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Dear Beautiful Woman, We adore stories. It’s in our nature. Often, we resonate with the stories others tell because they bring us closer to our own. When we sit down to record the events of our lives, we usually make some unexpected personal discovery. In fact, author Joan Didion says, “I don’t know what I think […]

Hello my friend, Confidence is something most people crave. Confidence is an illusive ‘character’ who resides in the mind, yet there are specific ways to show it and grow it. The other day while unpacking my books, I came across one I didn’t recognize. It was a book of poems by several college students, including

Hello Beautiful, We have a million reasons to love our friends: they understand us, they support us and they know just what to say when we’re having an off day. Through the years my friends have helped me understand that there’s always a new day and a new way to look at a bleak situation.

Hello Beautiful, Imagine getting a call from a friend. She tells you about her frustration at work and wants to quit, then asks, “What should I do?†Unlike the Super Bowl, where several referees, line judges and armchair quarterbacks determine the outcome, our personal choices are not always objective decisions. Making decisions is a part of

Hello Beauty, Have you ever noticed that events seem to come in threes? This might be the way the Divine gets our attention. My trio of recent events involved two visits from friends of my past and the unfortunate passing of a third friend. Through these meetings and especially through the lens of death, we pay

Hello my friend, This is a happy week for our Whalen family as nephew David is graduating from Fire Academy. It’s been a long journey, yet he’s made it! As you may know, we have a huge family and his mom, sister, aunts and uncles will fly in from around the country, with fierce pride,

Dear Beautiful, During my morning walk, I was thinking about the word priorities. How do we stack the various activities that demand our attention into an order that moves us forward with our goals? Maybe it begins with the way we value our time, how we invest in our day—much like investing our money. The decision

Dear Beauty, Lately, I’ve noticed lots of optimistic statements—platitudes that speak of looking on the bright side, living out-of-the-box, seeing the glass half full.  I quote them myself, but I wonder if I and the others who sing these positive mantras would put them into practice if a devastating crisis came to our door. I’ve always admired my youngest sister,

Dear Very Cool Woman, Have you seen the latest Star Wars or Hunger Games movies? We’ve seen both and they are certainly worth it. One thing I notice is that the writers have included farewell words of good luck that get repeated—almost like slogans. In Star Wars, everyone says, “May the Force be with you,â€