photo credit: qthomasɹǝʍoq (catching up)

Let us know your thoughts on these diverse web resources. And if you have another favorite site (in addition to us, of course) let us know about it.

This week’s posts offered you many options for making your days and weeks count – as we mosey toward autumn, we invite you to move forward with intention!

If the post on Worst Case Planning piqued your interest, here’s your chance to find out if you are a “defensive pessimist”.  Take the test and let us know your score.

www.wellesley.edu/Psychology/Norem/Quiz/quiz.html

Is Your Circle of Friends Making You Nuts?

If PattiAnn’s post Making Friendly Choices got you to thinking – you might find some really interesting “starter” ideas in the following article on How to Make Friends.  Take a look and let us know if any of the ideas strike your fancy. Here’s a teaser start for you:

There’s a certain beauty in being a lone wolf. You have more time to do things you want to do, like take introspective walks, read books, write poetry, and other solitary endeavors. If you want to diversify your options, though, there are literally billions of potential friends in the world. What’s more, many of these people want to make friends just as much as you do. So consider these suggestions to meet people and…

Or Perhaps You’d Prefer…

Need a Break? Women’s Groups Contribute to a Happier Lifestyle:

In June of 2002, I started a women’s group called The Wo-Hoo! Society with some good friends. I was post-divorce, living in Phoenix far from my family back in the Chicago-area, and looking at being laid off from the third job in two years thanks to the dot-com bust. Since September 11th the previous year, I had been feeling especially disconnected and far from home. I longed for people I could count on. I had friends, but craved a deeper connection that I could call on, and rely on in times of trouble…

If Creativity is Still Giving You the Brush Off

If you don’t qualify as the “Martha Stewart of bricoleurs” here’s an interesting blog on using table linens to solve window dressing problems – seems like great bricolage to me!  Part of the appeal of this solution is the juxtaposing two very unrelated ideas that together produce an elegant solution!

Take a look and then ask yourself – how could I translate this idea into a solution for a home-based problem I need to resolve?

simplymrsfixit.blogspot.com

Or Maybe You Need/Want a Different Creativity Challenge?

If so, take a look at this web-article which suggests:

It doesn’t matter whether you are an architect, gardener, or bus driver, everyone has the ability to find the distinct beauty embedded deep inside their daily grind. The problem isn’t capturing our creativity, as individual inspiration is a steady pulse that beats within us all. The problem is keeping those embers hot once we have them in our grasp.

Or give Thinking in Opposites a try:

The opposite of picnic is… prison? And resurrection is… traffic jam?  Being illogical is probably the best thing you can do in a brainstorm. Or, to be more specific in my fostering of weirdosity: after you’ve exhausted the trough of ideas that make sense, there needs to be a point of departure where you seek out opposites.

Human beings have a tendency to find relationships between things whose meanings seem to be in direct conflict. The tension between those sparring words or images, and the ensuing friction in your mind, forms the sparks that ignite more novel concepts.

Goals Got You Down?

Maybe you relate to PattiAnn’s post Getting Moving Again, and the feeling that you’re circling your goals like a drain that needs unclogging?  If you like the idea of focusing your energy on a dream intention, then consider the following post —  Are You Busy or Productive? Cathy Sucker suggests:

Make an effort to accomplish something productive every day. It will not only make you more successful, you will probably find your work more satisfying, too.

Or perhaps your goals and intentions just don’t turn you on right now and what you really need is an injection of passion?  If so, take a look at Steven Aitchison’s 5 Ways to inject some passion into your goal.  He recommends that you:

…picture in your mind reaching your goal and the rewards it will bring. Do this especially when you are feeling a bit down and things aren’t going quite the way you planned. It’s a hunger, a drive you need to reach that goal no matter what.

What new ideas are you experimenting with this week?  Let us know your thoughts on these diverse web resources.