Category Archives: single parent

SOAPBOX of the week: Cause and effect

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    “You don’t lose your balance unless your life is out of balance.”     – Arthur Smalls, musician

Whoa, easy does it!  Now get your legs back.  How many times have you stumbled, dusted off and dismissed the lingering negative side-effects of a fumble or spill?  And each time your reaction is the same: “I don’t how it happened…it just snuck up on me!”  Not really, folks.  That cold you caught, fender-bender you caused, snide remark you made to your spouse, big mistake you made at work, birthday you forgot.  Those tremors emerge when you’ve lost your handle on your place, priorities and purpose.  They’re warnings that there’s a surefire quake on the horizon.  My advice: assess your terrain, friends.  Fill in the holes, patch the fences and tend the gardens.  Take care of the needs of your home turf and harmony will keep you on your toes…safely.

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

SOAPBOX of the week: the cost of conflict

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“I cannot believe that war is the best solution. No one won the last war, and no one will win the next war.”     – Eleanor Roosevelt

It doesn’t matter the actual battlefield…be it Vietnam, Iraq or your own backyard…everyone experiences casualties, leaving no one celebrating an unscathed victory.  Lives are lost, time wasted and dignity sacrificed.  Communities are shaken and families are broken apart.  And you think, “What can I do?”  You can start by taking action in your own life.  Stop picking arguments, harboring anger and planning revenge!  Truthfully own up to the damage you’ve caused by instigating and fueling senseless conflicts.  And figure out a resolution that might actually help others while serving yourself.  Harmony might not immediately fill every neighborhood, but a peaceful feeling in your heart will certainly be resuscitated.  And that’s a good start.  Now, just think what might happen if more folks did just the same. 

Copyright 2008 by Kimberlie Dykeman

SOAPBOX of the week: laundry list love

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“You can’t sweep people off their feet, if you can’t be swept off your own.”     – Clarence Day, author
   
Are you still searching for that “love of your life”?  Waiting for your soulmate to show up and totally knock your socks off?!  And have you noticed that as your patience runs shorter, your number of must-haves runs longer?  I’ll bet your laundry list of expectations net an impossible Ken or Barbie…that virtually no one can measure up to.  If so, perhaps, as you’ve been looking with blinders on, countless loves looked-over you in turn –only experiencing you as a particular, judging and fearful person with a clipboard.  Yikes!  I’m not saying lower your expectations- I’m saying raise your curiosity and open your mind to things unfamiliar and off the list!  You might just be “wowed” by the fabulous, exciting new YOU that emerges…that could have crowds swooning!

Copyright 2008 by Kimberlie Dykeman

SOAPBOX of the week: woulda-shoulda-coulda

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“Waste not fresh tears over old griefs.”     – Euripides, playwright

Do they still perk up to haunt you?  Life’s countless regrets. The fashion trend you fell victim to.  Unexplainable hairstyles.  Person you dated.  Speaking your mind!  Quitting your job.   Spending the extra money.  Smoking this or drinking that.  Saying goodbye.  Saying I love you.  How about -that it’s taken forever to figure out what you really want to be when you grow up!  Pardon me, but aren’t you bored yet with the reruns, folks?  Unless you’ve got the power to turn back time, there’s no changing it.  And maybe some of those choices were really lifesavers!  Plus, the weight of grief…along with that weepy pout, ain’t making you any younger, smarter, or delightful to be around.  So dry your eyes and be glad you survived those not-so-fabulous experiences.  You might even come to laugh about ‘em!

Copyright 2008 by Kimberlie Dykeman