At this point, I know that the word ‘mindfulness’ feels completely useless. What does it really mean? How can we apply it? Making it more personal, do you even want to apply it? If you’re anything like

I love taking advantage of the fresh-start effect and birthdays are a great time to take stock and look forward to the year ahead. As time has passed, I’ve also used the birthdays of my children as times

Generations of elementary school children have read The Boxcar Children series, but I imagine that there are only a few that reacted to them in the same way I did.I did not begin to hope that a wealthy

I have a system for when I’m driving my children around. This system is born out of an event that I didn’t really talk about much at the time - a serious car accident from about 3 ½ years ago when I was

We live in a culture where, when we use the word “relationship” we really just think about romantic relationships. That does us a real disservice when we consider all the relationships we have (and should

These last few weeks I’ve talked about being introspective and showing yourself kindness when it comes to setting your goals. I’ll be really honest, the main reason I’ve talked about that so much is because

My mom had a go-to song that she would sing when my siblings and I were fighting. While there are many interpretations for this little ditty (and some of them not terribly positive) there is one interpretation

My oldest daughter and I tested positive for Influenza A just a few days ago, so it’s the height of irony that I planned to talk about staying motivated to keep your New Years Resolutions this week.

I know it feels like everyone is talking about New Years Resolutions this month so you’re probably wondering what I have to offer that hasn’t already been offered up on other corners of the internet. You

Top of Mind As August comes to a close, I have to admit that at the forefront of my mind is the fact that I will have a kindergartener this year! Part of me is in disbelief and part of me feels like she’s

Top of Mind This past week relationships have been on my mind a lot. Not only are we rapidly approaching Michael’s first birthday but it is, professionally, the busiest time of the year for me. Considering

New Look Over these last few months—okay, it’s really been closer to a year—I’ve been mostly absent from my online home but if you subscribe you may have noticed a few signs of life on Facebook, Twitter,

I started writing this blog post toward the beginning of May but a serious lack of mental clarity coupled with some intense care giving responsibilities and topped off with some dull-as-dirt graduate work

I was recently asked if I thought increased transparency leads to better budget decisions. This question gave me the opportunity to pause and be thoughtful about the budget process in the public sector.

I have been struggling recently, my mind as slow and unmotivated as molasses. This is distressing to me! Pinpointing why I feel this way has so far proven to be impossible, but I have a feeling deep in

“I’m bored,” I would whine to my mom as a young child.   “Oh, well I have something you can work on!” My mom would enthuse in response to my complaint. I quickly learned not to go to my mom to cure my

In exchange for this review I received a free copy of the book. As a consumer in our Western capitalist system, I suspect you’re no stranger to self-help books. They’re everywhere! Books to help you fix

I am very firmly of the opinion that having some kind of a metric to measure your goals is critical to your success. A good metric, according to GeckoBoard, has three characteristics: The metric is tied

You may know if you've been around for a while that January is just one of a few times each year I find to be valuable to check in and talk about goals. To kick-off this month I decided to listen to a

As we come to the close of the year, I am grateful for the opportunity to do a little reflection. You may have noticed a fair amount of silence over the last couple months. I have to admit that in August