Every Monday, I’ll post about discovering genuine hope and authentic answers for living a healthy life. — The quality of our relationships – our belonging – can make us or break us. Belonging is the third of the five core needs we teach about at Celebrate Kids, Inc. It’s dependent on our security and our identity and it helps us find our purpose which leads to our competence. When our relationships are based on trustworthiness, that shows up as healthy belonging. If we place our security in things, that shows up in our belonging, too. It won’t be as healthy because we haven’t prioritized people or found people worthy of our trust. If we try to meet our need for security in our popularity, position, or … [Read more...]
Answering The “Who Am I?” Question is Critical for Ongoing Health
February 13, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Every Monday, I’ll post about discovering genuine hope and authentic answers for living a healthy life. — What’s important to understand about identity? One of the most important things is that identity controls behavior. Who we think we are is who we will be. Therefore, how we define ourselves is critically important. How do you answer the identity question of “Who am I?” I’m spending this week with wounded warriors from Iraq and Afghanistan. I’m privileged to do so! One of my goals is to help them find and embrace new identities. They can’t always think of themselves as wounded or they may never achieve what they’re capable of. Although they may have wanted to stay in the military until retirement, they’ll … [Read more...]
What Does Security Look Like? Here’s An Example from a Family in Flight
February 6, 2012 by · 3 Comments
Every Monday, I’ll post about discovering genuine hope and authentic answers for living a healthy life. — What does security look like? Here’s one example: The dad took the seat across the aisle from his wife and young daughter. They settled in for the flight to Mobile, Alabama, and discussed an activity they’d do when spending time with her grandparents. After we took off, the girl fell asleep. She awoke when the pilot began our descent from 35,000 feet and pressure in her ears caused pain. The mother handled her daughter’s discomfort brilliantly. For the remaining 15 minutes of our flight, she leaned over to get even closer to her daughter. She maintained close content, often stroking her hair. She regularly had … [Read more...]
Old Skills Can Help With New Situations
January 30, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Every Monday, I’ll post about discovering genuine hope and authentic answers for living a healthy life. — The next time you’re in a situation where you don’t know exactly what to do, look back. Chances are good that you have an old skill that may be relevant. We all have old skills. We may forget about them because of lack of use, but they’re there. We don’t forget them. Just about them. I’m not sure how young I was when I first shoveled snow with my dad, but I was young. My parents had lightweight shovels specifically so Dave and I could help. Unless the Milwaukee snow was the light-and-fluffy variety, Dad had to follow us with his heavy-duty shovel in order to get down to the cement. As we grew, Dave and I … [Read more...]
What is The Purpose of Snow?
January 23, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Every Monday, I’ll post about discovering genuine hope and authentic answers for living a healthy life. — What’s the purpose of snow? Is it something to shovel or something to have fun with? Something to avoid? Something that makes road dangerous and interrupts your plans? All of the above? Your experiences matter. What’s your purpose? Your experiences matter. Growing up in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, I learned how to shovel snow at a young age. My dad didn’t purchase a snow blower until my brother and I were long gone. Snow was something to shovel. My family enjoyed going to various sledding hills when Dave and I were young. We built snow forts in our front and back yards and had vicious (but fun) snowball fights with … [Read more...]
Keeping Our Emotional and Intellectual Tanks Full
January 16, 2012 by · 1 Comment
Every Monday, I’ll post about discovering genuine hope and authentic answers for living a healthy life. — Keeping Our Emotional and Intellectual Tanks Full Over Christmas and New Year’s, did you expend a lot of emotional energy? I did. I enjoyed lots of great times with great people: my brother, his wife, two nieces, Katie’s boyfriend, one nephew, friends over for dinner more than once, women at a party, golfing, and bowling at a birthday party. Sometimes, I was just with lots of people: large church services, concerts, airports, airplanes, crowded stores, … Honestly, it was exhausting, even though it was wonderful. It took a lot of emotional and mental energy to stay focused at times and engage in … [Read more...]
Living In The Newness of Right Now
January 9, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Every Monday, I’ll post about discovering genuine hope and authentic answers for living a healthy life. — Living In The Newness of Right Now It’s a new year. In 12 months, it will be another new year. It happens. It gets celebrated. What if we realized every day is a new day? Every day. Today, tomorrow, and the day after that, …. Really realize it. Live as if each day is new. Really. It shouldn’t take a change in the calendar for us to commit to change a habit. And, change doesn’t necessarily require a big resolution. We can resolve to change every day and actually change every day. Every day. Today, tomorrow, and the day after that. Is there one thing about yourself and your life you want changed? Do you … [Read more...]
Food. Food. Food! Celebrating a HoliDAY not a HoliMONTH
January 2, 2012 by · 2 Comments
Every Monday, I'll post about discovering genuine hope and authentic answers for living a healthy life. --- Food. Food. Food. So much food! My sister-in-law’s homemade Christmas cookies. Fifteen types! Happy birthday Jesus cake. Malted milk ball pie for the Christmas pin exchange party. My brother’s homemade peppermint ice cream. Many meats, vegetables, and salads. Many! Egg, bacon, and cheese casserole on Christmas morning. Homemade waffles. There are many benefits to visiting my brother and his wife, including the food. Although we have many special traditions, some of my favorites involve food. Perhaps you can relate. Before Christmas, my weight-loss coach reminded me that we were celebrating a … [Read more...]
I'm sad... } – 
Follow Kathy!
You can also sign up for our helpful bi-weekly (on Tuesday) Celebrate Kids newsletter.