What if freedom isn’t all it’s cracked up to be? What if real freedom comes from knowing when to step off a path that no longer serves you?

“Team player” not NOT equal “boring”.

When you embrace the limitations, the game is much more fun. Your creativity is ignited, not extinguished.

However the next few years play out, we will need the connection, creativity, and solidarity of artistic expression. 

This morning I want to highlight how much we need to keep working, teaching, expressing, advocating and hoping.

Artist Lives Matter.

If these seven mindsets from Happier Made Simple (wth easy reminders of what to say to yourself) can help ten-year-olds through the stress (and reality) of standardized testing, then there is value in reaching kids early with the messages of mindset and self-talk.

A lesson of 70: If you are lucky enough to have one more day, one more year, one more decade -- live it. Take chances. Give hugs. Find the moments of joy. Spread love. Do good work.

We did it!

Not only did we tell our stories, we channeled our fears into energy- woot!

Can you make new friends after 50? After high school, after college, after your kids are “launched”? Who will be your tribe then?

Yes. A thousand times yes.

Tried the Apple Vision Pro on Day One. As I was looking up, down and all around at cute kids blowing out birthday candles on a video (like they are right there with you!- true that), or at marine life coming to kiss me (seemed like it), a weird thing happened: The people in the Apple Store just disappeared.

And right then I knew I’d say “No thanks,”

Why are all the glory movies about sports? What about life’s challenges? Why do athletes like Nyad get all the glory, when thousands of ordinary mortals deserve a gold medal (or for Annette Bening to portray us in a film) for our lives?

Say YES to your next chance at human engagement…you never know what might happen. Even small encounters can change our day - or someone else’s

A whole new, and hopefully temporary world: I am currently mother on a (minimum security) inmate. But I am noticing one thing: Ben doesn’t seem that miserable. In fact, he sounds better than he has in months. Why? Because, for the first time in ages, he is connecting with other people. Is there a lesson in there for all of us.?

Note how much emotional energy you are spending looking for love on social media. Channel that energy more often to the people right in front of you. Even (or maybe especially) on your birthday.

Reframe your own thoughts on aging. What are you telling yourself about where you are on that Ladder of Years?

Beauty and value do not disappear as we age - they are redefined.

Be where you are. You are beautiful, you are wise, you are the Queen! (or King).

Laughter is a powerful , sixth, “love language” among those I call family- a language I learned as a child and carry with me still.

Yes, kidney donation is a big, serious deal, an act of love.

But, for my husband, brother, and me, the thing that gave it perspective was being able to joke about it - on the same wavelength.

Research shows that a smartphone, face down and unanswered, between 2 people reduces the satisfaction level of both participants by over 40%. One of my Digital Wellness workshop attendees added , “Yes, it’s the modern equivalent of a loaded gun on the table between two characters in a Western.”

Priorities, people. And Real Life is high on that lis

Are you still playing yesterday’s game? Have you ever gone back to an old job, a past love, the city you used to live in - and realized it no longer was today’s game? If it feels wrong (and it often does, after the familiarity wears off), it’s time to let go. Been there, done that, moving on.

The transition from preschool classroom to Grandma’s car was going great- until it wasn’t.

You know. Change is hard. Especially if you’re 3 ½ (boy, let’s call him B) or 4 ½ (girl, or G) years old.

As every parent, grandparent, or caregiver knows, things with kids can change at the drop of a hat – or, in this case, an accidental head bump with a younger brother.

You were born in Ukraine, the third of eight children. Married at 19.

You gave birth to your first child in the middle of unrest and violence: pogroms and attacks against your “Hebrew” (according to ship manifest info) people.

Your husband Harry became a refugee to America when your son, Morris. was just a toddler. That was the plan, as only one of you could afford to escape at a time,

What did you witness and experience while you waited to escape too?

How did you do it?

John Jaramillo and I had so much fun sharing ideas, that this Book Leads podcast/show went way over the hour! Hope you enjoy listening as much as we loved chatting about leadership, books, setting and reaching goals but with a solid foundation of what really matters in the big picture of your life:

Enter now for a chance to win a free copy (paperback) of Happier Made Simple! Hurry – offer ends soon!

Let’s say you want to reach for the stars, attain that audacious goal, drive a BMW.

There are lots of books and workshops that teach you how to visualize those positive outcomes, face your fears, walk over those hot coals, get yourself behind the wheel of that fancy car.

Wahoo! But – wait.