This summer, our family spent an inordinate amount of time at various doctors’ offices. Since sleepaway camp was canceled, I figured it was a good time to have teeth pulled and sinuses probed (I’m an awful mom, I know).

We went to at least 12 doctor appointments this summer. We had dentist, orthodontist, oral surgeon, pediatrician, allergist and ear nose and throat appointments. 

There were shots, scratch tests, blood draws, nose probes, teeth pulled and an amoxicillin allergic reaction. Not exactly a dream summer for two fourteen year olds.

Plus the end of August had us inside a lot due to smoke and haze from forest fires. In addition, I sat through a bunch of zoom meetings trying to figure out whether or not we should do hybrid or online school, stressing about school safety.


Photo by Catherine Larock

The cherry on top was that just a few days ago, my husband found out that the treatment center where he was clinical director is folding due to the pandemic. 

That was how our August ende...

I am a water person. I’m also a dog person (but not a wet dog person!). 
We divide ourselves up into dog person, cat person, water person. 


But wait… lest there be on more way to divide us, please know that we are all water people. 


You might be shaking your head no, but neuroscientists know better. Our brains, hearts, and planet are all made up of over 70% water. This deep biological connection to water means that, as humans, we love it. 


Our brains are hardwired to recognize the evolutionary purpose of water and our connection to it. This makes sense because we can't actually live all that long WITHOUT water. When we are in, on, under, or near water our brains reward us with what marine biologist, (in his book by the same name), Wallace J. Nichols calls Blue Mind. 

Just coming close to the water’s edge floods our brains with calming neurochemicals, reducing our cortisol (and our stress levels), and increasing our capacity for awe. 

What is Blue Mind?

Blue Mind is this beautifully rela...

Ideally, we would be meeting in person, in my downtown Steamboat Springs studio. But life has taken a strange turn this month, and, alas, we are meeting online.

Because music is imperative to a perfect gallery experience, please click play for classical music perfectly paired for viewing this online art show. If I could send you a glass of something bubbly through the internet ether, I certainly would!


In this ONLINE Steamboat First Friday Artwalk, I'm sharing with you a favorite subject of mine ... #ceilingselfies.


photo by Lizzie Larock, ceiling of Lyon's Drugstore (directly below my studio) taken the night before the Colorado stay-at-home order. 

Since we're all climbing the walls, we may as well take a #ceilingselfie ...

photo by Lizzie Larock (creator of The Life Feast), ceiling selfie of the gazebo by the Steamboat Creates Art Depot


photo by Lizzie Larock - Houston airport ceiling 

photo by Lizzie Larock, ceiling of Emmanuelle Vital's studio (next door to mine)

What pray tell is a #ce...

Thanks for watching! If you want that big fat permission slip, you want to infuse your life with curiosity, awe, mindfulness, play and adventure, and you want that photography gateway drug into possibilities in your life, dig into  The Life Feas...

Congratulations! You made it to the final email of the Right Brain Resolution Revolution. Now it’s time to take all of this, and go from INFORMATION to TRANSFORMATION.

Why bother setting goals in the first place?

Because let’s be honest, we rarely regret the things we did do in life, most of our regret is focused on what we didn’t do.

We regret the life we didn’t live.
We regret the chances we didn’t take.

The confidence, self-efficacy, mastery and resilience that we gain from achieving a goal, especially a hard goal, is something no amount of positive affirmations and rah rah praise could ever match. 

We don’t set the goal just to get to the finish line. We also want to enjoy, SAVOR, and grow from the ride... Don’t believe me?

Let’s think about this in terms of parenthood

We don’t get pregnant hoping to give birth to a full grown 45-year old adult who is happily married with two high functioning kids and is a successful lawyer. Can you imagine your newborn coming out of the womb w...

If the word “drama” doesn’t resonate with you, feel free to substitute any of the following: because you have to want your dreams more than you want your:

• self doubt
• overwhelm
• fear
• stress
• cookie dough 
• temptations
• social media habit 
• chardonnay
• EXCUSES

or better yet ---> goodBYE drama!

For me, drama sums it all up nicely. It's taken me a few decades, but I choose to see all of my un-motivating mind chatter, bad habits and self doubt as “drama”. And I do want my dreams more than I want my drama. thankyouverymuch.

Our minds blather on incessantly to the tune of at least 60,000 thoughts a day. Does that mean we have to believe everything that we think? Hell no. Especially if we’re thinking of quitting our goals or drowning them in chardonnay.

Find an Exterminator for your ANT infestation…

ANT is a term from Dr. Daniel Amen and stands for Automatic Negative Thoughts. We all have them. They’re part of our default programming, but they need an upgrade.

If you’ve never ex...

Are you hiding your goals?

A lot of times, especially when we set some goals for big dreams, we keep them under lock and key. Maybe we have a big dream to be a New York Times bestselling author and our best friend doesn’t even know that we can write.

I mean, why be vulnerable and proclaim your big dreams out loud (and possibly publicly fail at them), when you can just tout your success after you’ve gotten the call from Oprah or Random House?

Accountability is the reason. 

But there’s a catch here. Telling too many people can actually hinder your goal achievement.

Psychologists call it social reality. And research has shown that if you’re telling everyone you meet about your big dreams, and receive lots of praise and well wishes (aka dopamine hits of instant gratification), your brain can be tricked into thinking it actually already achieved the goal.

As Derek Sivers says, "Don’t let your mind mistake the talking for the doing".

But accountability is still a critical component in goal ...

Danielle hit the nail on the head, but, oftentimes, our follow through on goals is lacking. In a study by Adams-Miller and Frisch in 2009, researchers discovered that as much as 80% of our day's activity is directed by our "unthinking reaction to cues." In other words, we go through most of our day on autopilot, conveniently "forgetting" those big hairy audacious goals we have set for ourselves. 

Enter the primer ...

What is a primer? Primers are conscious or unconscious cues paired together that promote behavioral change. Translation por favor?

Basically, a PRIMER is a REMINDER on steroids.

Let's take an easy example such as starting an exercise habit first thing in the morning. Maybe you've even set a BHAG of running a marathon or a daily run or spin class IS your BHAG (sheepishly raises hand).

Whichever the case, if you have no daily habit in place (and you haven't broken a sweat in a long time), you need a primer. A  primer for exercise might be to put your running shoes and workout...

Are you already taking action steps on your goals? Wonderful! Are you still as motivated 12 days later as you were on day 1? Hopefully the answer is yes, but it's completely understandable if the answer is hell no.  Maybe you're now so overwhelmed by what you want to get done that 2020 is sounding like a better year to dive into all of this. Have you started telling yourself you'll just tuck these emails away and do it next year?

Don't quit on me, we need to just feed your elephant!

Let's remember, again, the duality of our brains. We've got our emotional brain (we previously referred to as our elephant) and our prefrontal cortex (our smart and savvy rider) and they both need to work together to get each goal off of the ground and all the way to the finish line.

Big surprise, your emotional brain wants immediate gratification and constant feedback to stay motivated. It doesn't want to wait 12 months to see results. It would rather have a glass of chardonnay and a cone of truffle fri...

I hope you had a wonderful first weekend of the New Year. Before we move onto how to make all of your right brain resolutions happen - we’re going to up the ante a bit during the setting process. 

Now your resolution list can definitely have some easy wins on it. If you are resolving to drink 64 ounces of water every day in 2020 - that’s fabulous. If you’re going to meditate for 15 minutes every day - wonderful (learning to meditate is one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself, by the way). These are small habits that can have a big impact on your wellbeing.

But let's also put some hair on your goals…

I’d also like you to consider having some BHAGs on your list. What’s a BHAG? It’s a BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOAL. Martha Beck calls them your WIGS (Wildly Improbable Goals), Brooke Castillo calls them your impossible goals and Jim Collins calls them your BHAGS. I’ve recently come to calling them a scary Gary goal because my positive psychology colleague, Gary Ross, starting settin...