I love going to a variety of power meetings and marketing classes. It’s a great way to meet people and learn interesting new ideas at the same time. Often, these get-togethers are pretty predictable while others are full of surprises.  I had one of those surprises a few weeks ago at a marketing class for women. It was a great class, full of terrific information. Just when I thought we were going to wrap things up, the facilitator invited us to participate in a little bit of visualization. The practice of visualization is very effective, and something I often use in my Feldenkrais classes. After all, if you can imagine it, you can become it. Or, what we believe is what we become.   She had us close our eyes and think of a woman we admired and respected–a woman who was strong and...

My diary of seven days of positivity certainly started with a bang. It was so good that I didn’t think anything else could quite live up to that fabulous day. I was wrong, as I discovered over the next two days.   Dear Diary, Day Two: The second day started off with another beautiful golden Colorado morning. It was Saturday, and I had the day off. After years of working Saturdays, I decided that I need to take weekends off. What a treat! Since I had the entire morning free, I baked banana bread from scratch. After all, is there any other kind? As the heavenly fragrance filled the kitchen, I got dinner ready in the crockpot. I do love my kitchen and love do to cook, when I have the time. I also love going to pole class, and that was next on my agenda for my Saturday off. However, pole...

Life is good, and so are people. At least, most of them are, most of the time. But the past few weeks have been pretty brutal. As the election season went into overdrive, I was overwhelmed with the negativity associated with it. People just didn’t seem happy, and they weren’t being very nice to each other. As a matter of fact, some of them were downright nasty. The tsunami of negativity swirling around me threatened to sweep me away, never to be heard from again.    Everywhere I went, people were either trying to draw me into a political conversation, or making snide remarks about both candidates and what they stood for. My attempts to change the subject didn’t work. So, when someone pressed me for my “honest” and candid opinion, I gave it. I was rewarded with...

My Virtual Blog Tour starts on Monday, Oct 3! Monday I begin an 8-stop virtual book blog tour. I’ll be “visiting” 8 book review blogs from all over the United States and Canada! Below is a list of the blogs I’ll be visiting. The bloggers will post reviews, interviews and excerpts of the book. Please check out the tour by clicking on the links below. You can also join us on my Facebook page for the blog stop of the day. Monday 10/3/2016 Urban Book Review  Tuesday 10/4/2016 Beck Valley Books Wednesday 10/5/2016 3 Partners in Shopping Thursday 10/6/2016 Book Reviews and Giveaways Friday 10/7/2016 Jbarrett5 Book Reviews Monday 10/10/2016 JaM Book Blog Tuesday 10/11/2016 Library of Clean Reads Wednesday 10/12/2016 Buy The Book Marketing Follow along as I “travel”...

Everyone knows that I’m crazy about dance. Any kind of dance, regardless of the style you practice or may be interested in is the motherlode for health and fitness. It doesn’t matter if you are a classical dancer or a closet dancer, nothing beats the benefits of dance. I absolutely love the grueling regimen and relentless discipline of a professional level ballet class. However, it always raises eyebrows when I tell people that I take ballet class at least four or five times a week. I get the slow up and down appraisal and the unspoken question hangs in the air–“Really….at your age??” Yep, really. At my age. And why not? I started my ballet “career” at the ripe old age of twenty, when most dancers are packing up their pointe shoes and retiring...

I love Feldenkrais, and I love being a Feldenkrais practitioner. I also love artichokes, although I never even knew they existed until I was a young adult. I certainly had my doubts about artichokes, because they were so different from anything I had ever experienced up until that point in my life.  Then I met a guy who was absolutely crazy about artichokes. Not only did he order them as an appetizer every time we went out to dinner, he insisted on preparing them for me whenever we made dinner together. I could easily have done without them, because they just seemed like a lot of trouble for very little reward. However, I was fascinated by his excitement and almost childlike enthusiasm as he boiled the artichokes, made the sauces for dipping, and then meticulously peeled back the tough...

Putting your best foot forward. Too often we forget that our feet are an important part of our fitness, health and well-being. At least, we forget until we develop foot pain and deformities. Foot pain can lead to serious health problems, including abnormal gait, decreased balance, and pain in our knees, hips, and back. However, with the proper attention including exercises and stretches, you can keep your feet strong, healthy, flexible and pain free. Good health starts from the bottom up, so remember to make foot care a vital part of your daily routine. Here are a few tips to help you get started. Treat your feet. 1). Stimulate the bottom of your feet. Sit on the edge of a chair with your bare feet against the carpet, lightly and briskly rub them back and forth against the carpet for 10-15...

It’s already the end of January. February is just one short week away, and for many of us, the weather outside is frightful. The cold, dark days combined with the wicked winter weather can wreak havoc on our plans to get fit and stay fit. Besides, swim suit season doesn’t seem quite as threatening when we’re buried under a snow bank, so it might be more tempting to kick back with a cup of hot cocoa rather than leaving the house to go to the gym or fitness class.   However, you don’t even have to leave the house to stay on track with an exercise program. After all, swim suit season will be here before you know it. So, before you slip into a hot cocoa coma, here are a few simple fit tips that you can easily do at home to help keep you fit and healthy.    1). Get on...

Isn’t it amazing how a simple pair of shoes can mean so much to some people, while others take them for granted? A pair of shoes can change your life, and can even give you back your human dignity.  I was in a store a few days ago where a large screen TV was on one of those silly game shows. A woman from the audience was presented with a prize of $5,000 worth of shoes. I stood there wondering who could possibly want (or wear) so many different pairs of shoes. I marveled at the sheer extravagance of it all, when suddenly a distant memory popped into my head. It was 30 years ago, and I was working at an Intensive Care Unit as a respiratory therapist. One of my patients was an elderly gentleman who had been on a ventilator for weeks. He really touched my heart, because even though he...

Last week my husband and I were channel surfing and came across “The Wizard of Oz.” We didn’t even have to consult each other; in silent agreement, my husband clicked on the channel. Even though I still worry about Toto running around the forest off-leash, and my husband gets a little creeped out from the flying monkeys (a throw back from childhood), we never get tired of watching this classic film. I settled back and prepared to be mindlessly entertained by Dorothy and her entourage as they started down the yellow brick road, off to see the wizard. However, my brain had other plans for me that evening. Of course, the lesson in this great story is that each of the characters already have what they are looking for; they just didn’t realize it. But that evening my mind...