Beyond Automation: The Promise of Personal Connection
We have become a society where detachment from one another has the norm.
Businesses create methods of barriers upon barriers that make communicating with the people they serve.
We have slowly automated everything.
Self check out saves the business money at the cost of human connection.
Automated phone systems with barrier upon barrier of getting through to a human.
People texting people in the room next door.
Teachers quitting because they can’t get their students to put away their cell phones.
In many ways, this technology is like a live experiment. How will our children’s longevity and health be affected by all the screen time they experience before even graduating high school? What will happen to their communication skills as they grow accustomed to this one-dimensional way of living?
Idk. These are rhetorical questions I am asking myself.
And. I make a vow to you that when you interact with my brand, I will not isolate and hide behind a convoluted system of walls and...
Tastes of Transformation: From Hot Dogs to New Horizons
I had my first ever American hot dog when I was in college.
The man I was dating was open mouthed shocked that I didn’t know what a hot dog WAS.
Later, when I spent some time in Germany with my family, I saw what a German hot dog looked like while at the soccer field. (yes, that’s where I get my ridiculous passion for the sport.)
They had hollowed out a brotchen (roll) and put a sausage in it. A brotchen is not a hot dog bun, and a sausage is not a hot dog!
It’s a funny story, but the point is: what we grow up with, or in my case, don’t grow up with, influences how we see the world around that particular topic, habit, lifestyle.
Later still, my husband taught me about pickle relish. Yup. I didn’t know about that either.
So what happens when we want something different? See something different and wonder …
That’s the million dollar question, isn't it?
What is required is a conscious choice to learn other options, to be open minded about...
Why True Essential Oils Donā€™t Smell the Same from Bottle to Bottle
I found the aroma intoxicating.
Geranium essential oil. My first obsession oil from Young Living over 23 years ago.
I used it daily…
I ordered another bottle and it was nothing like what I had been using.
I called the company and learned so much on that one call.
Each “lot”, each distillation, has its own unique aroma and properties.
The weather during the season—the wind, the rain, the temperatures, everything —impacts the plant and ultimately the constituents upon distillation.
Remember that when an oil smells different. Conditions can only be held constant in a laboratory where synthetic compounds (“essential oils”) are created.
If the essential oils you use always smell the same from bottle to bottle, it’s a sign they are created rather than distilled from plants which experience unique conditions.
On the other hand, when they smell different from year to year, you know they are the real deal.
Oh, and I was encouraged when I like...
Removing Impurities From Your Water (and life)
It’s simple, really.
Add a few drops of your favorite vitality essential oil to water and … it tastes delicious.
… Unless the water is full of chemicals and gross junk. And it rises to the surface as the oils do their magic. The scum is real.
This is what happened to me years ago when I met someone at a fancy, exclusive private club to share Young Living Essential Oils with her.
We each had a glass of water; I added lemon oil.
A short while later all the impurities had risen to the top of the water.
It was quite disgusting. We chose to buy extremely expensive Italian bottled water because the idea of actually DRINKING from our glass was repulsive.
It rather forever changed my view of tap water, ice cubes (on airplanes too) and so much more.
When we take in inorganic substances, be they sprayed chemicals on food or chemicals found in our water supply, or breathed in, our bodies work hard to move these things out. Our organic bodies are not designed to deal with...
Breakdown Before Breakthrough
I’m sure you’ve heard that expression.
Some breakdowns are massive. Obvious. Ridiculously painful. And usually feel never-ending.
Some, however, are almost unrecognizable. If we are not tuned in, in fact, we may miss it altogether and “just” chalk it up to a bad day.
Some breakdowns feel like you’re standing in the middle of the room looking at your life as it is piled around you — a heap of junk that’s all broken apart and ugly.
Some breakdowns feel like ugh, I am too lazy to give a damn about anything today.
Whichever breakdown it is, it can be comforting to know your breakthrough is soooo close! You can’t push, pull, prod your way there faster. You have to go through the tunnel first.
Did you know that as the butterfly struggles to break free from the cocoon, that if you helped and opened it up just a bit for her, she would die? Her struggle is part of her breakthrough.
The same holds true for you.
Someone can lovingly...
Your Life As A Puzzle: Clarity Through Redo
1000 pieces.
I swore there were pieces missing.
Then, as I neared completion, I was sure there were TOO MANY pieces.
How crazy is that?!
The sneaky puzzle people had two areas where the pieces were the same shape, and you could tell the piece needed to be “there” but it just was not working.
Until I changed the way I looked at it.
And that’s when I saw their sneakiness.
I took that area apart and redid it. And everything fit.
Perfectly.
I had to do that in two areas.
And before I knew it, the puzzle was done.
We are never “done.” It’ll never happen. If we are breathing and our heart is beating, we are not done.
Sometimes, though, we need to pull everything apart and have a redo.
What might that look like?
That relationship that feels so comfortable but under the surface you have anxiety around it.
The dread on Sundays knowing you have to go to your job the next day.
That project you’re working on, for whatever reason, you resist and put off....
Open Your Eyes And See Your Vision
If you’re like many of us, you take for granted that you have lots of time.
Time to live your life.
Time to build your dream.
Time to give back.
Time to make that special experience for a special someone.
Time to _________. You fill in the blank.
We all have dreams, desires and goals.
And we all, at one time or another, have taken the gift of 24 hours in a day for granted.
We think…. There is always tomorrow.
Until one day we wake up to news that’s unexpected that shifts everything right side up again (even though in the moment it feels quite upside down).
We think motivation is the problem.
We think the other person is the problem.
We think lack of vision is the problem.
The problem with that is that none of it is true.
Because YOU have the ability to conjure up motivation.
YOU have the ability to take responsibility.
And YOU have the gift of being able to open your eyes and heart up and SEE your vision.
It “just” requires action.
You take...