How Real Life Redefines Bravery

Beth Vogtbravery, courage, crisis, Life, perseverance 20 Comments

What Happens After a Crisis by @BethVogt “Sometimes the bravest and most important thing you can do is just show up.” ~Brené Brown, American research professor Can I just be honest and say life went off the rails last week? The past seven days have been all about trying to find some sense of calmness in the midst of recovering …

In Others’ Words: Choosing Which Moments Define Us

Beth Vogtchoices, In Others' Words, perspective 15 Comments

Of Milestones and Moments @bethvogt At some point in our lives, we’ve all been cautioned not to make a mountain out of a molehill. Some well-meaning person thinks we’re overreacting to a situation – or maybe thinks we’re overreacting to them – and wants us to calm down. Maybe they’re right . Maybe we need to step back and take …

In Others’ Words: My One Word for 2019

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, One Word, perspective 19 Comments

  Let’s talk about choosing One Word for the coming year.  2019 is just over a month away, but if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, then you know that I gave up New Year’s resolutions thirteen years ago. All my good intentions — the “I wills” and the “I won’ts” — faded so quickly, and I always misplaced …

In Others’ Words: Two Ways to Be Happy

Beth Vogtexpectations, In Others' Words, Quotes 7 Comments

I shared with a friend this week how my emotional margin is depleted and how, at the same time, I’m pushing to meet some self-imposed goals. She listened. This friend always listens. And then she spoke some much-needed truth to me. About how my circumstances probably weren’t going to change right now. And that maybe, instead of pushing against the …

In Others’ Words: The Secret to Living Well

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, perspective, Quotes 8 Comments

My mother-in-law turns 100 years old tomorrow. Yes, you read that correctly: She will be One. Hundred. Years. Old. Her father was one of the last homesteaders in Montana. And she was born in a one-room log cabin — that her father built — during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic. She rode a horse to school, which was also a one-room …

In Others’ Words: Life has No Remote

Beth Vogtchange, In Others' Words, Quotes 6 Comments

I am always losing track of the TV remotes. Remotes, as in plural. Does anyone have just one remote anymore? We have one to watch TV. One for the DVD player. One for the sound bar. And another remote for … well, I don’t really know. It may be for the standing fan, but it gets put in the TV …

In Others’ Words: Living More Richly in the Moments

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, perspective, Quotes 7 Comments

Stress is getting the best of me these days. We all experience times where we get overwhelmed and a bit frantic. Moments race by with things left undone and our frustrations mount. I don’t want to surrender to these kind of moments, as author Anne Morrow Lindbergh suggests in today’s quote. “If you let yourself be absorbed completely to the …

In Others’ Words: Rowing Through the Hard Times

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, perseverance, Quotes 5 Comments

Sometimes life is hard.  And sometimes when life is hard, don’t we just want to quit? To stick with the boat analogy, when we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere and nothing’s happening — no wind filling our sails — it’s easy to just sit down and wait it out.  Sometimes we tell us ourselves we don’t need a lot …

In Others’ Words: An Adventure in Forgiveness

Beth Vogtforgiveness, In Others' Words, Quotes 10 Comments

Sometimes the most profound truths require the least amount of words. “Life is an adventure in forgiveness.” Six words. Life-changing truth, wouldn’t you agree? Forgiveness is an adventure that leads us into the wide open spaces of freedom. Unforgiveness leads us to a dark dead end of anger and resentment and bitterness.  We have a choice: to forgive or not …

In Others’ Words: Life Happens

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, perspective, Quotes 9 Comments

There are certain things I wish I’d learned sooner in life.  This is one of them: “What happens is not as important as how you react to what happens.”  Circumstances, both bad and good, come and go. But how I respond in a given situation? That can have a lasting effect on me and on others that lingers for years …