“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.”     – Nora Ephron, director, author and screenwriter

Perhaps it’s because your numbered days seem to race by with haste, fulfilling the agenda of Father Time.  Or, maybe because your roster of fumbles and failures rivals your collection of shining moments and successes.  Regardless which perceived doom or disgrace you choose to pick a fight with, some of you ultimately succumb to the stealthy seep of cynicism, and allow it to kill off your once-unshakable vision of the world as your proverbial oyster.  As if one experience too many tilted the scale, and the game of life shifted the odds against you …or so you think.  Sound familiar?  Sound…overly dramatic?  Well, perhaps you owe it to yourself to reexamine that turning point that buried your self-esteem and self-preserving passion for enduring the risk for the reward.  Sure you may not be able to revise the results, but you can always change your defeated perspective to pave the way for future-perfect positivity.  Remember: the whole world can’t be against you!  Folks, when you choose to accept your history without judgment and punishment, you in turn resuscitate your current reality and free yourself from falling prey to pessimism again.  Crown yourself for surviving the past-tense and you’ll thrive as the knight in shining armor for all your days to come. 

Copyright 2000-2010 by Kimberlie Dykeman.        SUBSCRIBE to FREE feed/email  HERE!
“Pure Soapbox“ available nationwide online and where books are sold.   AUDIOBOOK DUE FEB 2010!  A portion of the proceeds of all book sales is donated to LIVESTRONG. 

BOOK KIMBERLIE TO MOTIVATE your company!  310- 500- 9587

“Sometimes the most urgent and vital thing you can possibly do is take a complete rest.”     – Ashleigh Brilliant, author and cartoonist

…And so, as it is the end of the year, folks, I am taking some rest from pursuing this weekly creative writing episode…and letting it, instead, have forty winks.  Not to worry, next Monday will knock on my door and hand me yet another ditty to share.  Sooo, ’til then, cheers to this time of rest for all of you.  Let it swaddle you in ease and comfort, for the hustle and bustle of the birth of 2010 is just around the corner!             – kd

Copyright 2000-2009 by Kimberlie Dykeman.  This article contains a copyrighted excerpt from Kimberlie Dykeman’s book PURE SOAPBOX …a cleansing jolt of perspective, motivation, and humor.Pure Soapbox available nationwide online and where books are sold.   AUDIO BOOK COMING JANUARY 2010!  A portion of the proceeds of all book sales is donated to LIVESTRONG.   SUBSCRIBE HERE!

BOOK KIMBERLIE TO MOTIVATE your company!  310- 500- 9587

“Airing one’s dirty linen never makes for a masterpiece.”     – Francois Truffaut, filmmaker

A week scarcely goes by that our ears and eyes are bombarded by yet another public confession of transgression.   Tabloids showcase a celeb’s rehab trip; while a breaking news update places a politician’s pilfering habits and abusive antics in the limelight.  Closer to home, water cooler gossip reveals coworkers’ drinking problems; while congregations are abuzz over another pastor’s adulterous escapades.  Indeed in each truth-bearing catharsis, the convicted character’s “come to Jesus” moment for a cardinal sin is due acknowledgment  – especially when disclosed to family and friends in aim of accountability and atonement.  But broadcasted spillage, be it for publicity or simply the sake of a cleansed conscience, rarely paints a pretty picture; and once it’s “out there”, one can never take it back.  Along with the ensuing disturbance for victim and innocent bystander alike, the evidence of offence floats forever in one’s surroundings and negatively impacts all who swim by.  Point being: your own divulgence shouldn’t become another’s devastation.  Society’s fishbowl may righteously reveal all in the end, but privacy ain’t a four-letter word.  If anything, it’s a work of art to be admired.

Copyright 2000-2009 by Kimberlie Dykeman.        SUBSCRIBE HERE!
Pure Soapbox available nationwide online and where books are sold.   A portion of the proceeds of all book sales is donated to LIVESTRONG. 

BOOK KIMBERLIE TO MOTIVATE your company!  310- 500- 9587

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”     – William James, philosopher and psychologist

It’s the sign that reads “population 5,861”.  The reason for a weight limit on an elevator.  How a candidate wins a neck-in-neck running.  The latest entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.  Countless scenarios happening every second of every day across the globe that make the very same simple point: every life counts.  That last child born, extra pound of body weight, final vote cast, and simultaneous snow angel number 15,851 definitely counts.   But more than that, folks, every life matters.  Period.  Now, most of us shamefully let this awesome truth go in one ear and out the other…until it involves us, personally.  Right?  When it feels like perhaps you might not be counted …or that you might not seem to matter.  Ah, then you sit at attention, flail your arms, and cause a stink!  Well, truth be told, many-a-time you are not the most important number in the equation.  But just because you’re not gracing the top of everyone’s VIP lists, doesn’t mean you go unnoticed or aren’t needed.  Folks, you’ll never know just how your existence, let alone daily actions, as mundane or massive as they may be, make a difference.  So, take good ole Shakespeare’s words to heart: all the world is indeed a stage.  Watch your character and act like what you do ripples lifetimes of impact.  Because it does.

Copyright 2000-2009 by Kimberlie Dykeman.        SUBSCRIBE HERE!
Pure Soapbox available nationwide online and where books are sold.   A portion of the proceeds of all book sales is donated to LIVESTRONG. 

BOOK KIMBERLIE TO MOTIVATE your company!  310- 500- 9587

COMING SOON!  Pure Soapbox  audiobook!