by Seth Simonds How long can you work on a creative task before you need to recharge? I like to think of my creative energy in terms of a little electric car. Not a beautiful and fast electric supercar (who am I kidding?) but a little bee-bop two-seater with an 8-inch steering wheel. If I had a pict...

You’re Not Doing Yourself or Anyone Else Any Favors Hey, I know you’re busy, gotta get a lot of things done. But whoa! But, could you stop for 1 second? It’s barely that – . Just stop. Don't do anything, before you read on. – . If you don’t stop once in a while, y...

A Symphony in My Head There’s a song in my head. I heard it first quiet in the night at my computer. Then it came again when I woke. It never really left me. It began … looping in and out of days … over two years ago. I considered it an insignificant melody, a memory tracing, some ...

When the Frost Makes the Lights It was 21 below out west of Chicago. My dad was born in 1907. He left home when he was 12. He got a job fixing shoes 70 hours a week for 50 cents. He roomed in a small house with a man and his sister. He did chores for his food and rent. When he was seventeen, he foun...

At times like this, you don’t need to be unemployed to need more money coming in. All of us have higher costs than we did a few years ago. My assessment just went up by $100 / month. It does that every year. How we approach this thinning cash flow is important to our future situation. It’...

Community Raises People Up At any moment, most of us are doing fine, but a few are feeling the hill’s too high or the burden’s too heavy. So those who can reach out to those who’ve lost the spirit. At times like that, generous folks reach out to show us how to push through and clim...

by Guest Writer Suzie Cheel Last Friday in a strategy session I was asked what it was that people saw in me that would have them want to work and engage with me. I was stumped. While we were walking on the beach I discussed this with Des.I said I know that people find me helpful and inspiring. I hav...

about responsible social media. Sounds like safe sex, doesn’t it? I know you can get past that. What I’ve been thinking about is a conversation I had with a dear friend, Jon Swanson, about 3 weeks ago. I had called Jon because I didn’t understand changes I saw happening among my fr...

Thoughts that Say Easy . . . I love those idiomatic phrases that mean things are easy … Easy as pie … It’s a piece of cake. My most favorite of them are … It’s a breeze. . . . a day at the beach. I use them when things get stressful or hard, especially when my head gets...

about seeing and looking. Some plants only grow in sunlight. They’re often the ones we see first. They offer vibrant yellows and reds that are meant to catch attention. Butterflies, bees, hummingbirds are drawn to their flowers. It’s not hard to see them. Some plants only grow in the sha...