Making the Right Connections in School and Out

Connecting with our highest selves, Connecting with others, Connecting with loved ones. Connection matters more to success in life than high school grades or college ranking.

Making time, space and money for connection makes a difference and these posts offer you ideas for improving your connections and those of your students:

– Expanding Sports and Arts
– Reducing homework and school pressure to increase family connection
– How connection can change a life
– Keep school performance from damaging your connection

Solid Rock among early spring flowers and seedlings

Until today, I’ve never loved the word compassion. Is that harsh? Let me ask you this: what does compassion mean to you?  For me, it’s always had an undercurrent of sympathy, pity, of understanding and relating to someone else’s (or one’s own) pain.  It’s also meant to convey love, yet so often it seems to […]

Photo of yellow lab, nose up sniffing and savoring the air

Is there anything easier to love than an adorable animal or favorite pet? What do you love most in your favorite animal? What song helps you savor your love for him or her? Share your answers (and mine) on Facebook!

Today I’m basking in love and appreciation for wonderful friends. What love note or quote would most inspire you today? What love song would you choose for your friends? What do you love most in your friends? Share your answers (and mine) on Facebook!

Photo of teddy bear and quote "You don't have to do anything to be adored. You only have to be."

Yesterday, we talked about the fact that most people strive to get others to love them. Happier people know it feels even better to give love than to receive — for them, every day can be a Valentine’s Day. Love Week is all about finding reasons to flow love to others — even if you […]

Photo and quote, "I can feel my love for you even if you aren't loving toward me."

What do most people do when they want to feel more valued, appreciated or at peace with people who work for them? Most people ask (or wish for) the other person to give them more love– in the form of effort, respect, or appreciation. What do happier people do? Instead of searching for how to […]

Photo of a basketball and quote about being who you are.

Today is Day 2 of my Love Week — a week of finding reasons to flow even more love… When I asked entrepreneur Mark Sellew what he believes led to his success in growing his company over the past 32 years, he said, “You’ve got to love your customers. You’ve got to love your products. […]

Photo and Quote: "Just thinking of you as a baby makes me smile inside and out."

Today is Day 1 of my Love Week  — a week of finding reasons to flow even more love… I’m starting with some inspiration: a Love Note of the day and a Love Song of the day.  Then I’m primed to answer a Love Question of the day.  Hope you’ll join me and share the […]

Happy Golden Retriever Photo and Quote

  You may have heard people say, “you’re only as happy as your unhappiest child…”  I try to remind myself: that’s only true when I choose to let it be. I try to remember this when my child is going through a tough time.  It can feel more painful to see her suffer than to […]

Now, it seems that “how to be happier” is everywhere. And here’s the irony: it dawned on me today that now when I read about happiness, I sometimes think, “Am I happy enough? Are my kids happy enough? Are my clients happy enough? Am I doing enough of the right things to make us as happy as we should be?”

Suddenly, I get it. I see why people can feel worse when they see and hear all this happy talk. [Click title to read full post].

Not seeing the best in our students is not as much an issue for them as it is for us. Many of them go happily along feeling free and knowing they just want to stay under the radar of parents, school, teachers and traditional expectations. Jimmy, for example, is a C-student who, “… trained us. […]