The topic of the upcoming New Year can be quite loaded. Some of us are so ready to shut the door on 2019 and others are all amped up with lists longer than Santa's on all the ways we need to improve ourselves in the next 12 months.
How we're going to choose to fill the next 52 weeks can be either exhilarating or daunting.
Whether this is the bitch of a blank canvas for you or a fresh start and a clean slate, it's an opportunity to set some intentions for the next decade.
Do Resolutions Even Work?
When set properly, goals and resolutions set at the beginning of the year can work wonders. When arbitrarily proclaimed at midnight on Dec 31 with no plan to back them up, well, yeah, those resolutions barely make it past the late-night Uber ride home.
My favorite perspective on the year ahead is to think about the new year as 365 opportunities!
I realize that 2019 might have given you 365 ways to want to bang your head against the wall or 365 ways to...
What do I mean by Marie Kondo your Christmas? Don't worry! I do not mean folding your underwear in a weird way or having to organize ANYTHING in your home right now. Marie Kondo is that incredible professional organizer who wrote the book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Did you read it? Makes a great holiday gift ;-)! Just kidding. I mean it does, but that's not what this is about. This is less about holiday presents and more about holiday presence...which probably just made you feel guilty. Because in going overboard and trying to create a magical holiday for our loved ones, we are usually more stressed and less present than we are at other times in the year. And that feels kind of crummy. Christmas is touted as the most wonderful time of the year ... except that comes with a hefty emotional and financial price tag for those of us who are orchestrating the magic for everyone else. I saw the funniest quote the other day that basically said that December... |
Well, we’ve officially transitioned out of the season of stuffing to the season of stuff. Thanksgiving is over, but it’s always a good time of year to give that thanks away. Today is Black Friday and before you give your credit card a workout, take a minute to pass some gratitude gravy. Black Friday can be rough on those who work in retail. Yes, investment bankers, CEOs, and stockholders love Black Friday, but those who are manning (and woman’ning) the stores often bear the brunt of shoppers’ seasonal anxieties, which isn’t always easy.
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#GratitudeGRAVY day 14 Hello Lizzie: For years I pretty much missed the point of Thanksgiving. Sad, but true. I'm the person who has literally lit my oven on fire while trying to broil bagels. Despite the Thanksgiving hits and misses we've had chez Larock, I've come to realize that Thanksgiving is supposed to be a celebration of the great FULLness* of life with some of the wonderful humans that are in my world. Flawed and funny, weird and wonderful, I give thanks for all of them.
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I took this photo of these red lanterns in the Houston airport at the end of April. We were coming home from Peru and had a 3-hour layover after having already traveled straight for 22 hours. I was exhausted, spent, wired not tired.
There's beauty everywhere. Sometimes we have to look in unexpected places to find it, like the ceiling of the Houston airport. But if you're paying attention, you'll see it and appreciate it.
But most of us are head down in our phones all.the.time. We've forgotten what it's like to notice something other than a text message or a burgeoning inbox.
Where did we all go?
As you're scrolling through your phone right now (hey, I'm probably doing it, too), take a second to turn your gaze upwards. Look at the sky, the ceiling, the person next to you.
Positive psychology has shown that just the mere act of looking up raises our moods.
In a series of experiments...
What is The Life Feast? The Life Feast is a 7-week online experience where you will savor, swoon and sincerely fall in love with life's little moments. You'll use photography, a smidge of mindfulness and the science of positive psychology to shake up your usual routine, amplify what's working and experience life through a different lens. Curious? Good! Curiosity is a key ingredient for The Life Feast...
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