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To appreciate something is to pay attention to its value (and in so doing, to increase its value in our own eyes). When we don’t do this, we fail to see the value in the people, situations and things around us – they depreciate (lose value) in our eyes.  So, why do we do this? After all, why would we want any part of our lives to lose value? Well we don’t want to but often people get focused on other things and many things get overlooked or taken for granted. This Thanksgiving weekend, I want to remind you of the value of appreciation.  GratitudeRead More →

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You’re probably very familiar with the many health benefits of drinking water; water aids digestion, flushes out toxins and boosts your immune system and metabolism. But do you struggle to get enough water each day? One strategy that can help is to start tracking your water intake – you can do this on paper or with an app.  I started doing this over a year ago. Originally my tracking consisted of tallies. It worked well but there were times when I lost track and wondered if I’d tallied that last glass of water or not. So my new system is that each day I writeRead More →

man people woman relaxation

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If you’re in debt, you’re not alone! After a decline last year, credit card debt is up again and nearly 1 in 5 Americans have credit card debt of $20,000 or more. As we covered last week, compound interest can work for us or against us – when we have debt, especially credit card debt, then compound interest is definitely working against us. While it may take time to get out of debt, it helps to have a strategy. In this post, I’ll share 3 strategies – each is not better or worse than the others, just different. Focus on deciding which one makes theRead More →

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It’s interesting how sometimes a word or a phrase can have a connotation for someone that others don’t have. Recently, it crossed my mind that something inside of me cringes at the phrase ‘live within your means’ yet, I feel empowered by the idea of living on less than I earn. The directive, ‘live within your means’ is advice that I heard frequently growing up and for me, it always seemed to suggest that people should live within their ‘station’ and be satisfied with their lot in life. Looking back, I’m pretty sure this is far from what was intended when people gave this advice.Read More →

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For a long time, I thought that someday I’d get things right and figure out how to have balance, work/life balance – all of it. And for some reason, I thought that once I’d figured it out, I would remain in this state of balance. And then finally, I found a new perspective. Balance isn’t a state of being but an ongoing process. Sometimes that means trying to balance one role off of another, other times it’s about balancing one idea off of another.  As a college financial educator, I try to stress this point to students, that it’s about striking a balance between livingRead More →

Half full cup

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In my previous post, I outlined the 3 reasons that you’re not happy and experiencing the metaphorical overflowing cup and I dove into not receiving as one of those 3 reasons. Today we continue by exposing the impact of feelings of unworthiness. In short, the feeling of ‘I’m not enough.’ I think we all deal with it and those who don’t deal with it, probably dealt with it in the past. I know that I used to, though I didn’t even realize it at the time. Thankfully, at just the right time I found videos from British therapist and author, Marisa Peer. She says thatRead More →

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I believe that when people aren’t happy, there are three main reasons: Having the wrong strategy. This happens because many don’t understand what happiness is and tend to look for it in the wrong places. More on this in future posts. Feelings of unworthiness, aka ‘I’m not enough’ this includes a multitude of ideas about being too old, too young, too tall, too short, too fat, too scrawny, not qualified, not educated, and so on. Not receiving. I believe that the saying that it’s better to give than to receive has created a misunderstanding in many that receiving is bad. That’s not what it says,Read More →

cow (decorative purposes)

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If money is an emotional subject for you, like it was for me, or if you think that money is bad, then I hope today’s post will help you to rethink things and change those feelings. I’m the type of person who likes to understand things and now that I’m a financial educator, there were a few things that I felt I needed to understand better.  One of those things was money.  We spend a lot of time trying to earn it, save it, learn about it, but rarely talk about what money is – so, here goes: Money is a tool for exchanging andRead More →

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There’s nothing wrong with wanting more in life. Unfortunately, society doesn’t usually affirm that. We tend to get the message that if we want too much then we’re greedy, therefore bad.  But I don’t think it’s greed that makes us want more but rather the natural drive that each of us has within us to grow and make progress. But because on the one hand we want to grow and experience progress but we’ve also received the message that wanting more is bad – well, it’s rather like having one foot on the gas pedal while the other foot is on the brake. So, today,Read More →

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Does it seem odd? Many people think that it’s a one or the other scenario; others think that you pursue Money or Success and then Happiness will come. Rather than being the reward for our success and accomplishments, happiness can be our ally. In The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor writes that people tend to pursue success, thinking that it will bring happiness but that it’s more likely to be the other way around. When we’re happier our perspective broadens and we see more opportunities and solutions, we are more creative, and can think and interact better – this is the happiness advantage that the bookRead More →