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Articles from Sara Dillinger | Selfgrowth.com
- A Is For Avoidance - by Submitted on Jun 26, 2011 from Sara DillingerI know what’s going on. I have at least become that self-aware in the last sixty-one years. I am practicing the art of avoidance. I know that I am going to have to write this sooner or later, but I am assiduously putting it off as long as possible. We all have that tendency, don’t we, when it ...
Views: 1369(1 vote) - A Rememdy for Toxic People - by Submitted on Apr 20, 2011 from Sara DillingerDo you remember the old skull and cross-bones? The last time I saw it was when I was watching The Pirates of the Caribbean. There was a time, though, when it was the universal symbol not just of pirates and their undead henchmen, but of poison. I just checked my box of 20 Mule Team Borax, ...
Views: 3086(1 vote) - E Is For Elephant - by Submitted on Jul 04, 2011 from Sara DillingerDon’t think about that elephant in the room. Whatever you do, do not think about the elephant. Just ignore it. Maybe it will go away. Of course, when you are told NOT to think about something, that is about the only thing you can think of. Even though there is no actually elephant in ...
Views: 1833(1 vote) - Life Has Its Ups and Downs: Don't Let It Get You Down - by Submitted on Apr 24, 2011 from Sara DillingerAh, the gentle pitter-patter of rain upon the roof of a mobile home! The sound can be so soothing that it lulls you to sleep. Who needs an expensive ambient sound machine? This is nature’s own. Just lie back, secure in your comfy nest of bed and blankets and let Mother Nature sing her watery ...
Views: 2090(1 vote) - Life Is a Bowlful of -- Jello? - by Submitted on Jun 09, 2011 from Sara DillingerI don’t want to seem to be pushing a name brand but I have been thinking a lot about Jello of late. You know, the sweet, fruity, wiggly stuff that used to be a fixture at everything from family meals to church dinners. I’ve been thinking about Jello because of the metaphors that surround it ...
Views: 1248(1 vote) - O Is For Ownership - by Submitted on Aug 01, 2011 from Sara DillingerI am not talking about crass materialism or consumerism, nor am I talking about better living through greed. Rather, I am talking about a psychological stance that you take toward your “own” life. “Own”, used as a transitive verb means to have or hold a property or to have power or mastery ...
Views: 2108(2 votes) - The Basics of Mindset Math - by Submitted on Jun 01, 2011 from Sara DillingerI used to say that I was numerically-challenged but I no longer say that because, although it is true, it is also negative. You see, I’m trying to eliminate the negative self-talk that limits me. Now, when I look at numbers or hear someone talk about numbers and feel my cranial cavity filling ...
Views: 2222(1 vote) - The Dead or the Past: Speaking No Ill - by Submitted on Apr 15, 2011 from Sara DillingerDe mortuis nil nisi bonum Wow, Latin. I hope you are sufficiently impressed. Ideas just sound better – or look better in writing – when they are expressed in Latin. The dead language gives the simplest thought a gravitas that it wouldn’t have in English. In fact, I have a slim volume ...
Views: 1121(1 vote) - V Is For Vicissitude - by Submitted on Aug 29, 2011 from Sara DillingerRemember that old Negro spiritual: Oh, nobody knows the vicissitude I have seen, Nobody knows but Jesus. Nobody knows the vicissitude I have seen, Glory hallelujah! Oh. You don't remember it that way, huh? Well, you're right. The song actually goes 'Nobody knows the trouble I have ...
Views: 1366(1 vote) - We All Fall Down - by Submitted on Sep 30, 2011 from Sara DillingerIt was a beautiful Fall day in the Ozarks. The trees were beginning to turn. The air was velvety, the sun was shining. My brothers and I were walking down the hill along the paved county highway beside our farm. At the bottom of the hill was a bridge over the river that formed the ...
Views: 1427(1 vote) - A Beginner's Guide to Tapping for Fun and Profit - by Submitted on May 24, 2011 from Sara DillingerAs promised before it was pre-empted by the purported “End of the World”, here are the basics of tapping. If you really get “into” it, you will want to check out a couple of sites: http://www.attractingabundance.com/, Carol Look’s website, and ...
Views: 2169(2 votes) - How to Build a Better World - by Submitted on Jan 13, 2011 from Sara DillingerINTRODUCTION If that title seems a little grandiose, let’s take it down a few notches. Do you remember reading “The Little Engine That Could” by Watty Piper when you were a child? Or maybe you remember reading it to your children or grandchildren. THE VALUE OF OPTIMISM AND HARD WORK The ...
Views: 1011(1 vote) - Online Business Opportunities: One Size Does Not Fit All - by Submitted on May 08, 2011 from Sara DillingerContrary to what the makers of cheap pantyhose and gloves would have you believe, one size does not fit all. If you’re a woman, you may have learned this hard fact of life when you hobbled yourself with a pair of pantyhose that wouldn’t pull up beyond your knees. If you’re a man, perhaps ...
Views: 1185(1 vote) - Transformational Income: Use Your Brain - by Submitted on Feb 22, 2011 from Sara DillingerIn his classic book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill likens the human brain to a radio. It is, he says, both a broadcasting and receiving station for the vibration of thought. When Hill wrote his book, the analogy to a radio was cutting edge technology. But that is no longer the case. I am ...
Views: 828(1 vote) - W Is For Wisdom - by Submitted on Sep 11, 2011 from Sara DillingerI had an ah-ha! moment when I stumbled upon this quote from Marlene Dietrich: “I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognizably wiser than oneself." Gee, I wish I had said that. Then it occurred to me ...
Views: 1222(1 vote) - Transformational Income: Two Ideas - by Submitted on Jan 28, 2011 from Sara DillingerA Secret Shhh! I’ve got a secret to share with you. Well, actually, it is not a ‘secret’ at all. As Napoleon Hill points out in his classic Think and Grow Rich, Nature, herself, advertises it on the earth on which we live, the stars, the planets suspended within our view, in the ...
Views: 801(5 votes) - Moving On: Sorting Through the Lies - by Submitted on Jun 22, 2011 from Sara DillingerIf you’ve ever packed up and moved from one house to another, you know something of what the subconscious is like. I’m not talking about the kind of move where someone else comes in and packs up all your stuff, even down to the ashes in the ash trays. I’m talking about the kind of move where ...
Views: 1371(2 votes) - The Mythology of Death and the Afterlife - by Submitted on Mar 21, 2011 from Sara DillingerThe Invention of a Lie? I guess I don’t have a sophisticated funny bone. When I watched Ricky Gervais’s "The Invention of Lying" I didn’t find it “explosively funny” as, according to the DVD cover, David Edelstein, the "New York" critic did. I didn’t even find it “a remarkably radical ...
Views: 1151(1 vote) - Transformational Income: What, Me Worry? - by Submitted on Feb 27, 2011 from Sara DillingerRemember Alfred E. Neuman, the iconic mascot of Mad magazine? His signature comment was well reflected in his appearance: What, me worry? It has been said that his face was the face of a person who didn’t have a care in the world, except maybe mischief. Most of us are either not as fortunate ...
Views: 848(2 votes) - We All Need Someone to Love - by Submitted on Apr 29, 2011 from Sara DillingerI came upon this statement the other day: “You cannot really become yourself by yourself.” It’s true. The third level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is the need for love and belonging. Once we take care of our most basic needs and our safety issues, we need companionship, friendship, and ...
Views: 1273(1 vote) - Are We Forcing Our Doctors to Prescribe Unnecessary Tests? - by Submitted on Apr 22, 2011 from Sara DillingerMay I ask a personal question? Be honest now…. If you went to the doctor and he told you that your symptoms were all in your head, would you be insulted? Or, if your doctor, who looks like a Junior High School kid, told you that the dark spot that had popped up on your face was merely a ...
Views: 1033 - B Is For Becoming - by Submitted on Jun 28, 2011 from Sara DillingerB is for Becoming. This is important to remember: You are not what your parents, your teachers, or anyone else said about you when you were a child. You are not what your spouse, ex-spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend or anyone else thinks you are. You are not even what you think you are. You ...
Views: 1160 - Blaming: We Don't Have To Do It - by Submitted on Apr 28, 2011 from Sara DillingerOne of the things that I love about writing is that occasionally as you are writing about a character, you stumble upon an insight that applies not only to the character, but to yourself and to others, as well. This happened recently when I was writing a conversation between two characters. I ...
Views: 1252 - C Is For Conscious - by Submitted on Jun 28, 2011 from Sara DillingerThe English word “conscious” originally derived from the Latin conscius (con- “together” + scire “to know”). It is interesting to note, though, that the Latin word did not have the same meaning as our word — it meant knowing with, in other words, having joint or common knowledge with ...
Views: 1428 - Can Dexter™ Overcome His "Dark Passenger"? - by Submitted on Jun 26, 2011 from Sara DillingerCan we ever really be free of the past that haunts us, the voices in our heads that tell us lies and make us do things that we don’t want to do? Can we be free of our subconscious? The Showtime Entertainment™ series Dexter™ is a dramatic statement of those questions. Dexter Morgan is a genial ...
Views: 1611 - D Is For Define - by Submitted on Jun 30, 2011 from Sara DillingerI heard a segment of a program about branding on NPR this morning when I drove over to feed my daughter’s cat. In this brief snippet, the host and his guest were talking about “sheeple”, that is, people who will follow the crowd, the style, the latest fad like sheep going to ...
Views: 1123 - Dreams: Keep Hope Alive - by Submitted on May 13, 2011 from Sara DillingerWhoopee! I get to go to the circus tonight! I can hardly wait. Pardon my excitement. It’s not even a “real” circus – not a Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey type circus. But I’m excited anyway. My daughter called while we were having breakfast to tell me that Josh, my middle grandson, ...
Views: 1293 - Fear of Radiation: A Personal Plea for Japan - by Submitted on Mar 16, 2011 from Sara DillingerBlown Away When I was ten years old, my home was blown away by a tornado. I’m telling you this, not is a bid for sympathy, but to make a point. I have noticed over the years that many people who have experienced a trauma like that seem morbidly fearful that it’s going to happen again. Any ...
Views: 1026 - Finding Romance Online: Suggestions For Keeping It Real - by Submitted on Apr 21, 2011 from Sara DillingerLooking for love in all the wrong places? (try Facebook or an online dating site) Okay, first, I’m assuming that you are single. If you are not, if you are married, engaged, or in what your partner assumes is a committed relationship STEP AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER! Shame on you! The only way to ...
Views: 1145 - G Is For Gratitude - by Submitted on Jul 08, 2011 from Sara DillingerAs you may have guessed by now, this is not one of those charming little abecedaries to teach children the alphabet. This list of alphabetized words is for adults with serious problems. That's why I've discussed avoidance, becoming, conscious, define, elephants (It'll make more sense if you ...
Views: 1168 - Getting Organized: Making a List - by Submitted on May 12, 2011 from Sara DillingerI felt kind of silly. If anyone had seen me doing it, they probably would have thought that I was very silly. But there I sat last night, reading one of Arnold Lobel’s “Frog and Toad” books and gaining new insight into improving my organizational skills. Ostensibly, I was reading to my ...
Views: 910 - Give Your Energy a Boost - by Submitted on Apr 19, 2011 from Sara DillingerOne thing leads to another, like the beads of my mala. A mala is a string of beads similar to the Catholic rosary beads. Like the rosary, the beads of the mala aid in prayer or meditation. One prayer, one meditative chant, one meditative thought leads to another until the prayer, chant, ...
Views: 1024 - Go to Sleepy Already! - by Submitted on May 20, 2011 from Sara DillingerI just listened to a segment of Robin Young’s Here and Now on NPR. The segment was about an ebook that has gone viral even though it has not yet been published. The title of the book, by Adam Mansback, is Go the F**K to Sleep. NPR was being coy and giving the title as “Go the F*** to Sleep”, ...
Views: 1301 - H Is For Humor - by Submitted on Jul 12, 2011 from Sara DillingerThe Welsh poet Dylan Thomas wrote: "Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rage at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light." With apologies to Thomas, I would like to paraphrase this opening stanza of the poem: Do not go quietly into that dark ...
Views: 1142 - Having a Bad Day? Try a Little Perspective - by Submitted on May 09, 2011 from Sara DillingerSomewhere in the dim reaches of my Baby Boomer memory I have a vague memory of a comedian whose gag line was, “I shoulda stood in bed.” I found myself repeating that line to myself – though I used the more grammatical but less funny version – this morning. I should have stayed in ...
Views: 1890 - How Do You Define Yourself? - by Submitted on May 28, 2011 from Sara DillingerWouldn’t it be nice if you could go to any good dictionary – say the Merriam-Webster Online (http://www.merriam-webster.com/) – type in your own name and find out everything YOU needed to know about yourself? There you would find a definition of who you are, a guide to conjugating who you are in ...
Views: 1575 - How to Avoid Some of the Pitfalls of Grandparenting - by Submitted on Apr 07, 2011 from Sara DillingerThere is truth and there is truth. Sometimes the context in which you tell the truth, or withhold the truth, is as important as the truth itself. I suspect that nowhere is this more true than in your relationships with your adult children and their children. Now, I know that as a ...
Views: 1589 - How To Build A Better World: "Think and Grow Rich" - by Submitted on Jan 18, 2011 from Sara DillingerDoes the world revolve around money? My son, currently a stocker (that’s s-t-o-c-k-e-r, not s-t-a-l-k-e-r) at Walmart, was listening to NPR at breakfast one morning recently and bemoaning the idea that everything seems to revolve around money. It does seem that way at times. We have just ...
Views: 826 - How To Build A Better World: Auto-Suggestion - by Submitted on Jan 21, 2011 from Sara DillingerAuto-suggestion “I think I can”, that mantra of the Little Engine That Could is auto-suggestion. Auto-suggestion is the communicating link between the conscious mind, where thought takes place, and the subconscious mind, which is the seat of action. More simply put, you cannot do anything ...
Views: 1015 - How To Build A Better World: Believe - by Submitted on Jan 21, 2011 from Sara DillingerSuspend disbelief/Extend belief It is said that nature abhors a vacuum and I believe that the same is true of the human mind. When we suspend disbelief, we have to do it wisely and put something in its place lest we become credulous fools. So what do we put in place of disbelief? The ...
Views: 714 - How To Build A Better World: Examples - by Submitted on Jan 21, 2011 from Sara DillingerI have a relative that sends me a subscription to Guideposts for Christmas every year. Call me a snob, but having studied theology and because I really enjoy the tough mental workout that it takes to do theology and make sense of it, I tend to be somewhat dismissive of Guideposts. Its ...
Views: 868 - How To Build A Better World: Faith - by Submitted on Jan 21, 2011 from Sara DillingerOkay, okay, I know – I already did an article in this “How To Build A Better World” series on belief and belief is the same thing as faith, isn’t it? Some of you may even be beginning to think that this is sounding altogether too preachy. Well, don’t cross your arms over your chest and get ...
Views: 700 - How To Build A Better World: Jesus, Gandhi and King - by Submitted on Jan 21, 2011 from Sara DillingerBe Careful You’ve undoubtedly heard the adage to be careful what you wish for. The same is true of our thoughts. Be careful of the thoughts that you allow to roll around in your head. According to Napoleon Hill in his classic Think and Grow Rich(again using all caps as he did) “ALL IMPULSES ...
Views: 714 - How To Build A Better World: Leaving On a Freight Train - by Submitted on Jan 14, 2011 from Sara DillingerFood For Thought Have you ever thought about thought? Think about it. In my current recreational fiction (I have several great American novels in various states of completion), I have a character say that words are just the sounds that thoughts leave behind. I think this is true even of the ...
Views: 965 - How To Build A Better World: Never Give Up - by Submitted on Jan 19, 2011 from Sara DillingerHow To Fail Without Really Trying Thomas Edison, with whom Edwin C. Barnes was so determined to work, once said that “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” A case in point is cited in Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich”. I ...
Views: 867 - How To Build A Better World: Suspend Disbelief - by Submitted on Jan 21, 2011 from Sara DillingerInspiring Stories Remember the story of Edwin C. Barnes, who had a burning desire to go into partnership with Thomas Edison? It didn’t happen right away, but it did happen. What about U.R. Darby? Do you recall that story? He and his uncle gave up and quit digging for gold just three feet ...
Views: 826 - I Is For Imagine - by Submitted on Jul 19, 2011 from Sara DillingerI Is For Imagine Try to imagine what your life would be like if you could be whatever you wanted, do whatever you wanted, have whatever you wanted. When we are children, unfettered by the limiting bounds of reality, we dream bold dreams of what we will be when we grow up. We imagine ...
Views: 1409 - J Is For Joy - by Submitted on Jul 19, 2011 from Sara DillingerJ Is For Joy I don't know about you, but most of the time, joy seems to be the furtherest thing from my mind. I get so caught up in the stress, distress, and sadness of life that I have to ask myself, “Is that all there is?” It could be said that I am so en-tranced by the darker aspects ...
Views: 1188 - K Is For Kindness - by Submitted on Jul 22, 2011 from Sara DillingerWhen my brother died years ago, my husband and I packed our two children into the car and started from the center of Kansas go to Biloxi, Mississippi to attend his funeral. We got as far as Jackson, Mississippi when our car broke down. Having had it towed to a service station, we waited to ...
Views: 1232 - L Is For _____________ - by Submitted on Jul 22, 2011 from Sara DillingerThat title looks funny, doesn't it. It looks like I've got this far into the alphabet and suddenly couldn't think of anything to say about L. I mean no offense to L. It is a perfectly useable letter. Easy to write, too. And it could stand for so many things, ideas, attitudes. Love comes ...
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