Margie’s Insights & Interviews
Welcome to Margie’s blog where she shares personal stories, interviews, tools and more for living bravely.
Presents and Presence This Holiday Season
As I look back on the year gone by, the phrase "the best of times and the worst of times" comes to mind. Losing my brother Peter earlier this year to an illness that robbed him of his dreams, confidence and desire to live was the saddest experience of my life. By...
It’s Beef Tenderloin For Me This Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving, and the busy holiday season in general, can create a lot of anxiety and stress for many people. While it may be the most festive season of the year, it's also one laden with expectations, idealized images, conflicting demands on our time (and our...
Burning the Qu’ran: Why righteousness drives people to act like idiots.
You’ve probably heard the furor about the fanatical Florida pastor who wants to burn copies of the Quran to mark the anniversary of 9/11. No wonder he’s only drawn 50 members to join his church. Thankfully most people are too intelligent to listen to this...
The Power of Optimism: 7 Strategies for Becoming a Glass Half-Full Person
Times are tough and many people are struggling to stay optimistic given the state of the economy, the insecurity of their jobs (if they have one), the size of their mortgage and the strain that puts on relationships at home. Maybe you are one of them or maybe you know...
Get What You Want: 6 Tips To Make Bold Requests
You will rarely, if ever, be given more than what you have the courage to ask for.
Lessons from the BP Oil Spill
You’d have to be living in a cave the last month not to be aware of the growing environmental disaster caused by an explosion on a BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Having a long-held fondness for the company that gave me my first "real job" as a Graduate Trainee in...
Find Your Courage: 5 Simple Steps to Stop Fear From Running Your Life
Terrorism, recession, identity theft, melting ice caps, corporate downsizing, child predators, online predators, super bug predators . . . every day the headlines scream at us to batten down the hatches, sanitize our hands, our minds, our voices and avoid any...
Embracing Sorrow So We Can Savor Joy
Forgive me if this post is a little raw. Life has been raw for me these last couple weeks. My youngest brother Peter (above, with my kids) died just over two weeks ago and I've been living life at its rawest ever since. Pete, who was 31, suffered from schizophrenia...
How to Keep Your Cool When Anger Takes Over
I recently read that 60% of Americans lose their temper at least once per week. I’d like to tell you I wasn’t in that number but alas, my kids would tell you otherwise. Of course losing our temper is what happens when we fail to keep our anger in check. Something (or...
Life’s Interruptions: Are You Making the Most of Them?
Apparently Thomas Jefferson and George Washington experienced a blizzard of similar magnitude to the one we did in Washinton D.C. area last weekend but certainly, it was the biggest recorded dump of snow since official records began. Having come from a place where...
How to Stay Up When Your Job Search Has You Feeling Down
There are currently more Americans who have been unemployed for more than 6 months than any other time in U.S. history (6.1 million according to the latest figures). And while we hear reports that things are looking up for job seekers, we also have leading economists...
Are Your Goals for 2010 BIG Enough?
Of course it doesn’t take the beginning of a new year to make a decision to start something new, make changes in how we are living our life or turn over a new leaf. We can do that any day of the year. But there is something about January 1st that makes it feel like a...
A Reflection on What Christmas Represents
On the eve of Christmas I just wanted to remind you to take a moment to reflect on what the Christmas holiday represents. It is a time to deepen the connection you share with family (near and far); to experience gratitude for your many blessings; to remember the...
The One Gift That Matters Most This Holiday Season
As I try to move down my big, long to-do list this week in preparation for all the merrymaking I will be doing in the weeks ahead, I've found myself feeling a bit overwhelmed. Okay, more than a bit. So I have stopped. Stopped to take a big deep breath, to look out the...
What You Can Learn from Tiger’s Mistakes
No doubt you haven’t escaped the Tiger Woods headlines this past week. As far as I’m concerned this isn’t a story about money. It isn’t a story about whether he broke the law. It isn’t even a story about badly managed PR. It’s a story about integrity. Or, sadly, the...
The Fort Hood tragedy: what emotions has it triggered in you?
The shootings at the military base in Fort Hood last week were tragic. There is no upside. Twelve good men and women now lie dead. Thirty others are still recovering from injuries. Countless more are still weighted down with incredible grief and shock and anger as...
Are Your Comfort Zones Holding You Back?
I’m heading to Florida tomorrow for a few days of sunshine. Friends who have a home in Key Largo have invited us down and we figured it would be a fun place to spend Halloween! The last time I was in the Florida Keys was nearly twenty years ago. I was backpacking...
Is There Something You Genuinely Need To Say?
Every day we find ourselves having to work through issues that come up in our relationships. Whether it be a difficult boss who seems to be devoid of management skills or a colleague on a school committee who dominates conversation (getting everyone off track in the...
An Emotional Stimulus Plan: Have You Got One?
Yesterday a friend emailed me to say that after years of trying to make it as a freelance writer she's admitted defeat and is now trying to find a paying job. I replied to her that she needed to drop the 'defeated' talk and instead re-frame her situation more...
How are your excuses costing you?
Ahhh.... my kids are all back in school (sigh) and I'm sitting here at my desk (in a blissfully quiet house) wondering how it got to be September already. As I looked at today's date, September 11th, it struck me how much has changed over the last eight years since...
