If we want to know what happiness is, we must seek it, not as if it were a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but among human beings who are living richly and fully the good life. If you observe a really happy man, you will find him building a boat, writing a symphony, educating his children, growing double dahlias in his garden. He will not be searching for happiness… he will have become aware that he is happy in the course of living twenty-four crowded hours in the day. – W. Beran Wolfe
Archives for October 2011
100 Ways to Boost Your Self-Confidence
The book lover in me delighted in the fact that I was sent a copy of 100 Ways to Boost Your Self-Confidence: Believe In Yourself and Others Will Too
to review on the self help blog. My inner self help diva rejoiced because it was about a favorite subject: Self Confidence.
We’ll only go as far as our self confidence will carry us – for better or worse.
Some people have an edge when it comes to self confidence. The people in their life (parents, spouse, children, etc) build them up to the point that they feel they can do anything. My parents always instilled this can-do attitude in me as a child. So much so that, right before a game, when my softball coach asked our team who could pitch, I raised my hand even though I’d never pitched a day in my life. I took the pitcher’s position, ball in hand, and never (even slightly) doubted that I could do it. My mom sat bug-eyed in the stands and my dad looked like he wanted to cry. I’d always been a catcher! Yet, there their daughter marched, like a boss, to the mound.
I struck out the first girl.
Then the next.
Third girl? She hit it back to me and I threw her out.
I wouldn’t have remembered these details, on my own but my dad repeated the story over the years so many times that it became ingrained in my memory – and probably everyone else’s for 6 counties! Proud dad.
Some people are at a complete disadvantage when it comes to self confidence. The people in their life never seem to say anything to them or about them unless it’s negative. How pathetic is that?! My heart breaks for these people and I understand why they struggle with confidence. However, if they realize that THEY aren’t the ones with the problem, they’ll be well on their way.
Most people fall somewhere in between. They don’t have cheerleaders on the sideline, but they also don’t have people hurling insults.
Irregardless of your supporting cast, your level of self-confidence can (and should) be built up and strengthened. We’ll only go as far as we think we can! Apparently a lot of people know that because one of the subject areas I hear from my readers the most about is Self Confidence. After reading 100 Ways to Boost Your Self-Confidence: Believe In Yourself and Others Will Too, I’m delighted to say that I now have a wonderful book to recommend to anyone and everyone who wants to improve their self-confidence.
Book Description
When you don’’t believe in yourself, everything is more difficult. 100 Ways to Boost Your Self-Confidence will literally help you change your life by changing the way you feel about yourself. Not only will you have faith in who you really are, but the people you love and work with will believe in you as well.
100 Ways to Boost Your Self-Confidence will show you how to:
- Discover the essence of your personal power and belief in yourself.
- Create the life you want with practical “feel good” behaviors.
- Reduce your doubts, increase your self-worth and make your world a better place.
- Improve the quality of your relationships by changing the way you think about yourself and how others think about you.
- Become your best self by employing these easy-to-use techniques
I absolutely love this book from the front cover to the back and if I could be granted a wish right now, it’d be that anyone who struggles with self-confidence at all would buy a copy of 100 Ways to Boost Your Self-Confidence: Believe In Yourself and Others Will Too right this minute. Don’t spend another day doubting yourself or your abilities. Let author Barton Goldsmith, PHD show you how to open yourself up to a whole new world.
Love This Marilyn Monroe Quote

“I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.” – Marilyn Monroe
I’m fascinated.. beyond fascinated, actually… with the Golden Age of Hollywood (one of my blogs that proves it). The clothes, the movies, the music, the relationships, and, most of all, the people. Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, Rita Hayworth, Lucille Ball, Marlon Brando, James Stewart…. All fascinating people to say the least.
The wonderful thing about Marilyn Monroe is that she had a lot of intelligence and wit beneath the beauty that made the world drop its collective jaw. Each time I read one of her quotes or interviews, I just sit there, transfixed.
Beauty, talent, intellect, and a biting sense of humor. I love to read about Marilyn Monroe, but I also hate to read about Marilyn Monroe. It’s just so insanely tragic that her demons took control and, ultimately, won the fight. If only uncommon strength had been amongst her many attributes.
Being a sex symbol is a heavy load to carry, especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered.– Marilyn Monroe
Quotes About Life and Happiness
If you want your life to be a magnificent story, then begin by realizing that you are the author and everyday you have the opportunity to write a new page. – Mark Houlahan
It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters. – Epictetus
Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so. – Robert G. Ingersoll
The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. – Mark Twain
There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved. – George Sand
Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn’t people feel as free to delight in whatever remains to them? – Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
I think I’ve discovered the secret of life – you just hang around until you get used to it. – Charles Schulz
There is only one way to happiness, and that is cease worrying about the things which are beyond the power of our will. – Epictetus
Practice hope. As hopefulness becomes a habit, you can achieve a permanently happy spirit. – Norman Vincent Peale
The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet. – James Oppenheim
He who enjoys doing and enjoys what he has done is happy. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Life’s not always fair. Sometimes you can get a splinter even sliding down a rainbow. – Cherralea Morgen
I will keep a smile on my face and in my heart even when it hurts today. – Og Mandino
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. – Friedrich Nietzsche
Until you are happy with who you are, you will never be happy with what you have. – Zig Ziglar
More quotes about life and quotes about happiness.
The Antidote to Feeling Overwhelmed
o·ver·whelm [oh-ver-hwelm, -welm]
verb (used with object)
1. to overcome completely in mind or feeling: overwhelmed by remorse.
2. to overpower or overcome, especially with superior forces; destroy; crush: Roman troops were overwhelmed by barbarians.
3. to cover or bury beneath a mass of something, as floodwaters, debris, or an avalanche; submerge: Lava from erupting Vesuvius overwhelmed the city of Pompeii.
4. to load, heap, treat, or address with an overpowering or excessive amount of anything: a child overwhelmed with presents; to overwhelm someone with questions.
Overwhelm’s definitions even seem overwhelming. “…superior forces; destroy; crush..”
Wow.
When you’re in the throes of feeling overwhelmed, though, the definitions don’t quite seem to measure up. We’d look at the definitions and say, “Close. But not quite horrifying enough.”
My own personal definition of Overwhelmed is Discouraged with a migraine.
As I’ve said before, I work from home. We run a web publishing business, meaning I oversee (writing, designing, tweaking, re-doing, testing, yadda yadda yadda) over 20 websites and blogs. Whenever I encounter people who think that there are two kinds of work-related stress:
- Those who work outside the home
- Those who never have a reason to feel stress
… I just think, “Lord bless them. How do they make it through the day?” While I don’t have the answer to that question, I do have the perfect solution for feeling overwhelmed. However, if you’re looking for magic or mojo, you’re sure to be disappointed. My answer is as simple as it is effective. In fact, it’s so simple, it’s comprised of just two words.
So, what is the two-worded antidote to feeling overwhelmed? Do Something.
That’s it. I came across the antidote one afternoon when I was not only ready to pull my hair out but that of each of my four cats. Since none of us could pull off bald very well (I just don’t have the head shape for it), I decided to move along to Plan B. As I sat at the kitchen table, staring into my bowl of tomato soup and wondering why God thought 24 hours was enough – the solution came to me.
I realized that sitting there, feeling stressed out and overwhelmed, was accomplishing less than zero. I was wasting time, not accomplishing anything, and annoying my cats. It occurred to me that the one SURE way to chase away the feeling of being overwhelmed is to get up and get after it.
One of my online friends (deep in the throes of feeling overwhelmed by work, family, weight loss efforts, and a house that refused to clean itself) once asked me, “Where would YOU start if you had a billion and two things to do.” I said, “I’d start with number one. Then I’d move to number three. Then four…” I was half-kidding, but a very real truth lies within the words: When you begin doing something, you’ll instantly lose the feeling of being overwhelmed. The feeling will be replaced by the feeling of being, first, busy, and then, tired.
But overwhelmed you’ll no longer be!
It holds true for whatever it is that has you backed into the corner, champ. Come out swinging and keep on swinging. Because staying backed into a corner’s only going to get you clobbered.
If you feel overwhelmed by housework —– it does pile up on you when you’re not looking, doesn’t it? —– jump in with a cleaning rag in one hand and a trash bag in the other. Make a plan to attack one room each day – a plan that’s perfectly doable. By the end of the week, your place will look so fantastic you’ll have people over for dinner just to show it off.
If your “to do” list has gotten out of control, separate it into chunks of three bite sized chores and take action.
The beauty about taking action is a body in action tends to stay in action. When that happens, work won’t have time to pile up on you!