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/2011/republished/stay-here-now-2-3083 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/republished/stay-here-now-2-3083#comments Wed, 28 Dec 2011 08:01:00 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=3083 Last year, after Randy Pausch died of pancreatic cancer, Primetime aired Diane Sawyer’s interview of Randy, his family and friends. Much of the footage was of conversations that took place prior to Randy’s death. In addition to the phenomenal courage and the deliberate way that the Pausch family planned for and dealt with Randy’s death, one interchange between Diane and Randy’s wife, Jai, has stayed with me. Diane and Jai were talking about how Jai was making it through each day. Jai replied that in therapy they had discussed how we humans tend to project into the future. When she watched Randy and kids play, she would go to ...Continue reading » Stay Here, Now!]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/republished/stay-here-now-2-3083/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/building-your-happiness-momentum-2853 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/building-your-happiness-momentum-2853#comments Tue, 06 Sep 2011 07:01:17 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2853 There’s something about Americans’ expectations of life that seems to set us up for dissatisfaction. Don’t get me wrong, a little dissatisfaction is good for the soul, it motivates us to stretch – to accomplish more, for ourselves and others. But, as a culture, we seem to have trouble finding ...Continue reading » Building Your Happiness Momentum]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/building-your-happiness-momentum-2853/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/rest-stop-2212 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/rest-stop-2212#comments Tue, 14 Dec 2010 08:01:10 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2212 The season of Christmas is upon us – and I for one REFUSE to let it be diminished by the holiday chaos that threatens to wear me down… Find a quiet shore, a place you can pause and feel the stress fall off of you… a refuge you can escape to at a moment’s notice. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Often, when chaos begins to wear us down, a brief rest stop will renew our spirit – and infuse us with the power boost we need to master the moment. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could ...Continue reading » Rest Stop]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/rest-stop-2212/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/the-path-to-serenity-1783 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/the-path-to-serenity-1783#comments Wed, 02 Jun 2010 07:01:26 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=1783 Recently, it was brought home to me how quickly things can change. It seems that a columnist from the Times in London, Melanie Reid, who had been riding horses competitively for 30 years, fell off while doing some cross-country jumps and broke her neck. In the amount of time it took her to fly through the air and land on her face in the dirt, her life changed drastically. More Than You Can Handle It is a measure of how important writing is to her that despite the fact that she can’t physically write or type she is still ...Continue reading » The Path to Serenity]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/the-path-to-serenity-1783/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/a-fine-line-caring-for-elder-bodies-1244 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/a-fine-line-caring-for-elder-bodies-1244#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 08:01:37 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=1244 As a child, I was raised with a sense of paranoia about the unknown that continues to affect me to this day.  Because I am the eldest and also the one who was “most responsible” as a child, I assumed that I would be the one to take care of my parents as they aged. We have a long history of taking care of elder bodies in the family.  Although my maternal grandparents died relatively young, their siblings lived into their eighties and nineties and my parents both shouldered the responsibility of taking care of them.  For these folks, that meant ...Continue reading » A Fine Line – Caring for Elder Bodies]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/a-fine-line-caring-for-elder-bodies-1244/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/stay-here-now-1172 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/stay-here-now-1172#comments Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:01:07 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=1172 Last year, after Randy Pausch died of pancreatic cancer, Primetime aired Diane Sawyer’s interview of Randy, his family and friends.  Much of the footage was of conversations that took place prior to Randy’s death.  In addition to the phenomenal courage and the deliberate way that the Pausch family planned for and dealt with Randy’s death, one interchange between Diane and Randy’s wife, Jai, has stayed with me. Diane and Jai were talking about how Jai was making it through each day.  Jai replied that in therapy they had discussed how we humans tend to project into the future.  When she watched Randy and kids play, she would go to ...Continue reading » Stay Here, Now!]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/stay-here-now-1172/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/the-decade-of-testing-1157 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/the-decade-of-testing-1157#comments Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:01:52 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=1157 At dog park the other day, my neighbor asked me if I had seen the latest Time Magazine.  He explained that according to Time, the last decade, from 2000 to the present, had been the decade from hell.  At first I didn’t want to read it but I decided that it might be interesting to see what had caused them to designate the last 10 years as the “decade from hell.” Some of the things included in the article were:

• The 2000 election with its disputed results
• September 11th
• The war in Afghanistan
• The war in Iraq
• December, 2004 tsunami
• Katrina
• Recession
• Bernie Madoff
• Disintegration of Detroit
• Guantanamo

Yes, there definitely were some challenges in the last 10 years.  AND there definitely is a bias to see things as only negative.  Although none of us would have chosen these events if we were given a choice, I find the list to be hopeful – here’s why:  ...Continue reading » The Decade of Testing]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/the-decade-of-testing-1157/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/living-with-confidence-1100 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/living-with-confidence-1100#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:01:48 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=1100 As I sat down to think about what I should write today, I asked myself, “Self, what seems to be most lacking these days?”  And into my head came “confidence.”  If you don’t follow “the market” you may not be aware that there are certain statistics that are tracked weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly.  And when the market runs – up or down – it is often the result of one of these statistics. These days the market is obsessed with the strength of the consumer.  70% of the business that occurs in the United States is you and I buying products and services.  When we decide that we’re going to stop spending and start saving or pay off our credit cards, the overall amount of money going into the economy shrinks.  When you and I are no longer spending, ...Continue reading » Living with Confidence]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/living-with-confidence-1100/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/finding-the-starting-line-1050 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/finding-the-starting-line-1050#comments Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:01:09 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=1050 Recently Ellie and I were talking about resilience and bouncing back and many of the issues that we try to address in this blog.  As we talked, it became clear to me that our emotional set points are very different.  Even in her sadness, Ellie seems to be a more naturally positive person than I am. It is commonly accepted that there is a set point in weight loss.  The set point is the weight range that your body is programmed to attempt to maintain.  There also seems to be ...Continue reading » Finding The Starting Line]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/finding-the-starting-line-1050/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/wouldnt-it-be-nice-if-902 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/wouldnt-it-be-nice-if-902#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:01:05 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=902 In the past several days I’ve been struggling with a mood problem. I really want to be in a good mood, and sometimes I actually achieve one for a short time, but then my negativism takes over again and I slump over in, if not despair, then despondency. With all the writing that Ellie and I have been doing on choosing your reality, it feels worse because, after all, if I’m going to write about this stuff, I should be able to manage myself better. Recently, I have been listening to Ask and It Is Given. The idea behind this book is that like the physical laws of the universe, for such things as gravity, quarks, speed of sound, light speed, there are principles that govern how our emotional/spiritual lives work. ...Continue reading » Wouldn’t It Be Nice If…]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/wouldnt-it-be-nice-if-902/feed 0