So why will I spend today on the phone or sending out emails correcting errors that should have never been made in the first place? All of these have to do with keeping the records up to date and correct.

How did you address it?

I have been a member of one organization for the past ten years. The envelope arrives addressed to both me and my husband. Really? You mentioned his passing in your newsletter last year. I sent in my renewal last month. Shouldn’t this be changed to just me? Oh, wait, I see, you addressed this letter to my old address as well. But why? The person sending out this letter also received my renewal of membership. Oh, you took my money but didn’t bother to update your records. I understand…

How long was that subscription?

Next envelope please. A renewal notice from a very well-known horse magazine for the discipline that I ride. Renewal notice? Why? I just subscribe two months ago. I open the envelope and oh, wow, my subscription will expire next month! Um, how is that again? If I subscribed for one year, why would it expire next month? Oh, wait, here’s this month’s magazine. I look at the address level and, sure enough, it expires next month! Wow! I will treasure this magazine – most expensive publication ever!

What did you call me?

I look at the last envelope. I can tell by its size that this national pen company has sent me another sample of their pens. But, no, I’ve been purchasing pens and calendars from them for the past ten years, and, how is this addressed? Pritty Pony Pastures. Really? You changed the  spelling of my farm name? And since when do we spell pretty with an i?

So, here’s my dilema…is it just me? Or has the quality of customer care gone by the wayside?

Wandering minds need to know…

To the person with limited funds, it means getting more for their money; to a person in a bad relationship it means not having those restrictions any more.

But how many of us limit ourselves and restrict what we believe we can do?

Can’t, won’t, shouldn’t – all limiting words that confine us. All words that tell us to stay where we are and not fully utilize our talents.

I read a post and comment that the person would make a great writer – the answer is, oh, I can’t write like that all the time. That’s true, writing is an art that takes a lot of work, but with talent, and the love of scribing, a person can have a successful career.

Another friend has beautiful art pieces. I suggested she sell them at art fairs. The answer – oh, I just do this for myself and friends, these pieces wouldn’t sell.

Our ability to achieve, to grow, to do are tied more to our own thought process than the situation we find ourselves in. Look at some of the great leaders, business people, and speakers. So many of them came from austere backgrounds – orphans, poor, limited schooling, lost jobs, lost families. Yet, they managed to say that their situation did not describe who they were or what they could achieve.

It’s time to remove the n’t from our thinking and focus on what we can, will and should do. Without limiting ourselves, we are free to move in the direction of our hearts.

I had my first Image Page experience in January, 1991. The singles group at the church sponsored it as one of their activities. A friend invited me to attend, and thinking that it would be a good way to start the year, I went.

Hmmm…what would I like to see in my life? Good question. I was in the process of a divorce, living in an apartment for the first time in my life, and unsure of my future. And now you want me to project what I want with pictures and a few words onto a piece of paper?

Took a while, but I pieced together the words – I feel safe comfortable in my new home. So, what would this new home look like? Big kitchen – needed a picture of a big kitchen. Darn! Every picture I found had a little kid in it. I love kids, but did not want to project more children in my future. Finally, found one.

Books…I love to read and would love to have a library. Spacious, open feeling, fireplace, oh, and a nice bed. Something is missing. Yes, there it is, the picture of a barn with a horse!

My friend laughed – where are you moving to where you can have a horse? I just smiled and thought, we’ll see.

My first image page - 1991

Part of creating the Image Page is then to use it to visualize your dreams. Can this paper with a few pictures and a thought come to fruition?

If you look at the Image Page I created and know where and how I live – it’s a resounding YES!

And so, as I begin this year – the year of abundance, I am creating a new Image Page for my life and I’m ready to follow the dream and make it come true.

Was she trampled? Was the elephant acting up? No. According to the article the elephant pushed her in the stall. Pushed her…and she died of internal injuries.

Tom loved his work at the zoo. Okay, he was a cross between a cowboy and Tarzan. I have the picture of him – tranquilized tiger at this feet; I know he went down into the moat more times that I wanted to know to get the young polar bear cub back up into the exhibit area. If you knew Tom, you know the stories. Kudo hoof swipes his face; lion’s claw cuts his arm; monkey bite. It was part of zoo life.

Close proximity

Even with the safety measures some of the zoos have put into place, if you are an animal keeper, you are in close proximity with the animals. There are times it just can’t be helped; there are other times that it is necessary or considered low risk.

Many years ago, the AAZK had their convention in Detroit. Tom and I were asked to video tape it. At one point, we went to the Detroit Zoo to see some of the changes/improvements they were making. As we toured the elephant exhibit, one of the keepers told me to come up to the door to get a better shot of the elephants. Oh my! I had never been that close to an elephant before. It looked mammoth from my perspective. I stood behind the electric wire.. Later that night when I commented on the adventure, she laughed and said, “Linda, I forgot you weren’t a keeper. Had I remembered, I would have taken you out into the yard to really get a feel for how big they are.”

Knowing what I know about horses, their blind spots, and how the move, I cannot help but think the same holds true for an elephant. They may see you; they may not. I’ve been in the wrong place with horses and got knock over. There’s a big difference – weight and power – between a horse and an elephant.

My heart goes out to the family of this young woman, who, from what the article says, enjoyed working with the animals.

Look at your resolutions, your goals, what you want to achieve. Are they written in a negative or positive frame?

Do you say?

I will QUIT smoking.

I will LOSE 10 pounds.

I will STOP nagging my kids/spouse.

First, our mind cannot distinguish between positive and negative thoughts. Words like stop, can’t, don’t, won’t are the negative of an result that we are looking for. The mind only follows words it can act on. So I won’t smoke becomes I smoke! Any wonder why we have a hard time with that resolution?

What if we reframed our resolutions in positive terms? Something we could give our mind something to focus toward?

Here’s what those resolutions would look like:

I AM smoke free.

I HAVE a thin, slim body.

I SPEAK SOFTLY and kindly to my kids/spouse.

See the difference? FEEL the difference? You bet, and now you have a direct, easy to achieve goal for our mind to focus on and move toward.

1990 – was a tumultuous year.  It started with a phone call that brought the news of my grandfather’s death.  A few months later, I ventured out on my own, with my 16-year old daughter, leaving my husband of 20+ years.  My oldest daughter joined the Air Force just as the tension in the Gulf heightened and our armed forces were preparing for Dessert Storm.

From all appearances it seemed that Christmas would be stark in comparison to previous ones.  We didn’t even have a tree!  But that Thanksgiving, my sister gave me hers, saying they were getting a new one and there were a few good years left on her old one.  My boss knew about the tree with no ornaments and gave me two beautiful, glass-blown ones.  Even though I hardly knew Tom, he appeared at my door a few nights before Christmas with a metal case.  In it were some blue and yellow thread-covered ornaments and a few other items for the tree, including a skirt that his daughter made many years ago.  “I don’t use these; keep them until you get something better.”

This year’s beginning had a similar feel to the one 20 years ago with Tom’s passing in January.  Yet, the other night when I put up the tree with a few years left for the 20^th time, there was a comforting feeling.  There are only a handful of those blue and yellow ornaments left; I still have both glass-blown ornaments.

Over the years, new ornaments have appeared.  Today the tree wears ornaments of various horses that had been declared our “Horse of the Year.”  My son found and gave me the “pickle” ornament that I hide each year for a grandkid to find.  Handmade ornaments that were gifts from friends and my “Computer Santa” ornament that I received from a former student.

As I watch the lights blink off and on, I realize that the tree has begun to glow with the most treasured memories of my life.

Greetings
We live in a pluralistic culture. But, the one truth is the every culture and creed has a day or days set aside for festivities at this time of year. That is the common thread. Christians call it Christmas; Jews call it Hanukkah; other creeds and cultures have other names. But what it boils down to is this is a Holy Season for most peoples. So, the best greeting, in my opinion, is Happy Holidays. This addresses everyone at every level. And, just as a side note, I am not taking the holiness out of the season as Holy + Days = holidays!

Don’t Take the Christ out of Christmas

Happy Birthday, Jesus

Okay, I won’t. But realize that in Greek, Christ is Xristos. Christmas is an abbreviation for Christ’s Mass so Xmas is an abbreviation for Christmas in Greek. If you want to make more of it, that’s your prerogative. It goes right on to the next topic of…

Greed and Materialism
I’ve never heard of anyone saying, we don’t celebrate birthdays in our house because all this is a day/season of greed and materialism. I’ve heard this way too many times from the very people who go out of their way to celebrate their own birthday in very elaborate ways whether they can afford it or not!

If you do not celebrate the birth of Christ, that’s okay, but don’t put down those of us who do.  You see we exchange gifts because we are celebrating the Christ within each of us who is reborn within us on Christmas Day. Even the Christ child was given gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh!

There are ways to celebrate the holidays without breaking the bank. A gift from the heart – be it a hand made item or a coupon for future services goes much further than a cashmere sweater or diamond rings.

So enjoy!  Have a great holiday – however you choose to celebrate this season.

Having worked out of a home office for most of my career, I had to think hard about the ways I’ve improved it over the years. I won’t count my first tries at enterpreneurship when I did cake decorating or sewing. Those weren’t home offices, that was done in my kitchen!

My first software company was T.H.E.S.I.S. Developed educational software for the ATARI and APPLE computers – you remember ATARI, right? That was in the 1980′s. My kids didn’t even realize that they grew up in a living room-less house. Yup, tv, sofa, end tables were all in the family room in the basement. The living room was transformed into an office with three business size desks and several computers. We did have a stereo – but it was primarily used as a tape duplication system. Remember – early 80′s – no disks, CDs, DVDs. All we had was tape to save our programs – audio or punched paper.

Next came the video business. This time I transformed the spare bedroom into an edit suite. Computer and editing equipment. Late 1990′s – so we are still using tape for video but at least we have floppy disks for our computer. The edit suite was non-linear, of course. I’m amazed I got it all into that small room. Had one chair for clients, too.

Then came the “big move” when we built our home. We designed the basement so that I could shoot inserts and not have the basement ceiling on my head! I made sure there was ample room for the edit equipment and the computers now that I moved into the field of multi-media!

So now that we have a week to think about “improving” our home office, what else would be helpful? An ergonomic chair? Faster internet connection? A better way to organize my project?

How about you? What can you do to improve your home office?

Leonard Kowalczyk