Barbara Brooks created Flamingo Strategies LLC to help clients stand up and stand out, through telling and sharing their stories of impact and purpose.
Hacking Away at Happiness is her blog.
All in Mindfulness
Whether our latest trench is made of heavy, mashed-potatoes snow—or of our own negative thinking—here are a few ways we might find ease.
In boxing, to pull a punch is to hit less hard than one can. In writing, it’s to be less truthful. So, friends, I’ve hit the pandemic wall. And I’ve got to get a handle on this.
Thanks to Bernie, I’m knitting again. I’ve been smitten by those mittens, and it’s time to share some love. And for the world to wrap and turn.
I want to hear laughter when I crack a joke. I want to hear silence on the line and know we both are thinking. If a friend is choking on tears, I want to hear that too.
Despite the dire nature of the holiday, I found tremendous comfort, again this year, in the familiarity of the prayers and songs of the season.
As word gets around, week by week, more faces and more flames will fill our screens—until the glow is so hot, so bright, so fierce, that we’re transfixed.
Finding tranquility won’t be easy for my 19-year-old son. But there’s a rowing machine in the basement, and maybe he’ll learn to meditate.
People pay a lot of money to cloister themselves in isolation. Depending on how we look at things—staying home can be either a punishment or a gift.
There are no mistakes. Only happy accidents. As a novice painter, I enjoy that idea. But could the same also be true in the rest of our lives?
Whether our habit is to blow all our dough on Manolo Blaniks, or stuff it under a mattress, we really can improve our relationship with money.
Fear of missing out is a powerful thing. But once we put that aside, we can appreciate that we are on the right path. The only path.
It’s been six weeks since my accident, and I think I’m ready to stop counting. I’m ready to move on. But I’m not ready to forget what I’ve learned.
Painting with watercolor helped me heal. In my process, I saw a metaphor for how we create our lives. I saw hope for the New Year.
For quieting the monkey mind, there’s nothing better. It forces mindfulness, reinforces simplicity, and even subsistence tasks bring joy.
Swimming is refreshing. It’s meditative. It’s an act of total immersion. But landlocked is a state of mind.
On average, Americans know 42,000 words. And yet, in business and in life, we use the same ones over and over again. So people are likely to tune us out.
Liars are everywhere and consequences are nil. But by telling the truth we distance ourselves from the bad guys. And we experience real personal gain.
Life choices aren’t just about what we want to do; they’re about who we want to be. So, it helps to know what matters to us most.
Our rush to respond—to be answer-ready at all times—is habitual. And we don’t even know we are doing it.
Whether we make art, or simply notice how light lands on surface, what matters most is where we place our frame.
