BouncebackCafe.com » optimism

Good Futures Hunting

Ellie — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 07:01:54 +0000

There’s nothing like a bad hair day to crush your resolve… and lately I’ve been entrenched in bad hair days. You see, I’ve been “letting my hair grow longer” until I can decide on a new ’do… You’re probably thinking: Geez, Ellie’s really stuck in the transition hallway – not only can’t she choose a doorway out, she can’t even choose a new hairstyle! A recent Rose is Rose cartoon pretty much tells the ...Continue reading » Good Futures Hunting

Seeing Things Differently

PattiAnn — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 07:01:06 +0000

I love stories. I’ve been making my way, very slowly, through Michael Yapko’s Hand-Me-Down Blues. As with most good books on a specific topic, Yapko uses stories to illustrate his points. The minute he starts telling about a person or a family, I’m hooked. The thing is that these stories are carefully crafted to ...Continue reading » Seeing Things Differently

Prickly Happens

Ellie — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 07:01:42 +0000

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

Beam Me Up!

Ellie — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 08:01:35 +0000

Ready to toss in the towel on all those New Year’s resolutions? Already??? Resolutions ≠ Express Lane to What We Want New Year’s Resolutions, like advertising copy, often tend to be filled with hyperbole and unwarranted optimism… and instead of striving to achieve our dreams, we end up playing doubting Thomas to our abilities. Martha Beck, author of Finding Your North Star wrote about this in Oprah Magazine when she recommended changing the grammar and ...Continue reading » Beam Me Up!

What Are You Thinking?

PattiAnn — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 07:01:40 +0000

In marketing, there is a saying, “Perception is reality.” This saying explains the challenge that companies or politicians face when dealing with the public’s view of them. It is why they spend so much on public relations. No matter what a politician or a company does, if they lose the PR war, they lose. The same can be said for us. Most of us believe that what we feel is “true.” Emotions can make or break our day. If we “feel” that things are hopeless, then, for us, they are. This raises an interesting issue. How would you be feeling right now if you were an engineer working on capping the rig in the Gulf of Mexico? If there’s anyone saying anything positive about these people who are trying to solve the problem, it’s probably ...Continue reading » What Are You Thinking?

Is It Adversity or Is It Life?

PattiAnn — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:01:20 +0000

Remember that commercial – “Is it real or is it Memorex?” They would usually have an opera singer hitting a really high note and breaking a glass and then play the recording of the singer and break another glass. It was a way to show the true fidelity of the recording. I’ve been noticing how much we, as a society, have been talking about our troubles. Have you noticed? We talk about what bothers us more than we talk about what pleases us. There’s been a lot of conversation about how bad things are economically and how the Baby Boomers won’t have the retirement that they expected. It seems that we’re on a perpetual downer around here. The conclusion that I’ve reached is that somehow, we’ve decided that problems aren’t part of life, which is why we get soooo bent out of shape when a problem turns up. I blame it on the Declaration of Independence. ...Continue reading » Is It Adversity or Is It Life?

Optimism is as Easy as A-B-C

Ellie — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:01:10 +0000

PattiAnn and I used to be (well I guess we still are) experts on sales and service performance improvement. That was our niche. What caused us to shift our focus to resilience?

Going From Hero to Zero

Well, if you are lucky enough to know and love sales or service people, you’re familiar with the daunting tasks they face: they search for and secure elusive new business, soothe the inevitable irate customers, satisfy the demands of anxious managers, overcome all the quirks and foibles of their company’s operational systems and, despite all their dedication and perseverance, they go from hero to zero on the first day of every month! That’s pretty darn discouraging. So, to serve our customers better, PattiAnn and I hunted for and found better bounceback solutions to help them with their daily heapings of adversities. ...Continue reading » Optimism is as Easy as A-B-C

Got It? Use It!

Ellie — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:01:41 +0000

What pleasures have you been denying yourself by not using those wonderful treasures stored away in your cupboards and closets? Isn’t it time to break out the “good stuff”? Let us know how that works for you! Many folks are going through hard times right now. That’s especially true on a couple fronts: the financial front and the morale front. Some have lost jobs; some can’t find new jobs; some worry about losing jobs. All of us, I suspect even those who still feel secure financially, are pulling in our horns, spending less, finding ways to “make-do” or “do without”. And many of you are exercising that third characteristic of resilient people: you’ve become practicing “bricoleurs” creatively using what’s at hand to solve problems. ...Continue reading » Got It? Use It!

Worst Case Planning Got You Down?

Ellie — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 07:01:17 +0000

I think many of us, especially me, live our lives acting as though Murphy’s Law and its corollaries predict our future:

Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Nothing is as easy as it looks. Everything takes longer than you think…

And that, I’m guessing, is what leads us to build “Worst Case Scenarios”. I myself think it’s a good thing to do. And so does Julie Norem, who gives a name to the process in her book, The Positive Power of Negative Thinking: Using Defensive Pessimism to Harness Anxiety and Perform at Your Peak. She calls it “‘defensive pessimism’ … a process that allows anxious people to do good planning.” ...Continue reading » Worst Case Planning Got You Down?

Theatre Arts, Prepaid Phones and All That Jazz!

Ellie — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:01:28 +0000

In an earlier posting, Overwhelmed With Troubles?, I commented on the value of creative expression as an attitude stabilizer and resilience builder. And now my gut feel about the drawing lessons has been validated. A recent post on the blog Cognitive Daily cites a study that confirmed the efficacy of visual arts programs AND the even more impressive gains that the research subjects experienced when participating in a theatre arts program. ...Continue reading » Theatre Arts, Prepaid Phones and All That Jazz!