http://www.bouncebackcafe.com Dedicated to finding useful, resilient solutions to life's adversities. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:03:46 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2012/gen/the-persimmon-paradox-3150 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2012/gen/the-persimmon-paradox-3150#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:01:03 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=3150 But the Persimmon Paradox isn’t really about persimmons… it’s about freeing yourself from mindsets that are not useful! (Still, if you get a hankering for persimmons because of this post, you might try “[amazon-product text="Just Persimmons" type="text"]B002JLTIP6[/amazon-product]”. Mind you, I haven’t tried them because there’s only one way I like persimmons and that’s in the cookie form!) But I digress… The “Costs Too Much” Mindset Have you ever denied yourself something because it “costs too much?” Or found yourself deciding not to pursue an avenue of effort because it will take too long, be too hard, or take too much energy? If so, then you’ve succumbed to the Persimmon Paradox. Back in 2010 I read a story about a man who LOVED persimmons but almost didn’t buy the first-fruits-of-the-season because a bag of mouthwatering, perfect persimmons ...Continue reading » The Persimmon Paradox]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2012/gen/the-persimmon-paradox-3150/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2012/gen/make-someone-happy-3110 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2012/gen/make-someone-happy-3110#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 08:01:22 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=3110 One of the blessings of having some time off is the opportunity to see a movie – or two. During the holiday season, I saw Arthur Christmas. This is truly a Christmas classic to be. Created by the makers of Chicken Run, Arthur Christmas imagines how the Claus family now uses technology to make sure that no child is disappointed on Christmas morning. Unfortunately, like many technical solutions, this one has ...Continue reading » Make Someone Happy]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2012/gen/make-someone-happy-3110/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/how-to-become-consistently-cheerful-2873 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/how-to-become-consistently-cheerful-2873#comments Wed, 14 Sep 2011 07:01:06 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2873 We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit. — Aristotle If Aristotle is correct, and I believe that he is, then the key question is “What habits do I need to develop to improve my life?” I could answer this with things like: * Walk 30 minutes every day. * Get eight hours of sleep each night. * Eliminate sugar, salt and anything that tastes good from my diet. Although doing any of these could be good for me, if I truly want to improve my life, I need to ...Continue reading » How to Become Consistently Cheerful]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/how-to-become-consistently-cheerful-2873/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/speaking-up-for-the-introvert-2862 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/speaking-up-for-the-introvert-2862#comments Thu, 08 Sep 2011 07:01:51 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2862 I am on vacation this week. The only responsibilities I have are investing and writing posts for the blog. (WHAT, you take a vacation and don’t work??!!!) As part of pampering myself, I’m catching up on Charlie Rose. Five nights a week, Charlie invites someone interesting, or famous, or powerful or sometimes all three at once, to his table and has a conversation with them. The Social Animal by David Brooks had just been published and Brooks was doing his book tour. Hence, he was Charlie’s guest for the hour. (I don’t mean to be overly familiar but I’ve been watching Charlie for sooooo long that I figure I can call him by his first name.) The Social Animal is fiction, based on ...Continue reading » Speaking Up for the Introvert]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/speaking-up-for-the-introvert-2862/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/finding-our-personal-power-2787 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/finding-our-personal-power-2787#comments Wed, 03 Aug 2011 07:01:11 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2787 To get through life, we often impose a level of certainty that really doesn’t exist. We make future plans based on past performance. We “assume” that things will continue at least as well as they did before and probably will get better over time. For our parents, this was always a fairy tale. For us, reality slapped us in the face during the market crash of 2008-2009. My first “professional” job was with a company that had never ...Continue reading » Finding Our Personal Power]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/finding-our-personal-power-2787/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/prickly-happens-2691 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/prickly-happens-2691#comments Wed, 15 Jun 2011 07:01:42 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2691 Ever have one of those days when you’re just feeling prickly, out of sorts and at odds with the world? Every once in a while I seem to get up on the wrong side of the bed. And, like the young man in this YouTube video, Wrong Side of the Bed, the day just rolls out all wrong. Phrases.org maintains that believing there’s ...Continue reading » Prickly Happens]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/prickly-happens-2691/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/quest-for-excellence-2682 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/quest-for-excellence-2682#comments Thu, 09 Jun 2011 07:01:48 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2682 Are you up for a quest for excellence? In my last post, Purple Squirrel Hunting, I tendered the opinion that perfection is an impossible dream. And even though I also proffered the idea that “settling” could be a viable alternative strategy, many people consider settling a step backward. That’s because we often assume that “settling” means compromising our ...Continue reading » Quest for Excellence aka Purple Squirrel Hunt, Pt. 2]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/quest-for-excellence-2682/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/purple-squirrel-hunting-2670 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/purple-squirrel-hunting-2670#comments Tue, 07 Jun 2011 07:01:32 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2670 Ever caught a Purple Squirrel? Why am I asking about a Purple Squirrel? Because I saw one on TV! Probably it was a slow news day but whatever the cause, a newspaper article about Purple Squirrels went national on the evening news. And although the term seems to have originated with employment recruiters, I was intrigued with how well it could be applied to ...Continue reading » Purple Squirrel Hunting]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/purple-squirrel-hunting-2670/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/productive-or-counter-productive-2645 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/productive-or-counter-productive-2645#comments Wed, 25 May 2011 07:01:54 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2645 I am constantly amazed at how bad my memory is. Not in the sense of being unable to remember names or phone numbers, but rather in the sense of quickly forgetting important lessons that I’ve learned. One of the best examples I can give you is my inability to remember good ideas I’ve gotten from the books I’ve read or listened to. With my two hour commute – one hour in each direction – I’m spending a fair amount of time listening to good books and classes. I will be driving along listening to ...Continue reading » Productive OR Counter-productive?]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/productive-or-counter-productive-2645/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/where-does-motivation-come-from-2591 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/where-does-motivation-come-from-2591#comments Thu, 28 Apr 2011 07:01:49 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2591 One of the most wonderful things about imagination is that it can see things, not as they are now, but as they can be. With this statement, Denis Waitely began to make his case for imagination as the source of motivation, positive OR negative. In essence, what he is saying is that our motivation comes from the pictures we build in our heads – pictures built by our imaginations. Having just read about this idea, it seems ...Continue reading » Where Does Motivation Come From?]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/where-does-motivation-come-from-2591/feed 0