My mother told me: never discuss religion or politics. That is about all I talk about.
More often than not we leave out an important partner in our planning and dreaming. People write books on this fact, and we often buy those books. But we tend to look at the whole as a project list of bits and pieces. Maybe that is where a vision board comes in, to bring together a visual map of all the components, including the all important motivation for the entire goal we started out with at the... 
I came across an interesting concept, new to me, but not new. It is like making an idea board for your dreams, with the view of making them a reality in the coming year. It is called a vision board. It is a cross between idea maps and collage art which I find a fun idea, even if it doesn’t accomplish the original intent of inspiring motivation throughout the year. You can make your personal art and... 
And how knowing that will make a difference for your 2012 resolutions
Everyone hates New Years Resolutions, it seems, or if they don’t outright hate them, they feel discouraged by the prospect of yet another set of resolutions biting the dust around, oh say, March.
I think that comes from confusing the intent behind resolutions, goals, and plans.
How do we turn our dreams into reality without being... 
People are somewhat schizophrenic in focus during the holiday season. On the one hand they want to spread cheer, be jolly and bright, and lighten each others day; on the other hand they get stressed with the effort, become pushy and grumpy, if not outright hostile. They drive more erratically, become exhausted with their efforts and worried about their budgets…. unless…
Unless they slow down,... 
I started an online Advent blog sometime in 2006. Something like one of those old fashioned Advent calenders like my grandmother used to send me as a child, each day holds a devotional thought and a picture. Over the years I chose different themes and some years included childrens activities or Christmas recipes. Our family uses them for the daily Advent times ( admittedly we sometime have to... 
I used to work so hard at my faith.
That is not a value judgment, just a statement of fact. Not sure that it could be otherwise, given the set of circumstances that made up “me” at the beginning of my personal walk with God. It didn’t need to be quite as hard as I made it, though.
Today, I am aware of how much that has changed, and how I seem to be flowing in an almost effortless stream... 
Autumn Is Ended
~J. Hazard Hartzell~
DOWN drop the painted leaves;
The world lies stripped and wounded, cold and bare;
Piled are the golden sheaves;
And past is every object sweet and fair.
Now faded are the flowers
And grass on sloping hills and tranquil dales;
And songless are the bowers
Where lovers came and breathed their secret tales.
The fruits are ripe and gone;
The fields have lost their wealth and... 
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Through Liz’s Example 
“Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass … it’s about learning how to dance in the rain.”0
studying history is intellectually enriching and challenging. The most thought-provoking history asks the “why” questions. Why did the McGuffey Eclectic Readers become so popular in the 19th century? Why were women in colonial America taught to read, but less often to write? Answering questions like these moves us to think about literacy as no other form of inquiry can.~Michael L. Kamil 0
