rewarding life Archives — Page 13 of 14

Budget Impossible! And Other Tales of Financial Freedom

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Rightsized, Sustainable

Happy SMART Day Everyone!

Click to go to “Restaurant Impossible”

Quite by accident, Thom and I started watching a show on TV call “Restaurant Impossible” on the Food Network. In the show, a failing and desperate restaurant owner somewhere in the country contacts Chef Robert Irvine. Chef Irvine flies in with a designer, a contractor, ten thousand dollars and two days to totally transform these dismal eateries and provide the last hope for these owners to remain in business. It’s fun to watch the transformation of the interiors—but even more fascinating to watch the transformation of the proprietors. In just about every case the owners have gone years without any income and are deeply in debt, while their restaurant and its business deteriorates around them. It’s hard to imagine why they didn’t do something about it or at least they cut their losses long before they hit bottom. But are they unusual? Probably not. Maybe “Budget Impossible” happens to all of us if we wear blinders when it comes to our finances or our lives. [Read more…]

The Power of Positive Thinking

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful, Sustainable

Mom & Dad March ’02

This last week the CBS Sunday Morning Show featured a segment titled, “Just how powerful IS positive thinking?” According to the report, experts cannot agree whether positive thinking helps or hinders people recovering from illness. Some of those interviewed said no—and that it creates unnecessary guilt and frustration when a person continues to be ill. But others who had recovered from a life-threatening disease said it is vitally important. Doctors also seem split on the choice. But what caught my attention, and still has me thinking, is whether we are asking the wrong question? Instead of asking, “Is positive thinking powerful enough cure my cancer? Maybe we should be asking, “Can learning to think more positively make my life better (happier, more fulfilling, less painful) no matter what I’m going through?”

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Don’t Stop Believing—Or The Creation of your Dream Life Starts Today!

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful, Thankful

I have a confession to make. During the summer, I started watching the TV series “Glee.” Maybe some of you have been watching it all along, but I never got into it even though I heard from a number of people that it was fun, touching at times, and worth the trouble. But because we were out-of-town for the last couple of months and away from our usual DVR programs, we turned to Netflix and I started watching the entire 22 previous episodes online. The main reason I’m sharing my new Glee addiction is because a primary theme of the show is “Don’t Stop Believing.” And that has me thinking a lot about what I do and don’t believe—and how that has helped co-create my life.

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Monday’s SMART Website of the Week—Action For Happiness!

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful

Happy SMART Day everyone!

A key part of SMART Living 365 is sharing—and because I find so much great information on the Internet, why not share some of the best resources I can find with all of you? That’s why I plan to provide a link to other websites that are helping to increase the quality of my life, others lives, and make a difference on the planet. In other words, I believe visiting these websites on a regular basis (just like this one!) can help you create a SMART Life 365.
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The New KISS—Keepin’ It Simple & Sustainable!

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Sustainable

A big part of living a SMART Life 365 is practicing simplicity and sustainability every single day. While the old KISS acronym is considered derogatory, let’s create a new KISS that is a daily reminder to arrange our life and circumstances in a positive way, make sustainable ongoing choices and habits, and develop a consciousness based on the SMART Living model. How do we do that? Let’s begin with the idea that is it fairly easy and that the payoff can be extraordinary. And guess what? The idea has been around for centuries. [Read more…]

Growth Mindset or Fixed Mindset—Which Do You Live By?

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful, Rightsized

With the new school year fast approaching, I think it is useful to recognize that people generally have one of two different mindsets when it comes to learning. Some people think you “just have what you were born with” as far as smarts or intelligence goes, while others live their lives with the belief that you can always learn more and become more with effort. Which are you? Sort of like a brain “operating system,” believing and behaving with either a growth mindset or a fixed mindset will go a long way towards determining your success and happiness in this lifetime. The good news is, if you haven’t been getting the results you crave, you can always change your mindset and go from there.

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Permission to Slow Down–Ending the Addiction of Busy-ness

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful, Sustainable

“There’s more to life than increasing its speed.” – Mohandas Gandhi

Thom & Kloe showing us one way to slow down.

It’s summertime here in the Coachella Valley where I live, and because it is the desert southwest, it is expectedly hot outside. While we locals have certain tricks and techniques to stay cool, most of the time the heat of the season makes me lethargic and under-motivated. While none of us like to think of ourselves as lazy, me included, maybe the season is both an invitation and permission to slow down, relax and enjoy life. After all, pushing yourself when it’s extremely warm (or cold) outside isn’t SMART no matter how you look at it. [Read more…]

Meaning In Life—Explaining the M in SMART Living

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful

Happy SMART Day Everyone!

In order to be happy and fulfilled, all people everywhere share one fundamental need regardless of their background, race, religion, education or any number of cultural differences—that one thing is “meaning.” When we have meaning, we believe our life has a purpose and that our being here matters. In other words, in order to live SMART every day, a sense of meaning is critical.

One of the champions for the value of meaning was a man named Viktor Frankl. As a three-year survivor of the horror of Nazi concentration camps, he eventually became an eminent psychotherapist. While many of Frankl’s fellow prisoners died in the camps, he believed that a key reason for his survival was the inner strength he derived from meaning.

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The R in SMART Living Stands For Responsible

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Rightsized

Happy SMART Day Everyone! Today is a great day to talk about the “R” in SMART Living—even if I am temporarily skipping a couple of letters to do it. That’s because the R stands for “Responsible” and one way of being responsible is being “response-able.” That’s right folks, although there are a couple of ways we believe that SMART Living asks us to be responsible…when it comes down to it, unless we are consistently able to respond in a way that creates peace and happiness we will always be susceptible to circumstances, events and other people. Once we take full responsibility for our actions, and yeah it isn’t always easy, then we can decide how we will proceed.

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