Category Archives: friends

SOAPBOX of the week: Pleasure in the pilgrimage

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“To live only for some future goal is shallow.  It’s the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top.”     – Robert M. Pirsig, writer & philosopher

On “the journey of life”, we aspire to reach countless goals, marked by flashy finish lines.  Strapped in, we hit cruise-control, determined to follow our self-made map.  En route, though, we must stop for fuel, get caught in speed traps, miss street signs, and sometimes end up entirely lost!  Our course?  Looks more like an Etch-a-Sketch drawing!  But, folks, it always will.  The beauty is found in the scribble, not the spreadsheet.  Finish lines get blurred and even replaced by the surprise successes that pop up.  Sometimes we’ll forget where we were heading in the first place!  How fabulous is that?!  So, go on: pull over for gorgeous sunsets.  Chat with the locals.  Get distracted by the luscious landscape and pack a camera for a wonderfully unmappable journey!

Copyright 2008 by Kimberlie Dykeman

Pure Soapbox available nationwide online, where books are sold.

SOAPBOX of the week: Unharness your heart

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“The heart has the ability to experience so much –and we don’t have much time.”     – Jack Gilbert, poet
   
There’s always tomorrow, right?  At least that’s what we always ignorantly say.  And we’ve allowed our analytical, compartmentalized minds to brainwash our hearts to run on the same autopilot.  Think of all those times you stopped just short of saying or doing something that would’ve delighted your heart.  Delayed gratification ain’t all it’s cracked up to be; because while you’re holding out for the “perfect one” or the “right moment”, your heart loses out on the experiences that would grow it exponentially.  Funny, how you’ll neglect your emotions for the sake of your thoughts.  Isn’t it time to find a balance?  After all, you don’t know how much time you’ve got left.  Folks, the mind is a terrible thing to waste – and so is the heart.  So relinquish the reigns and relish the results.

Copyright 2008 by Kimberlie Dykeman

Pure Soapbox  now available!   Nationwide 07.22.08

SOAPBOX of the week: Transcend the abyss of remorse

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“The only thing you live to regret are the risks you didn’t take.”     -Anonymous

All the woulda, coulda, shoulda’s… confetti your life with little black holes of what might have been storybook memories.  A laundry list of experiences you’ll never get to laugh about, only shake your head in wondering what if.  So was playing it safe worth sleepless nights?  Not speaking your mind.  Declining that dance.  Not voting.  Not graduating.  Leaving the New Year’s party early.  Not quitting that horrible job.  Not going back to school.  Not telling the truth.  Not saying “I love you”.  Regardless, it all comes down to choices, not circumstances.  Stop stockpiling the regrets…you’ll block out the light of promise and possibility, and probably a heckuvalotta tears of joy and laughter.  Instead, leap with the faith that you’ll land on both feet…and stomp out that burning curiosity.  Then pull out those celebrations plans!

Copyright 2008 by Kimberlie Dykeman

Pure Soapbox  now available!   Nationwide 07.22.08

SOAPBOX of the week: Comedy, the great connector

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“Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.”     – Victor Borge, humorist
   
The feeling is priceless.  Someone cracks a joke and you’re doubled over in uncontrollable laughter.  Wait!  Stop!  Your cheeks hurt from smiling so much and in that brilliant moment… a connection is made.  The playing field is leveled.  You and this person are one with the world and life is good!  So what then is that magic you experience?  It’s your inner child reemerging to make an indescribable human bond that you can never get enough of.  You realize you both have a pulse, a sense of humor, fears, hopes, embarrassing moments, a yearning to belong, a love of life.  If mere laughter can ignite this gorgeous chain reaction… I say, bring on the one-liners and draw in a crowd. 

Copyright 2008 by Kimberlie Dykeman

Pure Soapbox  launches June 25 !  Site of TV Personality Kimberlie Dykeman

SOAPBOX of the week: Surrender to the universe

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    “Patience is the greatest of all virtues.”     – Dionysius Cato, Latin moralist and writer

Think back to a bittersweet reference, in which a relentless “I want it now, Daddy” produced frighteningly blueberrious results.  Supporting the premise, that immediate gratification indeed has a wonderful aroma, but it’s the aftertaste that’ll come back to haunt us.  Sometimes we think time and circumstances are plotting against us, so we might as well charge forward!  When you acknowledge your role in both opportunity and challenge, patience, as boring as it sounds, is your trump card time and time again.  For it upholds the truest concepts of life: awareness, honesty and responsibility.  So, quiet your demands and desires with a blend of courage and timidity and allow yourself to receive the gifts which the Universe already has up its sleeve for you.

Copyright 2008 by Kimberlie Dykeman

Pure Soapbox launches June 25!  Site of TV Personality Kimberlie Dykeman

SOAPBOX of the week: The skinny on stress

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“If worry were an effective weight-loss program,
    women would be invisible.”     – Nancy Drew, detective

This one is for the ladies to comedically commiserate each other with …and the guys to nod and do the eye-roll.  You know I’m right!  BUT it is so true!  We are such worrywarts, us gals…able to cover the gamut of “what-if’s, careful-not-to’s and woulda-shoulda-coulda’s” for a family of four -at least… and indeed we’d wipe ourselves out if each burned off its burden in calories!  So why do we do so, almost without second thought, and often without real reason?  Perhaps in looking past the symptoms, you’ll find the ultimate source of your fears, apprehension and needless lost sleep.  Choose to stare down those instigators or kick ‘em to the curb ….and you’ll gain a healthy wellbeing of calm, cool and collected.”

Copyright 2008 by Kimberlie Dykeman