In Others’ Words: Start Writing, No Matter What

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, Quotes, Writing 8 Comments

I’m in a “not writing” phase at the moment. Except the moment has stretched over a number of days. And, while I’m not on a hard deadline, I do have things to write. I have written blog posts … my In Others’ Words posts and other blog commitments. But that’s one type of writing, as opposed to working on fiction …

In Others’ Words: Leap of Faith

Beth Vogtcreativity, In Others' Words, Quotes 7 Comments

“Mom! Don’t take his picture!” I was walking around Breckenridge, CO with my husband and 16-year-old daughter. I had one camera and my daughter had another as we captured images of the town. But my daughter whispered “Don’t!” when I stopped to photograph the painter standing near a bridge, intent on the hanging basket of multicolored flowers. How could I …

In Others’ Words: The Problem of a Fast-Paced Life

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, Life, Quotes 8 Comments

I had a lunch date with my husband yesterday. While we were talking, he mentioned the year anniversary of someone coming to work at his office. I stopped him and said, “Has it really been a year? That time went by fast.” Life moving fast? That happens a lot.  I start counting down to something special, something weeks or even …

In Others’ Words: The Essence of Love

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, Love, Quotes 15 Comments

Kindness is such a beautiful expression of love. A kind word. A kind action. Kindness negates self-centeredness because we’re considering someone else’s needs before our own.  Sometimes it’s easier to be kind to a stranger than it is to be kind to a family member or friend. We let someone go ahead of us in the grocery line. Or we …

In Others’ Words: Adjusting our Emotional Tides

Beth Vogtgratitude, In Others' Words, Quotes 9 Comments

For me, it seems I always come back to gratitude.  There are certainly a lot of other emotions that demand my attention — wanting dominance in my life. And yes, I started to list them off and then deleted the list because why name all the emotional ups and downs I experience any given day? Disappointment can be one of the …

In Others’ Words: The Anger Remedy

Beth Vogtchoices, In Others' Words, Quotes 15 Comments

  The other night I decided to enter into a controversial debate . . . a conversation on Facebook, something I just don’t do. I wrote out my comment, editing it here and there, and then read it out loud to my husband Rob and my sixteen-year-old daughter, CJ. Here’s how the conversation went afterward: CJ: Can I say something? …

In Others’ Words: Remember Your Nice Words

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, Quotes, words 12 Comments

Comedian Jerry Lewis died just this past Sunday, August 20. The New York Times hailed him as “a defining figure of American entertainment in the 20th century.” While at times he was controversial, Lewis was also certainly multi-talented, known for his slapstick humor, as well as an actor, singer, producer, director, screenwriter, and humanitarian. Jerry Lewis was also one of my all-time …

In Others’ Words: Surrounded by Story

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, Quotes, story 20 Comments

More and more, I have come to love story.  My life story — and other people’s life stories, too. To be honest, there are times I see someone and, at first, I’m closed to their story. Maybe they seem a little too different from me … and I’m put off. But I’ve learned to say to myself, “This person is …

In Others’ Words: Small Joys

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, perspective, Quotes 8 Comments

Just for today, let’s set aside the word “goal,” shall we? Just for today, let’s also set aside the word “happiness.” (Although I had an interesting discussion about happiness while I was in Breckenridge this past weekend. Another blog post.) Small joys. I want to talk with you all about small joys.  So often I laser in on the goal — whatever …

In Others’ Words: Present, Past, Future Living

Beth Vogtchoices, In Others' Words, Quotes 15 Comments

  I got away to Breckenridge, CO this past weekend, enjoying some down time with my husband and youngest daughter — including the best gluten-free French onion soup I’ve ever tasted. On the way home, we listened to a talk by Andy Stanley on the topic of how to have a drama-free life. No drama? I’m all in. He had …