Rebecca–Thankful for  Home In the face of all the end-of-the-year lists (Best of 2013, Worst of 2013, etc.), we’ve got a challenge for you! If you’ve gotten our newsletters before or you’ve attended one of our workshops, you know we are always touting the research from positive psychology on the benefits of gratitude. We thought we’d playfully up the ante …

The Annabel Challenge: 100 Things That Happened in 2013 for Which You Are Grateful Click to Read Post »

Rebecca–The Project We’ve been struggling over the best metaphor describe the collection of strategies that we use to feel renewed and revitalized.  This dilemma arose after we read one of Lisa Sonora-Beam’s newsletters where she quotes Jason Bourne (from Robert Ludlum’s Bourne Supremacy) that “Rest is a weapon”.  We love the message–rest being so essential to restoration and rejuvenation–but then we …

Arsenal, Fountain, Toolbox, Kit? Click to Read Post »

Whether you’re in the Mid-Atlantic East Coast or somewhere else, you likely know that things have been very stressful in DC over the last couple of months. We had two harrowing shootings. The government furlough has created an insidious sense of doubt about our nation’s health and can be felt tangibly here in the capital with many services reduced or …

Downward Comparisons Click to Read Post »

Many of us struggle with an inner voice that chatters a low-grade stream of discouraging negativity.  In the world of creativity, this voice has been christened “The Inner Critic” but we’ve heard other much more evocative and telling names such as “The Wicked Witch” “Nagging Nelly” or “Perfect Pete” which capture the discouraging power of this “personality”. Although we may …

Name Your Inner Critic Click to Read Post »

Gioia-I Am An Artist Paul Holdengräber, who interviews cultural icons through the New York Public Libraries, always asks his guests to provide a 7 word biography. He calls them biographical “haikus” or “tweets”.Here are some wonderful examples he has elicited: • “Writer, artist, Zen Buddhist, death row survivor.” Damien Echols, author of Life After Death, about 18 years he spent …

Seven Word Biographies Click to Read Post »

Rebecca-Yellow Planetary Warrior Rebecca’s sister Jenny loves to liven up dinner parties by asking guests around the table “what is your ‘Super Power’–some quality that others know you for, even if it’s something outrageous and seemingly useless?” Initially, when the first identified speaker has to “toot” his own horn, there is an awkward pause, but then the energy mobilizes as …

What’s Your “Super Power”? Click to Read Post »