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Browse published articles attributed to Susan Dunn, with full-archive search.
Having someone you love deployed, whether child, partner, relative or close friend, is extremely stressful. As on military spouse told me, “Why am I acting like this? STRESS When we must separate from a loved one we have reactions that are physiological and emotional that are beyond our ...
The Equalizer doesn't seem to be answering the phone so it looks like its up to you. What? Oh any of those nasty chores we all hate to do. For me its keeping lists, keeping records. Of course I can DO them. I was an event planner - it's nothing BUT details - but it's not my strong suit. ...
Being a good guest is important to both your business and your social life. When you’re invited somewhere as “the guest,” you really have a role to play, and it’s an active one, not a passive one. You’re there to enjoy yourself, but it’s also up to you to make a positive contribution to the ...
It's heating up. Lingerie, perfume and flower ads are flooding your email. The radio pumps out dining specials at various restaurants. In San Antonio, where I live, it shares airtime with the rodeo, and my thoughts wander ... I'll take my love to the rodeo and kill two birds with one stone! ...
Fred Rogers is one of my heroes. He was gentle "before gentle was cool". 1. You can never go down, never go down, never go down the drain. When life can involve divorce, layoffs, losing a child, being a single working parents, or starting a new career at 55, it's good to know you can never go ...
Building your career with emotional intelligence is one of the smartest things you can do! How do you begin? 1. EQ starts with self-awareness. Know your strengths. Take the StrengthsFinder(tm) profile and find out what your innate abilities are so you can build your career around them. This ...
The young man in this song, who lets Maggie keep him away from things he should be doing, is not practicing Intentionality. Intentionality is one of the higher level emotional intelligence skills. It means saying what you meaning what you say. Keeping your word, in other words, and doing ...
Safety first whenever you're in the car, but for most of us, it's a pocket of time, and time is what we have the least of. Know yourself. If you're the kind who can't do two things at once, don't. Driving time can be a great source of stress if you let it be, but if you are intentional, and ...
Matthew is not ambivalent about the war. He’s for it, 100%. This is his “first” war, being 30 years old. He’s watching the news avidly on t.v., is glad we’re over there, and sends me emails to that affect. My client in Australia has strain in her voice when we talk. She assumes I’m “against ...
Emotional intelligence involves many separate competencies. One of them is compassion or empathy. You might think of it as ^soft.^ Well, actually some people think of emotional intelligence as ^soft.^ Which brings up an interesting point. In the Strengths e-course I offer, I ask the ...
How do you stay motivated when you don’t feel like doing something? There’s the ‘carrot and stick’ philosophy which works for children. How do you “motivate” your 10 year old to clean up his room? Either punish him for not doing it, or hold out a reward for him when he does do it, the ...
Being a good guest isn't a passive affair. It means actively participating in making the party or gathering a success. There are certain people I like to invite to anything I give because I know they'll show up and leave on time, they'll be able to talk to anyone, and they'll help me with little ...
Our mantra is “if you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you’ll keep getting what you’ve been getting.” With that in mind, let’s talk about “happiness.” If you're into professional development, you've heard of Martin Seligman, Ph.D., who developed the theory of Learned Optimism. Optimism is ...
Studies show that most New Year’s resolutions are broken by January 15th. Getting organized is most people’s number one priority, yet it never seems to happen. Here are the top 10 ways to get organized. 1. Hire a coach. USA Weekend says: “Coaches help clients navigate their warp-speed lives ...
According to research by Martin Seligman, Ph.D., pessimists are more often right, but optimists accomplish more. Optimism is an emotional intelligence competency, can be learned, and it can be twice as important to your success and happiness as your IQ. Take a look at some of this exciting ...
Mother Theresa. How would you describe her? Compassionate? Kind? That’s not what people who knew her said. In my Strengths course, I ask the learners to name the major strength of different well-known people. Here’s what Pamela Sheppard replied: “The standard is compassion, but, having ...
“Something we were withholding made us weak/Until we found out that it was ourselves," wrote Robert Frost, in "The Gift Outright." Frost recited this poem at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961. With the words, “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you -- ask ...
Self-expression is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. It helps you solidify your thoughts and feelings, gives you a chance to pass on the knowledge and wisdom only you have to give, and nourishes your creativity. Perhaps you’ve seen an article on the Internet and said, ...
“Anger kills,” says Redford Williams, director of Duke University Medical Center's Behavioral Medicine Research Center. He references studies of cancer and cardiac patients. He has also authored the book, "Anger Kills". And “Prayer saves lives,” says Harold Koenig, director of the medical ...
Having just returned from a cruise, where I was seated nightly with a table of 10 stranger, I was reminded of the many definitions of ^emotional intelligence.^ When I ask laypeople what EQ means, they respond “common sense,” or “manners,” or “knowing how to get along.” These are good ...
Shelley is worried about her financial situation. She has a home business that seems promising but is still barely producing and her credit card bills are starting to pile up. She picks up the newspaper to look at the want ads, thinks about doing some marketing for her home business, wonders ...
Another Christmas come and gone. What a workout for the emotions! I’m the EQ Coach, but that doesn’t mean I know all there is to know about emotional management – it’s a lifelong proposition; and it doesn’t mean my emotions don’t give me a ride for their money – remember, 2 of our 3 brains ...
Christmas has a knob. Use It! What does this mean? It means you have choices. It's your holiday and you can have it just the way you like it. Turn it on, turn it off. Turn it up, turn it down. Adjust the dial. Get rid of the static. It means you're free to celebrate or not, in exactly the ...
March is National Women's History Month and this year's theme is "Women Pioneering the Future". According to the National Women’s History Project, this includes both “pioneering women from US history, who led and won struggles for equality and civil rights, created and advanced educational ...March is National Women's History Month and this year's theme is "Women Pioneering the Future".
Casey’s 5 years old and reminds me of Edith-Ann. She sometimes even stomps her foot and tosses her head. And that’s the truth! Casey’s what you’d call “high-maintenance.” She likes things to be just so, reacts strongly to what’s going on, and tends to get wound-up. We’ve been working on ...
If you’re sitting down to write your New Year’s resolutions and they're looking a lot like last year’s, it’s time to try something different! What to do? How about developing your Intentionality? It's an emotional intelligence competency. It means saying what you mean and meaning what you ...
Does it matter what you wear? Of course it does! We want to be appropriately and comfortably dressed so it isn’t distracting. How can you court your honey when your waistband is too tight? How can you represent your client if the judge doesn’t allow women lawyers to appear in court in ...
Whether you've invited a military person, divorced friend, friend whose children are holidaying with their other parent, or a widowed or widowered parent or friend to your table for the holidays -- when everyone else is paired -- here are some things you can do to make your single guest more ...
In her book, “Taking Charge: Your Life Patterns and Their Meaning,” Gudrun Burkhard writes: “It is important that the child’s feeling life should find fertile ground on which to grow. Such fertile soil can be provided by art or religion, but above all by loving authority which comes from ...
It happens. You hate your boss, but you love your job. Or you love your boss, but hate your job. Or you’ve seen a colleague in that position, or you have a client so encumbered. I’ve seen it play itself out in more than one work situation. In fact, in one situation, I accompanied the ...
Staying in touch … we say it so lightly, yet it’s an important concept for our wellness. Staying in touch with others, staying in touch with ourselves, and staying in actual physical touch with our lives are all important. One of the ways to reach relaxation and give ourselves some relief from ...
If you've ever had a long-distance relationship with a guy, and lose ou t to a new woman he finds in his hometown, even though you two had a phenomenal relationship, you might find some new research interesting, hopefully even consoling. nnfMRI, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, lets ...
Most children love to clean up along with you. In fact, much of the Montessori Method of early childhood education makes use of this fact. If you notice their "work", praise it, and take it seriously, you'll keep them interested and you might also instill some good future work habits. Don't tune ...
Personal coaching has burst upon the scene. Everyone’s got one--even Jamie Lee. You think you might want one. But what do they do? Here’s one example of what coaching is all about. Charles M. Schultz, Creator of “Peanuts,” said: “I have always been grateful for the tolerance my parents showed ...
“The Life Coaching professionals at the Life Coach Clinic helped me beyond measure,” says Dr. J. Jordan, a senior management consultant,” to achieve those overdue changes in my life and provided the foundations for successful new directions and personal fulfillment.” It’s for sure life isn’t ...
Elmer builds roofs and runs construction crews. One afte oon he went fishing with one of his employees. Same bait, same hole, same fishing pole, but he was catching nothing, and his buddy was raking them in. “How come you’re catching all the fish?” Elmer asked. “It’s ‘cause I have to, Mr. ...
HOW JEN USES EQnJen is a manager for a department storenn“If you don’t learn how to get along with the Accounting Department,” Bob the Boss yelled, “I’m going to fire you. I’m tired of them coming to me…” Jen got up and closed her office door. Mercy was getting raked over the coals for the ...
“The purpose of having boundaries is to protect and take care of ourselves,” writes Robert Burney, in “Codependence: The Dance of Wounded Souls.” The term “boundaries” has been around for some time, and if ever a term needed an adjective before it, it would be “boundaries.” For instance, we ...
When we apply our knowledge from the DISC, the StrengthsFinder(tm) profile, the Keirsey, and the EQ-Map, we can eliminate a lot of the stressnin the holidays. How does this work? Well, if you're going shopping for the tree with someone who is ambitious, forceful, decisive, strong-willed, ...
“Intuition is vital to the empowered employee,” says Garrett Boone, CEO of the Container Store, in “Fast Company,” but intuition certainly doesn’t come to the unprepared mind. The more knowledgeable you are, the better informed you are, the better prepared you are to use your intuition.” So ...
One of the surest paths to personal growth and well-being nis expressing yoursel. You can do this through jou aling, nbut there's a more fun way: write articles for the Internet. The web is hungry for information! Webpublishers looking for content for their websites and ezines and you could ...
Remember your Optimism rules: Attribute bad things to something that isn't permanent, pervasive, or personal. Attribute good events to things that ARE permanent, pervasive, and personal. Learned Optimism is the emotionally intelligent way to reduce stress, live longer, be healthier, recover ...
It’s common at mid-life to have the feeling that you didn’t factor yourself into your own life. In fact I got that phrase from a client who, at 47 years, had noticed that she hadn’t. You think your goals and plans were all about you, but at mid-life we often have the feeling that we were ...
Martin Seligman, Ph.D., noted Optimism researcher, who’s now studying Authentic Happiness, has proposed that one of the surest paths to happiness is to know your signature strengths and build your life around them, particularly if it’s in a way that has meaning to you. Management gurus, ...
My granddaughter is 5. Last time she smacked her little brother and I had words with her, she said, “I didn’t mean to hit him.” A preposterous statement since I’d seen her walk over, pick up a book and whack him with it. But then she’s only 5. It continued, as I comforted both the offended ...
Well, you know how the fairytale goes … Little Red Riding Hood heads out into the woods to see her grandmother. First she fails to notice the wolf when he approaches her in the woods, but goes gaily on her way. Then, when she arrives at her Grandmother’s house things look suspicious and she ...
“It’s called Companion Air,” my client Sarita bubbled. She wants to take a trip and doesn’t want to leave Rudy, her dog, at home. So there she is, with lots of money and time, staying home. I LOVE MY DOG AND I WANT TO TRAVEL What is Companion Air? ( http://www.companionair.com ) ...
VACATION 101. It’s about having fun, peace of mind, not working and not worrying. Do these things and increase those chances! And remember that the watchword today is not that it changes, but how fast it changes. PACK THOSE “SMALL” THINGS. They get really "large" on a trip. The nail ...
The first date is a high-stress time. Here are some ways to make it work better for you. 1. Keep it in perspective. If it's going well, no problem, but if it isn't, remember it's just a date and it'll end. Make the most of it. 2. Keep your expectations in line. Consider possibilities rather ...
Olivia and I returned from going to the rodeo, and we’d been talking about going swimming. “That would be fun,” I said. “We’re hot and sticky. Let’s ask your Dad if you can.” When we got to the house, Olivia ran ahead of me. While I was talking to her Dad, she came running out in her ...