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/gen/tomorrow-is-another-day-2914 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/tomorrow-is-another-day-2914#comments Thu, 06 Oct 2011 07:01:25 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2914 Last week, I wrote about the idea of making tiny changes. It seemed like a good idea at the time and still does, but before I got very far into the whole experiment I discovered one of MY big problems… I never leave well enough alone. I have two tendencies that get me into trouble – ramping up too quickly and visualizing ahead. Today, as I was walking the dog, we came back past the local church. As we headed for it, I wondered how well I would do as we climbed the hill. Usually, I set a good pace and then stop and catch my breath at the top of the hill. Well, we got to the top of the hill and I wasn’t out of breath. There was only one conclusion to draw ...Continue reading » Tomorrow is Another Day]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/tomorrow-is-another-day-2914/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/deliberately-finding-joy-2905 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/deliberately-finding-joy-2905#comments Tue, 04 Oct 2011 07:01:35 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2905 Wouldn’t it be great if we could find joy in our lives every single day? More and more, research is indicating that it is our habits, of thought, of action, and of belief, that determine how we feel. In fact, our thoughts are so important that we can change our lives by changing our thoughts. This may seem so obvious as to be redundant for me to write it in a blog, but the fact is that while we may consciously know that our thoughts affect how we feel, many of us don’t consciously listen to that little ...Continue reading » Deliberately Finding Joy]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/deliberately-finding-joy-2905/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/exhaustion-physical-mental-or-spiritual-is-harmful-to-your-attitude-2543 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/exhaustion-physical-mental-or-spiritual-is-harmful-to-your-attitude-2543#comments Tue, 05 Apr 2011 07:01:06 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2543 Ellie and I have written it before, and I’ll write it again… ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING! Admittedly, this isn’t new news. Ellie and I have been beating this drum since we started this blog, but today, I met the living proof of this truism. I noticed this lady because of how happy she seems to be, she smiles all the time, AND because she called me by name when we’d never been introduced. (It turned out that in addition to her other responsibilities, she also makes the security badges and knew my name from the badge.) To be honest, I don’t smile all the time. For various reasons, I’ve been irritable lately. As I walk into work, I have to remind myself to ...Continue reading » Exhaustion – Physical, Mental or Spiritual – is Harmful to Your Attitude]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/exhaustion-physical-mental-or-spiritual-is-harmful-to-your-attitude-2543/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/standing-room-only-so-2344 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/standing-room-only-so-2344#comments Tue, 08 Feb 2011 08:01:43 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2344 How do you define yourself? There was a time – not too long ago – when I told people (and myself) “I don’t do standing-room-only.” Yet just this Sunday I found myself standing because there were no seats available. (I’m still not sure why the 10:30 AM Mass was so crowded, it wasn’t Easter and it wasn’t Christmas but it was standing room only!) Anyway… As I stood there, I realized ...Continue reading » Standing Room Only… So???]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/standing-room-only-so-2344/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/who%e2%80%99s-in-charge-here-2292 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/who%e2%80%99s-in-charge-here-2292#comments Thu, 13 Jan 2011 08:01:48 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2292 Last week, in her post Trapped in the Clutches of Ambiguity, Ellie reported on a dialogue that she observed between her Left Brain and her Right Brain. It reminded me of some many similar conversations that I have in my head. The difference between Ellie and me is that for her, the Right Brain is ...Continue reading » Who’s In Charge Here?]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/who%e2%80%99s-in-charge-here-2292/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/republished/its-your-choice-2-2259 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/republished/its-your-choice-2-2259#comments Thu, 30 Dec 2010 08:01:02 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2259 Every day, life gives us the opportunity to respond to various occurrences. Sometimes, it’s a red light when we’re in a hurry. Sometimes it’s a rainbow on the horizon as we sit through our one hour commute which has become a two hour commute because of the rain. (After all, you can’t have rainbows without rain.) Each occurrence gives us the opportunity to make a choice. We can react as we have habitually or we can choose our response. Unfortunately, we often respond in habitual ways. As our habits become more ingrained, we may stop choosing our responses. We just pull out the habitual one. To make my point, let’s think about two opposite ends of the mood spectrum. Do you know anyone who has gone from being a lethargic, lukewarm person to a ...Continue reading » It’s Your Choice]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/republished/its-your-choice-2-2259/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/its-your-choice-2139 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/its-your-choice-2139#comments Thu, 04 Nov 2010 07:01:22 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2139 Every day, life gives us the opportunity to respond to various occurrences. Sometimes, it’s a red light when we’re in a hurry. Sometimes it’s a rainbow on the horizon as we sit through our one hour commute which has become a two hour commute because of the rain. (After all, you can’t have rainbows without rain.) Each occurrence gives us the opportunity to make a choice. We can react as we have habitually or we can choose our response. Unfortunately, we often respond in habitual ways. As our habits become more ingrained, we may stop choosing our responses. We just pull out the habitual one. To make my point, let’s think about two opposite ends of the mood spectrum. Do you know anyone who has gone from being a lethargic, lukewarm person to a ...Continue reading » It’s Your Choice]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/its-your-choice-2139/feed 2 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/to-create-new-beliefs-start-here-1941 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/to-create-new-beliefs-start-here-1941#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:01:27 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=1941 In 1956 Earl Nightingale wrote and recorded The Strangest Secret on the technology of the day, an LP record. It became the first non-entertainment record to sell a million copies. What caught everyone’s attention was the simple, yet true message, “We become what we think about.” At the time, there was no scientific evidence to support that claim, but in the past 10 years, scientists have proven that our thoughts do shape our world. Scientists have named the ability of our brains to adapt, neuroplasticity. This is the ability that our brains have to physically adapt to new circumstances. Neuroplasticity is what allows people with traumatic brain injury or damage from a stroke, to recover. Not so long ago, scientists believed that when ...Continue reading » To Create New Beliefs – Start HERE!]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/to-create-new-beliefs-start-here-1941/feed 1 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/habitual-beliefs-rule-you-1903 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/habitual-beliefs-rule-you-1903#comments Thu, 22 Jul 2010 07:01:53 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=1903 Do you ever feel like you’re an imposter and someday everyone will figure it out? I know I do. For most of my adult life I’ve wanted to change my beliefs. You see, I tend to believe some very disempowering stuff about myself – not at a conscious level, you understand, but at a subconscious level. Because I struggle every day to overcome what I “know” is true about myself, when I succeed, it’s in spite of myself. Like many people, I believe that if you all knew how much I struggle to: * write a post * lose weight * maintain a positive attitude * you name it – you would think I was an imposter. Some of you probably identify with that belief. On some level, I know that you aren’t going to ...Continue reading » Habitual Beliefs Rule (You)]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/habitual-beliefs-rule-you-1903/feed 1