Tag: ELAN
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Apple of My I…
ELAN Principle 9 is “Watch Your Language,” a deep well of subtopics which I’ll revisit in future blogs. Today is all about First Person. Literary works are expressed through the viewpoint of one or more characters. A story in first person is told through one character in their voice. It is “I lost my job…
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Living on the Curve…
Lifelong Learning is number ten of the ELAN Principles, my personal roadmap to guide upward and forward movement. My dad instilled in me the desire to always be reaching for new skill, new information, new habits, new joys to be discovered. When he died at 95, there were some 1500 books stored on his e-reader,…
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Life is But a Blip…
Our time on this earthly plane is no more than a blip on the radar of the circle of life. That sounds so depressing, but is it? If one’s life is reduced to a mere speck in the time, space continuum, what does that mean? I think it means we have been given a great…
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Moving…
Several of my friends are moving to new homes, new neighborhoods, or new jobs. Although I’m not going anywhere, I am moving. I don’t need to move on or move up, only forward. My night dreams are invaded with walking on uncertain paths, surrounded by strangers. It matters not where I’m headed, only that I…
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Ideal, Ideal Day…
What is your ideal day? I have a few. The simplest is cozying up in my writing closet, punctuated by playing piano and reading. Simple, not easy to pull off given the rarity of white spots on the calendar. I had the grandest ideal day at the New Orleans Fairgrounds, soft-shell crab poboy in hand,…
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Front Loading…
In the realm of time and space and all things that must fit within, I like to remember to front load…my day, my week, my priorities. Setting aside writing time first thing in the morning tells my brain and my heart that writing is an important enterprise. Front loading the week means the first three…
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TAB Continued…
Revisiting Thought, Attitude, Behavior – how does it apply to personal relationships? Do you have a wonky one that is less than copacetic? Have you noticed bad behavior toward your partner, sibling, parent, child or even neighbor or co-worker? Your perpetual irritation may seem justified. After all, they always say negative things, or they never carry their share of…
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TAB…
TAB is one of my favorite reminders of the importance of watching your language. We don’t often think about the steps that lead to our behavior. It is what happens, deal with it. But there is an attitude that drives that action. Beyond that, there is a thought that informs that attitude. Thought, Attitude, Behavior. …
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Watch Your Language…
This is one of my favorite ELAN Principles because the words we choose directly affect our perception and thoughts. We may have no power over the actions of others, but we have control over our words. We choose our internal language. It takes practice, but we can adopt a more positive dialect. In the tiny,…
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Adopt a Policy…
Maybe there is a catchier way to say it, but adopt a policy means to make a decision once about an issue that comes up repeatedly. Then stick to it. When we had a landline, I decided to always respond to the urgings of telemarketers with “I have a policy to never participate in phone…
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