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Browse published articles attributed to David Bohl, with full-archive search.
Have you ever felt out of touch with your own emotions? Do you wish you could emphathize more with the way others feel? Try these six exercises to improve your emotional intelligence and become an emotional Einstein! Take an Emotional Inventory During a typical day, you probably feel dozens of ...
Are you a dad or a father? A dad is someone who not only physically helped to create the life of a child, but also supports that child with the basic necessities (food, clothing and shelter) and provides guidance and advice to see his child through life. A dad demonstrates that he loves his ...
If you thought exercise was merely a necessary evil to keep your body slim and healthy, you’re missing some essential elements of what exercise is about. If you thought exercise was something you had to squeeze in between the demands of life and work because it’s supposed to be “good for you,” ...
Well all have those people in life who are just a little bit wearing on the spirit. You know who I mean. Their intentions are good, yet they always manage to stir things up. Sometimes it feels like you can’t get anything done when they’re around. They’re criticizing, they’re correcting, they’re ...
Let’s face it - we can all use a little help when it comes to streamlining our lives. But improving productivity problems can be a bit of a paradox. We’re so busy that our lives tend to get clogged up with tasks left undone, half-digested projects and poorly thought out systems, which impairs ...
I don’t remember who said “age is only a state of mind,” but I truly believe that. We know getting older is inevitable, but aging doesn’t have to be. Chronologically we age each year, as our physical bodies deteriorate, but mentally how we age is up to us. And even some ...
In today’s fast-paced, get-up-and-go world, crisis situations are bound to happen. What should you do when a challenging situation arises? More importantly, how can you remain calm in order to deal with the situation to the best of your ability? Knowing the ropes when faced with a crisis will ...
Do single people really have goals that are different from married couples? Certainly they do when it comes to relationships. Yet, their career goals may be similar, as are their personal and health goals. However, because of their single status, unmarried folks have more time to focus on ...
Most people think they know themselves pretty well, but how well do you really know yourself? Do you know exactly how you feel about certain things and why, or do you tend to judge how you feel by how you think you should feel? Are you comfortable with your feelings and the "inner you," or is ...
To act with intention simply means to act consciously, with complete awareness in what you’re doing, and why and how you’re doing it. But although the concept may be simple, it is not always easy to put into practice. Our minds are designed to work from habit and conditioned responses - it’s ...
You've probably heard the expression, "Take what you need and leave the rest." This sentiment is often heard in connection with meetings and with other people's opinions, in terms of taking what you can use from what is said, and leave the rest. Another take on this, from the Mind Petals blog ...
In a recent discussion on my REFLECTIONS blog, we explored the concept of SWB or Subjective Well Being - your current evaluation of your unhappiness in the workplace. We determined that while many outside factors are often to blame for that "defeated" feeling that so many people experience at ...
Van Morrison has released a new album entitled Keep it Simple that happens to be in line with my own values, and with the Slow Down Fast coaching philosophy. I came across a review in Rolling Stone that summed it up powerfully: “At this point in his career, Van Morrison is less interested in ...
If the recent news has been any indicator, we are becoming an increasingly digitized and virtualized culture, with one glaring and fatal flaw: our inability to realize just how vulnerable our real lives are to the impact of our digital footprint. Look at Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, whose ...
Suzanne Somers used to work 16 hours a day, six days a week, but not anymore. “It’s not worth dying over business,” she says. “They’re not going to say at my funeral, ‘and she worked harder than anyone.’” Somers, a former star on Three’s Company, is now a best-selling author and the entrepreneur ...
Life is often a whirlwind of activity. Your work obligations, social life, and family activities often pile up, leaving you feeling buried beneath a never-ending list of to-do’s. Left unchecked, this sense of being overwhelmed can run rampant and cause mental, emotional, and physical damage. ...
All of the major changes in life and society, like the Civil Rights Movement, the call to save the environment, and even women obtaining the right to vote, did not just happen on their own. People didn’t just sit back and say, “Man, that isn’t how it should be. I’m just going to stand back and ...
My son attends Cornell University, where I have had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Professor Robert H. Frank, author of The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas. One topic that Professor Frank covers in his writings is the "opportunity cost" or the ...
By now, everyone who hasn’t been hiding out under a rock has heard about the subprime mortgage fiasco. Banks lent money to people who didn’t qualified for it by using twisty, unethical strategies like “liar loans” (literally falsified loan applications, which is otherwise known as loan fraud), ...
What an exciting venture – to start, run, and manage your own business! Maybe you have a talent that you are offering as a service to clients such as massage, consulting, or financial planning. Or maybe your business is selling a product like clothing, wines, or information products. ...
Does it take a family or a village to raise a child? This question became the subject of great controversy during the 1996 presidential election with the publication of Hillary Clinton’s well-known book, It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us. But somewhere between the two ...
Life is full of ups and downs. There are times that call for a little something special - nothing big, nothing earth shattering. Just a small pick-me-up or celebration, something to boost your spirits when your energy is down, when you need to break up a boring rut or when you feel like ...
These days, the self-help books and life coaching newsletters are full of people advising you to get in touch with your inner child. And they have a valid point, if their advice is taken correctly. However, too many people confuse connecting with their inner child and living irresponsibility or ...
I was out with friends for dinner and when we decided it was too early to call it quits, we went to a dance club adjacent to the restaurant for a drink. While we walked over, we laughed as we recalled our previous experiences in clubs. When walked in, we were stunned to find that we felt ...
Maybe it’s a famous wedding planner, talk show host, or a local business man or woman. Whoever it is you admire, and want to be like, has qualities that you want to possess. You may already have these qualities but just haven’t freed them from within yourself yet. Selecting someone who you look ...
You probably know what procrastination is, but have you heard about "structured procrastination"? This definition, from Stanford philosophy professor John Perry, casts structured procrastination as something even "productive" people tend to do: "The list of tasks one has in mind will be ordered ...
How is it that some people can be married forever, yet never lose that bloom so often associated with budding romance? People who have sustained, loving relationships for decades have discovered what everyone else is dying to know. They have found the secrets for keeping the relationship fresh, ...
Most of us have been taught from a very young age by parents or grandparents that lived through the depression that the responsible thing to do is to save…. and save a lot! But living in the generation where everything is so readily available… and can be charged or financed… spending seems to ...
There has been an exponential explosion of information available for increasing personal productivity, so much so that it’s become known as productivity porn (or, for those active on the Net and looking to avoid spam blockers, productivity pr0n). Productivity Pr0n consists of those ...
In life, there are those things we need, and those things we desire. Where we really screw ourselves up is when suddenly the things we desire, in our minds become things we need. Needs are those things that provide for our daily existence – food, water, shelter. Human love and companionship can ...
Vacations, it is often said, cause nearly as much (if not more) stress as they’re supposed to alleviate. Add to that fears of global climate change, growing awareness of environmental issues associated with travel, and the aggravation and crowds that tend to converge in popular spots, and the ...
In a recent blog post entitled The Secret to Happiness, I touch upon the concept of Subjective Well Being, or SWB for short. Subjective well being refers to an individual’s current evaluation of his or her happiness. It includes: • The sense of satisfaction one feels with one’s life, both in ...
Creativity can be the act of bringing something new into this world. Or it can be the uniqueness of each person that sets them apart from others. In the first instance, you may be creating something with your hands like painting a picture, or with your mind like writing a book. Even though in ...
Your marriage is on the rocks. You lost your job. Your best friend isn't talking to you. You hurt your back. You are one month away from foreclosure on your home. Your child is sick. Your father died. Any one of these experiences is traumatic. More than one occurring at the same time could put ...
We've all heard of "simple living," and we see the magazines and the news articles and the web sites. I often advocate what I call "voluntary simplicity," by which I mean determining what's important to you and designing a life in support of your values and beliefs. Many people, when they think ...
Intentions differ from desires, and consciously focusing on your intentions can go a long ways toward achieving success. Simply put, intentions are goals. Another way to look at intentions is as thoughts that help us fill a need. The need can be such things as money, property, love, or ...
If our culture is guilty of anything when it comes to the subject of love, it’s sending mixed messages. Don’t settle for less than your soul mate…but don’t be too picky, or you’ll spend your life single. You should look for someone whose interests match your own…but opposites attract. You must ...
Have you ever noticed that the hardest part of getting things done is starting them in the first place? It’s true. We’ve all felt the dread of that looming project, where, say, you’ve got to kick things off with a phone call but you just can’t get to dialing. Or how about when the house is a ...
It wasn’t too long ago that I was close to hitting the breaking point in my own life - but I had no sense of this at the time. You see, when you’re flying high on success, you don’t always recognize the warning signs of an impending crash. What ends up happening is that the pressure to be ...
Do people consider you shy and quiet? Laid back, chilled out, or the strong silent type? Ever felt anxious, or maybe just unenthusiastic about conversing in a group? Sometimes, when we’re out mingling, we simply have nothing to say. We can’t talk about the way one of our family members drove us ...
I know it sounds cliche… but the power of positive thinking really does bring an avalanche of wonderful things pouring into your life. From your job to your marriage to your social life to your personal interests…it pays to start listening to what your Inner Opportunist has to say. Think for a ...
A sad but true fact is that when your life’s work life balance falls out of line, one of the first things to go is a healthy sex life. This is especially true for women, who tend to fulfill their desires with work rather than play. Any longing for the sensual is replaced by the need for success, ...
Whether economic times are abundant or tight, it's always an advantage to be a savvy consumer. And whether or not your budget is abundant or tight, it's always beneficial to know how to shop effectively. I remember reading The Millionaire Next Door and was surprised to find that a common trait ...
We often hear someone say they're "happy and fulfilled" at a new job, with a new living situation, even as a new parent. And they surely are, or believe themselves to be, happy and fulfilled. But I wonder sometimes what we mean by these terms. Let's start with happy. Most people use the word ...
Do you believe you can have anything you desire? Some people do, and they seem to have a knack for going after what they want and getting it. They appear to have some secret that whatever they touch turns to gold. While others struggle with achieving their desires and seem to meet with ...
Remember when you were a kid, and your mom and dad read you that story about Chicken Little? Chicken Little feels an aco drop on her head and assumes the sky is falling. She goes on to spread such misinformation to her animal friends. The chaos that ensues enables “Foxy Loxy” to come along and ...
Didn’t know what the Presidential candidates stood for? With all the rhetoric– and misrepresentations and omissions of fact that you’ve heard from both candidates, it’s tough to tell what their real beliefs are. Not to mention the fact that the press/media being accused, and then admitting to ...
It's become a joke to wonder "what's my motivation?" like an actor, when we have something in front of us to do and just can't seem to get it done. We may complain that we just can't get motivated to do something. What we usually mean by this is just that we don't want to do it right then, or ...
Finding One Cente Until SuccessnI just created this acronym to give a visual of what focus means. How often do you find yourself multi-tasking, doing several things at once only to find nothing gets completed? How many times have you set a bunch of goals, planned some action steps, only to get ...
Dr. Daniel Gilbert, a Harvard professor of psychology, has done some ground-breaking and very intriguing research into the science of happiness. Dr. Gilbert has discovered, for instance, that we don't enjoy things as much as we expect. This research has an interesting opposite side, which is ...