The Resolute Woman

Category: stress

  • Caregivers need regular breaks

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    resolutewoman
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    If you’re the primary caregiver for a child or a sick spouse or an elderly parent, you may need a break. In fact, you need regular breaks. The best way you can take care of the person you love is to care for yourself and get some help. That’s a truth we know instinctively, but…

  • When you’re overwhelmed

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    resolutewoman
    in ,

    What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? My daughter Ranna, who is still struggling with agonizing health issues that are the results of her cancer treatments, often needs my help. Just as my husband Tom and I are settling down to watch an evening program on the history channel, Ranna calls, “Mother, can you…

  • The spell of New Mexico

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    resolutewoman
    in ,

    One Saturday morning recently I ended up waiting unpatiently at Firestone for the technician to remove a nail from my car’s tire and then patch the tire. I had just found a spot in the waiting room when I noticed that the television set was blaring. As soon as I opened my book, the young…

  • Find the quiet center

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    resolutewoman
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    One Sunday morning recently when I had thought seriously about sleeping in, I arrived in church a few minutes late, but, thankfully, in time to sing these words by Shirley Erena Murray. Come and find the quiet center in the crowded life we lead, Find the room for hope to enter, find the frame where…

  • Everyone needs beauty

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    resolutewoman
    in ,

    My friend Eva, who recently was laid off from American Airlines, is gaining strength and perspective hiking in the magnificent mountains of Washington state. She recently sent me this quote from John Muir. “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to…

  • What’s bothering you today?

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    resolutewoman
    in

    We all have had some big problems, and some of us have had or have enormous difficulties. However, it’s true, too, that all of us spend a lot of time getting upset about minor things. In his book The Untethered Soul—The Journey Beyond Yourself, Michael Singer reminds us to have a some perspective. Imagine that…

  • The lighten-up-and-have-more-fun team

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    resolutewoman
    in , ,

    Fayteen and I had a great lunch last week. We both needed to talk, and we both needed someone to listen. Fayteen was worried about Ranna, her daughter who is battling breast cancer, and was asking herself if there was anything she could have done differently when the cancer was diagnosed. Was there anything that…

  • We’re both below average

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    resolutewoman
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    We read Newsweek and discovered that we need to spend more time texting. According to Tony Dokoupil’s article in the July 16, 2012, issue of the magazine, the average person sends or receives about 400 texts a month. For the average teenager, the number is 3,700. Neither of us sends anywhere near that many text…

  • Need a vacation?

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    resolutewoman
    in

    Need a vacation? But you can’t afford a trip to Europe. Or, you already spent a week away from your office. Consider playing hooky for a day. Or, an afternoon. Or, even for a couple of hours. Sleep late and then go to a movie—by yourself or with a friend. Spend the afternoon reading a…

  • The struggle for dignity

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    resolutewoman
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    Horton Foote won an Oscar for Best Screenplay for To Kill a Mockingbird and wrote many plays about the struggles of ordinary people. In his biography Horton Foote—America’s Storyteller, author Wilborn Hampton explains that, while he was growing up in Wharton, Texas, Foote listened and “stored away all of the stories that would one day…