Moving On

I’ve spent the last couple of months working on ideas of how to better do this blog and how to create some things that I’ve wanted to do for awhile now. Because of that, I am moving this blog to a new page and asking that you come along with me. I would love if it you would subscribe to the new site, and I will be doing more regular updates on it.

All of life is a work in progress and mine is no different. This week has produced some calming in my life as I look at options and realize the world is full of them. In my last post about paralysis by analysis, I talked about how we sometimes get stuck. I have to thank my husband for reminding me, as he said it, “from day one of when we met, God has always worked things out for the good and this time in our lives will be no different.” That simple realization has taken that paralysis away and allowed for some excitement in figuring out what life will bring.

The new site will talk about leadership development, features some of my favorite books and products, and will soon release a new fun ebook for medical transcriptionists called “Bloopers, Typos and Speech Wreck.” I hope you will join me there.

You can find this at Kathy Nicholls and I hope you will come along in this journey, subscribe, and share your thoughts along the way! I’ll see you there.

Paralysis by Analysis

I woke up with this phrase on my mind today. It is so often easy to get stuck in that cycle of analyzing everything to death such that we become paralyzed to make any decisions. Whether the decisions we face are professional or personal, it IS about making them. And sometimes we make good decisions, sometimes they aren’t so good.

As I began to think more on this over my morning coffee, I found myself drawn back to the book “The Traveler’s Gift” by Andy Andrews. One of the seven decisions in the book is “I am a person of action.” This goes quite well with the next one which says “I have a decided heart.”

It is only by making a decision and moving forward that we truly have any momentum in our lives. Someone once said “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” And it really is that simple, one step at a time.

What decisions are you not making today that you need to? How fan you have a decided heart and become a person of action?

Telling Our Stories

Our lives are made up of stories, each interconnected to the other. Sometimes it’s hard to tell where one ends and another begins. The stories weave together to create our history, our life. Each short story is indeed a story in itself.

I ran across this video in the last week or so about telling our story in one minute or less. I would not have titled it sad, but touching. I think it’s worth sharing.

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What about your story? Could you tell a story in a minute?

Squidoo!

In the last month, I stumbled upon a site called Squidoo. Well not really stumbled so much as I happened to read Seth Godin’s book Tribes and went to do some research about him. That’s when I found Squidoo.

I’ve been playing with this for about a month and am having a ball making lenses. A lens is basically a web page and the Squidoo community shares all kinds of things. It’s a community, a place where people come together to share ideas. I love that. And although, I’m a novice, I thought I’d share a few of my lenses with you here.

One of the first ones I made, I made about Lessons From my Dog. I was missing Turbo since he lives in Colorado and this was a fun reminder of him.

My niece helped me with the lens about Bobby Jack. She is a HUGE Bobby Jack fan and we have had fun with that one.

Then I did a bucket list lens. It’s all about ideas of things to put on a bucket list of things to do before you die.

Today I’ve just been in a holiday mood so I did two holiday lenses. I did one on Christmas cookies showing some of my favorite things to make at the holidays. The other is about holiday movies.

If you haven’t checked out Squidoo, it’s a great community. Learning all of the new things I’ve had to learn to get started has been a great stimulation of my mind and I am having a ball.

Have you done anything with Squidoo? If so, I’d love to have your user name so I can follow your lenses!

Gratitude

Today has been a good reminder for me of the things I am thanful for. The past week has been a time with a bit of grieving, both personal and for others I know. Grief, now that’s a subject for another post.

For today, it’s simply enough to say I am thankful. I spent the day on the waters of the Caribbean Sea with friends. They are all awesome and I am so thankful to have each one of them in my life.

I came home tonight and my wonderful husband is cooking dinner. He is an awesome man and God sent him to me at just the time that I was ready to be open to that. I am truly blessed.

I am reminded as I write this that I also have a great family. I’ve been working on my Squidoo lenses today and doing ones about Christmas. That is always a reminder of family. And mine is pretty darned good.

In the hard times of life it is so easy to get lost in it and forget what we have to be thankful for. I am grateful for that reminder today.

Values, Integrity, and Choices

What does the word integrity mean to you? Webster’s defines it as “a firm adherence to a code, of especially moral or artistic values.” For me, it simply means say what you mean, mean what you say, and do what you say you will do. Pretty easy, right?

In today’s world, sometimes it feels as if our integrity is dictated by others. The actions of another may mean we can’t always do what we say we would. Yet, nothing in the definition says adhere to that code as long as others don’t interfere with it. It simply is what it is. We make choices every single day that impact us and the world around us.

In the last few days, I’ve been forced to really take a look at these things. There are times when it doesn’t seem easy. I have finally learned today to simply acknowledge that I have to honor those things I value. Some personal health things have made me stop and look at what I truly value in life. As I went back and read my earlier post on values I realized it really is pretty simple, even when we make it difficult. As long as you focus on your true values in life, it’s not tough to maintain your own integrity. It IS a choice and one we each have to make for ourselves. It’s really only tough when we forget that we do have a choice and CAN choose to remain true to those things that are truly important.

“Fearless” by Max Lucado

Imagine your life without fear. That is the subtitle of this book by Max Lucado. The author addresses areas of our lives in which we have fear. People are afraid of not mattering, of running out, of disappointing God, and of violence, to name a few. All around us, there are things that create fear and dread. And each person has a choice. To live a life based on fear, or faith.

I love Lucado’s personal writing style. This book came into my life at a time when indeed I was facing some personal challenges and where fear was quickly creeping in. It provided a reminder for me that when you live in faith, fear has no place. I found the discussion guide in the book quite helpful in leading me to make practical application to my own life. Perhaps one of my favorite nonscriptural quotes from this book comes from one of Lucado’s friends, who says, “Everything will work out in the end. If it’s not worked out yet, it’s not the end.” Our world is in a constant state of flux, the economy is bad, unemployment is rising, and many things are uncertain. I recommend this book as a great reminder of a way to handle all of the uncertainty.