http://www.bouncebackcafe.com Dedicated to finding useful, resilient solutions to life's adversities. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:01:57 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2012/gen/dodging-bullets-3133 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2012/gen/dodging-bullets-3133#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:01:30 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=3133 Sometimes it’s really difficult to summon up the gumption to forge ahead with goals which, in morning’s light seemed achievable, but which now, after a frustrating day of stumbling effort, suddenly seem impossible to achieve. That’s when I have to dig deep… and, in the words of Corey Adler Leidersdorff, “Go back to the time when everything was possible… remember when you were bulletproof, when the world was ...Continue reading » Dodging Bullets]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2012/gen/dodging-bullets-3133/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/lots-of-little-changes-2898 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/lots-of-little-changes-2898#comments Wed, 28 Sep 2011 07:01:37 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2898 You and I both know that we have lots of self-improvement projects that we’d like to get to. But just like our home improvement projects, we don’t have the time or the energy to make the changes that we’d like to make. Not being able to make the changes we’d like to make, we get discouraged and give up. Recently, an old idea has been reshaped and moved into a new discipline. Kaizen – the Japanese word for ...Continue reading » Lots of Little Changes]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/lots-of-little-changes-2898/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/i-go-to-the-jedi-2857 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/i-go-to-the-jedi-2857#comments Wed, 07 Sep 2011 07:01:59 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2857 Recently a friend gifted me with a journal – a beautifully bound, preciously blank book. But, to my chagrin, I find that the pristine pages intimidate me. I’m Breaking Out My Catcher’s Mitt We have a great deal of freedom to choose exactly how we will live … each day is made up of a myriad of ‘choice points’ and Morning Pages [daily journaling] creates our ‘catcher’s mitt’ for many small ideas that lead to larger breakthroughs… — Julia Cameron from [amazon-product text="The Writing Diet: Write Yourself Right-Size" type="text"]1585426989[/amazon-product] When it comes to journaling I prefer ...Continue reading » I Go to the Jedi…]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/i-go-to-the-jedi-2857/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/republished/tug-the-thread-2-2841 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/republished/tug-the-thread-2-2841#comments Wed, 31 Aug 2011 07:01:11 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2841 Have you ever looked back and wondered over a thread that, when tugged upon, changed your life? During these last few weeks of 2010 I find myself drifting into a nostalgia that’s tempered with curiosity about the future… a comment in The Power of Flow: Practical Ways to Transform Your Life with Meaningful Coincidence by Belitz & Lundstrom prompted my reverie: ...Continue reading » Tug the Thread]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/republished/tug-the-thread-2-2841/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/ready-the-boat-2767 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/ready-the-boat-2767#comments Thu, 21 Jul 2011 07:01:26 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2767 Unlike Leroy Jethro Gibbs (a character in the TV series NCIS) I don’t have the makings of a boat in my basement. Heck, I don’t even have a basement! And unlike California sailor Abby Sunderland, the 16 year old who set out last year to sail solo around the globe, I’m not piloting a state of the art, Open 40 sailboat… nor, for that matter, am I 16 anymore. I am, however, descended from a family of Scouts who endeavored to be prepared at all times for every contingency we could imagine. So, these days, as I prepare to ...Continue reading » Ready the Boat]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/ready-the-boat-2767/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/being-scared-learning-opportunity-2328 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/being-scared-learning-opportunity-2328#comments Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:01:06 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2328 On January 10, 2011, in her evening news report, ABC correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi interviewed three “ordinary” people – a young intern, a retired military officer, and tiny slip of a woman – who each in their own way “used whatever they had, to do what they could” in the immediate aftermath of the Tucson shooting tragedy that left an eight year old girl and several others dead and a Congresswoman terribly wounded. One of the “unsung heroes” probably saved the Congresswoman from ...Continue reading » Being Scared = Learning Opportunity]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/being-scared-learning-opportunity-2328/feed 1 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/uh-oh-2320 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/uh-oh-2320#comments Tue, 25 Jan 2011 08:01:37 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2320 What scares you – and how do you carry on anyway? Have you ever found your life zoom-zooming from merely exciting to “Uh Oh”? Have you ever felt like you’ve gone up-side-down? Getting dizzy at the thought? Me too. Of course, in the photo above the “trickster” is a skilled exhibitionist on the banks of the River Thames’ Festival Pier and he made that jump on ...Continue reading » Uh Oh]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/uh-oh-2320/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/dog-paddle-me-outta-this-mood-2285 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/dog-paddle-me-outta-this-mood-2285#comments Wed, 12 Jan 2011 08:01:55 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2285 How do you keep your head above water when you feel like you’re drowning? In my last few posts I boasted with great élan that, through focused intent and continuing persistence, I would find myself “doing” whatever it is I’m meant to be. But now I find my high-spirited confidence waning – I find myself asking: Did I ever have a successful achieving self? Really and truly? It seems as though I’m swimming against a riptide of doubt; I’m dog paddling when I meant to ...Continue reading » Dog Paddle Me Outta This Mood!]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/dog-paddle-me-outta-this-mood-2285/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/an-unpleasant-surprise-2281 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/an-unpleasant-surprise-2281#comments Tue, 11 Jan 2011 08:01:54 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2281 I have a friend whose grandson returned from Iraq over a year ago. He had seen some awful things over there, probably more than any of us can even imagine, and he had held his best friend in his arms as he died. Like many of our returning veterans, he tried to keep life the way it had been before he went to Iraq. It just wasn’t possible. After a short period of time, it became obvious that he was struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). After all that we’ve asked of our service people, when they return we expect them to be able to reintegrate into society and be able to manage their lives as if nothing changed. With any injury or illness, if the soldier is conscious, he is expected to ...Continue reading » An Unpleasant Surprise]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/an-unpleasant-surprise-2281/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/republished/mickey-mouse-to-the-rescue-2-2233 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/republished/mickey-mouse-to-the-rescue-2-2233#comments Wed, 22 Dec 2010 08:43:32 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2233 After having written my last post on replacing fear with good memories, another side-effect of fear occurred to me. When we focus on our fear and we physically spiral into extreme fight or flight, we are fighting two problems in our attempt to move forward. We feel horrible psychologically AND we feel physically horrible. I know I’ve said they feed on one another… and they do. But we need to acknowledge that it’s harder to go out in the world when on top of being scared, you have a sick stomach or worse. When I finished my first year of training and had customer accounts that were mine, every day was an “adventure.” My territory was spread all over. Because of the traffic, getting to a customer could take 45 minutes to an hour. Prior to getting this job, the farthest I’d driven was to college, which was 45 minutes from home. I had one way to get there and reversed that to get home. (I get lost going around the block. GPS’s were invented to keep me out of places I shouldn’t be in.) ...Continue reading » Mickey Mouse to the Rescue]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/republished/mickey-mouse-to-the-rescue-2-2233/feed 0