl, my mom had an antique typewriter—the one pictured on the About Me  page of this site. If she needed to type something and didn’t have access to the more modern machines she used at the office, she’d pull out that big, clunky Remington and start pounding the stiff, old keys.

When I was 12, I wanted to type like Mom. So I asked to borrow old Model Seventeen, carefully covered the keys with black electrical tape, and started training myself in the Qwerty keyboard. It didn’t take long before I was fast enough to make the long, silver keys crush together in a big clump, too.

Since then, I’ve earned a degree in journalism and picked up a lot of additional training. But none of the formal education I’ve received has been as essential to my everyday work as the hours I spent practicing on that antique typewriter.

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Okay, it’s not really polarized … at least not for the great majority of Americans as they work or try to find work, and worship or don’t worship, and spend time with their traditional or nontraditional families. The great majority are just trying to live their lives the best they can.

For that great majority, the world doesn’t become polarized until they launch into a discussion of some religious or political issue … or until they turn on the cable news channels. Then they suddenly find themselves combatants in the so-called “Culture Wars.”

Squirming? Don’t. MoveThatMountain.com isn’t drifting into religion and politics. This is neutral ground. But it’s also a place about overcoming your challenges, conquering your bad habits, coping with your crises, and figuring out how to make your life a little easier. Doing combat in a culture war takes a lot of energy that might be better spent moving the real mountains in your life.

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“You have a piss-poor attitude.”

It’s an old country expression–one that will not please my mother when she discovers I’ve used it. But the thing about old country expressions is they’re quite … expressive. When you hear that phrase, you have no trouble conjuring an image of the attitude in question or remembering the last time you felt that way.

This is not the attitude to win you an affectionate squeeze from your sweetie, a gold star from your boss, or really great service at your favorite restaurant.

On the other hand, it has its good points.

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It’s been a real bad day. One of many lately. But then the radio decided to have a chat with me. It said, “Hey, Soul Sister!”

I love it when the radio wants to chat. This time it reminded me that music can always make me smile, even on bad days. It reminded me that I love R&B—even though “Hey, Soul Sister,” by the group Train, isn’t an R&B song.

And it reminded me that you need to have soul to get through tough times.

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Some mountains you’ve stared at your whole lives, wondering “How am I gonna make this thing move?” Others seem to drop out of the sky. The earthquake in Haiti, Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami in Indonesia, the 9/11 terrorist attacks. One minute you’re living your life … the next you’re caught up in a heart-pounding nightmare.

You may find yourself facing many new struggles in the aftermath of a catastrophic emergency. But what about during the emergency? What can you do to help improve the odds that you and your family will survive those initial hours of chaos?

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Mention apples to me and for some bizarre reason I picture the evil queen from Disney’s version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. She’s disguised as an old woman tempting Snow White with a poisoned apple. Maybe she comes to mind because I’ve never been crazy about apples. Apple pie, apple tart, apple cake, apple rings? Yes. Ordinary apples that haven’t been laced with piles of sugar? Not so much.

But I’m having a change of heart.

One of my biggest struggles is taking good care of my body and keeping it in optimal working condition. Despite the best intentions, I often fail when it comes to choosing the most nutritious fuel. As a friend once told me, I’m proof that it is possible to survive without eating fruits and vegetables. To survive, yes. But to thrive? Not really. Supplementation doesn’t take the place of enjoying nature’s bounty. And I recently learned that few natural foods have as much to offer as apples.

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