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...]
Overcoming My Lack of Belief in Myself
You would think that believing in yourself would come naturally, but that isn't the case for most of us. My lack of belief goes back to my childhood, while I was growing up in poverty. I didn't know that word - poverty - until President Lyndon Johnson made it the focus of his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964. He called it the "War on Poverty" and my fourth grade class had to write a one page essay about it. I learned that one out of five people didn't have enough money for the basic … [Read more...]
Success Takes Longer Than You Think
I grew up as the only child of a single mother during the often turbulent and always interesting 1960s. Early on I had dreams and goals as to what my future could look like. Big Dreams. Big Goals. My mother taught me that education and hard work was the path away from poverty to a better, easier life. She did her best to expose me to a variety of experiences that would broaden my horizons and reinforce her belief that no one should be defined by their circumstances. She also taught me that … [Read more...]
When 16 Seconds Put Us on the Map
"We've got an active shooter at Saugus High School," said the dispatcher. And with that declaration Santa Clarita would never again be the same. The sleepy little town is known for the first successful oil strike in California in an area known as Mentryville; where silent movie actor William S. Hart filmed many of his movies and lived during the latter part of his life; and as a film industry mecca. We're in the TMZ "thirty mile zone" outside of Los Angeles and boast more than twenty sound … [Read more...]