While I believe Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays we have going in the United States, I also firmly believe in the statement, “Thanksgiving is good—but thanks “living” is even better.” So with gratitude on my mind, this week I’ve been dwelling on how very much I have to be grateful for—and it inspired me to take the time to write out my top ten. Hopefully, by sharing my list you will be inspired to do the same. Oh, and self-servingly, it is also a great opportunity for me to announce the publication of my latest book, You Get To Make It Up—a SMART Living 365 Guide to Creating a Happy & Meaningful Life.
Of course I also realize that some of my readers don’t live in the U.S. so Thanksgiving isn’t on their calendar. But from what I’ve read, a number of other countries celebrate something similar…. [Read more…]
Unless you live in a very remote area and are essentially off the grid, you know that our world is facing at least two major challenges—climate change and political corruption. But before you stop reading because you think I’m going to get political (I’m not) and/or tell yourself neither of those have anything to do with you, I beg to differ. I do agree it is tempting to just pretend everything is just fine, or distract ourselves into believing those issues are someone else’s problem. However, I don’t think that’s the SMART approach. That’s because it is obvious to me that the people and the world around us have a significant influence on our wellbeing, our health and particularly our future. So regardless of what country you live in or what side of the fence (wall) you happen to be on, you and the people you care about are being touched by world events. What do we do? I believe there are three things we all can do to stay sane, relatively happy and hopeful in the days ahead.
Many people who find SMART Living 365 through Google or other online search engines are looking for information about Smart technologies. Others might be attracted to the blog thinking it has to do with intelligence or doing the right thing. Yet, if you stick around and read an article or two, you quickly realize that SMART is actually an acronym for Sustainable-Meaningful-Aware-Responsible and Thankful—and those ideas are what I mainly explore here. Plus, now and then I come across information that ties brain science to awareness. So when I found a book at the library titled, You Are Not So SMART, how could I not check it out? My big take-away? Clearly I am not as smart as I like to think I am (none of us are really!) mainly because who we think we are, our memories, and how we see the world often has very little to do with reality. Another way of looking at it—believe or like it, or not—we are continually making it up! 
Ever had someone say something to you that felt like a punch in your gut? Even worse, ever have someone you care about do something that felt like a sharp knife in your heart? Fortunately, as I’ve gotten older, my extreme reactions are now further and further apart. But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that every now and then I still react in ways that are viscerally painful. Then this last week I was listening to a podcast interview of author Brene Brown and she shared something I found brilliant—as well as a perfect exercise to counteract those painful moments that catch us by surprise. And that practice is to remind myself not to believe my “shitty first draft.”
Last week I published my first eBook novel to Amazon Kindle. I actually wrote the book about ten years ago and when I could not find a publisher for it at the time, I saved it to the archives of my computer and pretty much forgot about it. Then about a year ago Thom and I began reading about the new explosion of ebooks and how that process is revolutionizing the publishing world. Then I remembered my novel and thought—why not? Why not publish it myself? I had everything to gain and absolutely nothing to lose. Although it took a while to get it ready to publish, (that’s another blog post subject!) it’s finally done and available. (