You strike a match, and light a sputtering candle. Around you, the wind whips, threatening the flame as it struggles to take hold. Instinctively, you cup your hand protectively around the tiny tongue of fire, feeling its warmth grow against your palm. It wouldn’t take much to squelch this dancing flame—one well placed breath, one [...]
I don’t follow tennis much, but I am well aware of tennis stars Venue and Serena Williams, sisters who turned women’s tennis into a power game with their sheer physical domination. Picking up the newspaper last night, I read an article about these exceptional athletes, and was struck by a statement that Venus Williams made [...]
The other day, Mark Le Blanc, my wonderful business coach, reminded me that, as a motivational speaker and presentation skills coach and trainer, I am always and only one big toe ahead of the clients and audience members I’m trying to inspire to greater fulfillment. He’s right of course. Every day I try to motivate [...]
I recently watched a PBS special about the life and career of singer, actress, cabaret artist and all-around stellar performer, Eartha Kitt. Miss Kitt– who many of you will remember as the purring, growling, sinewy Catwoman from the original Batman television series) died this past Christmas day at the age of 81. When asked by [...]
Last night I watched the semi-finals of Dancing with the Stars while lying in bed eating dinner with my husband and my three cats. Tease me all you want, but it was a whole lot more fun to watch people in satin and sequins mamboing and fox-trotting than, say, watching doom and gloom on the [...]
When I teach presentation skills to my coaching and training clients, I always tell them to prepare to the point that they know their material inside out. Because, as jazz musician, Bradford Marsalis has pointed out, “If you’re not prepared, it’s too late.” Of course, this applies to anything you’re trying to accomplish in life, [...]
Every night this week, I’ve screamed like a kid watching the American Olympic Team swim, dive, leap, run, and spike balls across nets. I’ve loved watching Team U.S.A. win, especially Ann Arbor’s own Michael Phelps, who, as of this writing, did the impossible and won a record-breaking goal of 8 gold medals for his swimming [...]
As soon as she gave her hand to him in marriage, the giving began in earnest: When he balked at spending time with her beloved extended family, she gave in. When he refused to let her relatives call her by her childhood nickname, she gave over. When he belittled her dream to act in community [...]
It’s happened to all of us: Just when we think things are going swell, something or somebody comes along and knocks the stuffing right out of us. Demoralized, mis-understood, mis-treated and miserable, we pack our bags and move to Bittertown, where we threaten to remain for good… or at least until we get our come-uppance…someday… [...]
Sometimes, for whatever reason, it is all we can to do put one foot ahead the other and take a faltering step forward. And yet, one foot, one step after the other, is all is takes to get us where we need to go—even when the icy winds of our fears conspire to blow us [...]
