Empowerment

Random Acts of Love from the Animal Kingdom

Lynette M Burrows

This month I’ve blogged about random acts of love and kindness. Too often it feels as if the world has become colder, harder, less kind. As February draws to a close, let’s look at how the animal kingdom performs random acts of love and kindness. Empathy All month I’ve been asking you to perform random acts of love and kindness but perhaps you’re perplexed by this. Why should you love your fellow man?  Empathy is … … the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner. Merriam-Webster Dictionary Empathy helps you make a partnership with your spouse. It tugs at your heartstrings when your child skins their knee. When your neighbor’s wife dies, empathy inspires you to take the widower a casserole. Empathy is part of 98% of all human beings. Yet, acting on empathy for a stranger takes… I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it. Maya Angelou … courage. Acting on empathy for someone not-like-ourselves takes courage. We can learn that courage […]

Recognize Your Stress Levels

Lynette M Burrows

In 2013, I wrote a blog post called 10 Warning Signs You’re Doing Too Much. It has been my most popular blog post ever since. It’s a sign of our times. We are all under stress almost all the time. The pressure to be more, do more, have more is intense. Add to that legitimate fears about your (or a loved one’s) physical, emotional, or financial safety and your stress levels are higher. Then there are community and political stressors. Your stress levels today may not be exhausting, but tomorrow they could be. And when you live with stress every day, you may not recognize your stress levels and how they affect your life. What is Stress? In a medical or biological context, stress is a physical, mental, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension. Stresses can be external (from the environment, psychological, or social situations) or internal (illness, or from a medical procedure). Stress can initiate the “fight or flight” response, a complex reaction of neurologic and endocrinologic systems. healthline.com What Causes Stress  Each one of us faces challenges every day. From traffic jams, to spills, demanding bosses, unsympathetic spouses, or life crises (relationships, financial, or health). And we […]

A New Year and New Intentions

Lynette M Burrows

It’s the new year, time for…goals? Resolutions? I have missed many goals and broken many resolutions. But I have become a great fan of intentions. For the new year, make new intentions. What the heck do I mean? Intentions As a writer, I first came across the term creative intentions as explained by Orna Ross in her eleven-part blog series, The Power of Creative Intention for Creativepreneurs. It is my belief that everyone is creative. See my post, You Don’t Have to Be an Artist. But I know not all of you believe that. So drop the word creative and just use intentions.  Anyone and everyone can set intentions. About now you’re getting impatient for a definition. (I know I was when I started learning about this mindset). To get to a definition, we need to look at the root word, intend. According to Merriam-Webster, intend means “to have in mind as a purpose or goal: PLAN” or “to direct the mind on” or (archaic) to proceed on a course. Take a leap of faith and begin this wondrous new year by believing. Believe in yourself. And believe that there is a loving Source – a Sower of Dreams – just waiting to […]