The second time I said it louder, but more slowly and clearly so the man and woman standing at the foot of my hospital bed could better hear and understand me and take quick action. "Find me someone who's been a medic in the service, please," I pleaded from my hospital bed. I was in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, in the outpatient surgical center awaiting surgery on my torn rotator cuff and writhing in pain. The man was my nurse and after thinking for fifteen minutes had … [Read more...]
And It Was Me All Along
Owning a car in southern California is more of a necessity than a luxury. I live in two cities, Santa Clarita and Santa Barbara that are eighty miles apart. Also, I'm a public speaker on the topics of online entrepreneurship and mindset and need to be able to travel to locations throughout southern California and the Central Coast, many times with little advance notice. Public transportation is not a viable option the majority of the time. So when the lease was up on my Honda Pilot last spring … [Read more...]
And in That Moment Nothing Will Ever Be the Same
The fog was as thick as I'd ever seen on that morning. It was low and getting lower, a dark and ominous blanket reaching down towards the sea. I had driven away from Santa Clarita around eight. The sun had come up and cast a soft glow on the mountains and canyons near my house. But by the time I had left the city limits and headed into Ventura County via Highway 126 the sun had taken a giant step to hide behind the clouds. The fog covered the mountains, the pastures, and the fields of crops. … [Read more...]
Everybody Speaks
My first venture into the world of public speaking was in a required class during the second semester of 8th grade. Friends who had taken it first semester warned me of what lay ahead. Ten speeches of ten minutes each were assigned, with the topic announced one week in advance. I dreaded this class. Even though I followed the instructions as to the outline, it was the delivery that was worse than death each week. The more I practiced, in front of my bedroom mirror and with my mother as a … [Read more...]
You Can’t Step in the Same Stream Twice
The other day I was pondering my current life circumstances, when a friend sent me a quote. Perhaps I was deep in self-doubt about one thing or another and questioning my own abilities to achieve a goal, because the quote he chose is from Heraclitus, the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who lived from circa 535 to 475 BC that goes like this... You can't step in the same stream twice; the stream has changed and you have changed. Words of wisdom, to be sure. I know that when you read a book for … [Read more...]
How to Get What You Want in Life
The past decade of my life has been more satisfying and rewarding than the previous decades combined and I have finally figured out why. I did not know what I wanted for many years and thus, did not receive what I wanted. If you want to get what you want in your life, start out by deciding what that is and what that would look like in your life experience. Sound too simple? It is simple, and easy and it works every time. Knowing what you want in life applies to all areas - relationships, … [Read more...]
I Had to Be Myself…Everyone Else Was Taken
When I made the decision to resign from my classroom teaching position in 2006, after twenty years and many sleepless nights I arrived on the internet without an identity. I was Connie Green at that time, but that wasn't going to do. Too many women with that name, primarily in North America and Europe and many of whom owed money to others or had otherwise tarnished their reputations. Even the dot com of my name was registered to one of my namesakes who was selling something related to fashion. … [Read more...]
The Best Christmas of My Life
My life is very different now from what it was for most of my years on the planet. I grew up very poor, married young, and settled into a life that was joyous and satisfying. It was also void of most material things and that became my reality. But one Christmas was destined to become the best of my life. It was the 23rd of December, 1973 and I was on my winter vacation from my freshman year of college at the University of Florida in Gainesville. My husband and I had just found out that we … [Read more...]
The Small Differences
The moments we have with friends and family, the chances we have to make even a small difference, all those wonderful chances life gives us, life also takes away. It can happen a lot sooner than you think. ~ Larry Page I'm driving across the country on my road trip during the summer of 2016, and today I am in Arizona on my way back home to California. This part of the southwest all looks the same to my untrained and unfamiliar eyes. It's Saturday, the second of July and I have another … [Read more...]
Birth, Death, and the Brief Intermission of Life
The baby cries out her first breath. She marries her high school boyfriend four weeks after graduation. She takes her last breath as she succumbs to a disease that has ravaged her body over the past few months. This time moves so quickly we seldom take time to enjoy the intermission between our first and last day. This isn't an audition; we are all doing this life thing each day. We must show up and make our mark by playing full out and embracing our journey. The older we become the faster … [Read more...]