The Resolute Woman

Author: resolutewoman

  • Happy 104th Birthday, Ola!

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    resolutewoman
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    I stopped to visit my husband’s Aunt Ola a few days before her 104th birthday. Ola, dressed in a bright red pants and sweater, was sitting on the bench outside her independent-living apartment. She greeted me with a twinkle in her eye and a  big smile and immediately started asking me for reports on my…

  • How about a disconnected vacation?

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    resolutewoman
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    It required all of the logistical skills of a very determined mother to find a week this summer when my husband and two college-student children were available for a family vacation.  “Why don’t we try a disconnected vacation?” I suggested before we left home. Everyone laughed. The four of us arrived at the beach with…

  • Is it time for vacation yet?

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    resolutewoman
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    As I explained in a recent blog post, I am trying to finish an assignment from a client, help my daughter move into a new apartment and get ready for vacation. Because I am feeling a little harried, I am trying a different approach every night when I write my to-do list for the next…

  • Can you create your own Walden Zone?

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    resolutewoman
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    As we explained in a recent blog post, Williams Powers writes in his book Hamlet’s Tables about how Shakespeare’s Hamlet used his “tables” to make a list when he felt distracted. Of course, Hamlet’s tables were much different from the list that shows up on our computer screen or telephone. Hamlet wrote on pages made…

  • A little advice from Shakespeare and Hamlet

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    resolutewoman
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    As William Powers reminds us in his book Hamlet’s Blackberry, London during the late 16th and early 17th centuries was a bustling, chaotic place. People were bombarded with pamphlets, advertising placards, commercial and public documents. Soon they would be reading the first newspapers. How could people cope with this busy world? They used an innovative…

  • Some good advice from Horton Foote

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    resolutewoman
    in

    If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, we hope you’ve gotten the message that we’re not trying to give advice or tell anyone what to do. We just want to give you some interesting information and maybe sometimes a few nudges in the right direction. We believe firmly that there are no simple…

  • Sometimes it’s good to share the stress

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    resolutewoman
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    I still remember the joys of parenting two lively young children—and also I remember a few stressful days.  My husband Jerry was traveling a great deal for business, and I was busy with my own small business, and we were trying to spend as much time as possible with Mary Elizabeth and Jay Anyone who…

  • Do you have any holes to fill?

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    resolutewoman
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    Jane Pauley, the award-winning journalist, passes on some advice she received from a graduate student. Here is the student’s advice: “Somewhere in our childhood is a gaping hole. Fill this hole. This is the time to experience the world beyond.” In an article in a recent issue of the AARP Magazine, Pauley suggests that we’re…

  • Focus on your pride

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    resolutewoman
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    When we go out to eat, should we think about how bad we feel if we eat the fried fish, French fries and chocolate cake? Or, should we consider how good we’ll feel if we eat the baked fish and steamed vegetables? Focus on your pride, advises Deborah Macinnis, vice dean for research and strategy…

  • Is it time to update your story?

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    resolutewoman
    in ,

    I just had a root canal. It was my second root canal. The first time I had to have the procedure done, I got a little dramatic. It wasn’t the most pleasant event, of course. I felt panicked and was sure that I was going to suffocate. I went home and told my husband Jerry…