BouncebackCafe.com » problem solving 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 It’s Complicated http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/its-complicated-2926 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/its-complicated-2926#comments Thu, 13 Oct 2011 07:01:51 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2926 Ever been nonplussed by a comment or problem? How about this one: If, on Thursday morning, someone said to you: Thank goodness it’s Monday! Might you reply, “Are you nuts?” Most probably… but I’m guessing you’d get a good chuckle if you followed the rest of the dialogue in this Real Life Adventures cartoon: ...Continue reading » It’s Complicated]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/its-complicated-2926/feed 0 You Too, Can Make Metaphor Magic http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/you-too-can-make-metaphor-magic-921 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/you-too-can-make-metaphor-magic-921#comments Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:01:45 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=921 Surprise InsideIn my last post I shared a reader’s description of grief over significant personal losses:
Think of my grief as a wave and I’m on a surfboard. I must watch that I don’t lose my balance and become engulfed by the water. Water has power and can drown me. But I don’t want to drown, so I will stay on top of the wave of grief and let it carry me to the shore where I will be safe and feel stable. This wave will crash and I will have survived.  I will be stronger for having made it to shore unharmed. But I will never forget the ride.
Besides touching my heart, our reader demonstrated how potent Metaphor can be as a tool for understanding and working through our personal challenges.  Jose Ortega y Gasset, a prolific Spanish philosopher says this about metaphor: “[It] is perhaps one of man’s most fruitful potentialities. Its [power] verges on magic… a tool for creation which God forgot inside one of his creatures when he made him.” ...Continue reading » You Too, Can Make Metaphor Magic]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/you-too-can-make-metaphor-magic-921/feed 0 Yoga for the Soul http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/yoga-for-the-soul-768 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/yoga-for-the-soul-768#comments Mon, 14 Sep 2009 07:01:19 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=768 gumby! testHow can you streeeetch to become more flexible? A friend of mine has become a serious part-time nature photographer. After having worked for several years in a highly left-brain technical field, he has put both sides of his brain together to create some beautiful art. In picking his equipment, he focused on all the technical doohickeys that make what he has great. Once he’s out in the wild, he gets caught up in the wonder of nature and records it at the rate of many frames per second. Then, he chooses which pictures of the many hundreds he took are suitable for publishing. ...Continue reading » Yoga for the Soul]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/yoga-for-the-soul-768/feed 0 Morphing Into Persistent Perseverance While Looking for Many Right Answers http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/agg/morphing-into-persistent-perseverance-while-looking-for-many-right-answers-733 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/agg/morphing-into-persistent-perseverance-while-looking-for-many-right-answers-733#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 07:01:22 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=733 Here comes the sunI was really pleased when Ellie used a picture of Eeyore on her post because I’ve always liked Eeyore.  I guess that’s because he was soooo gray that he seemed funny to me.  I never really thought of him as being depressed or depressing.  He was so extreme that he was endearing, though I wouldn’t actually want to have to work or live with him. ...Continue reading » Morphing Into Persistent Perseverance While Looking for Many Right Answers]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/agg/morphing-into-persistent-perseverance-while-looking-for-many-right-answers-733/feed 0 Is Anybody Out There? http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/is-anybody-out-there-509 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/is-anybody-out-there-509#comments Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:01:06 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=509 discussions in the sunThis is an invitation – an invitation to join a conversation about making the most out of life no matter what it throws at us.  Ellie and I have been doing a lot of talking and we’d really like to hear from you.  Please, join the conversation. I met a friend for dinner over the weekend.  We used to work together and we’ve been friends for a very long time.  Not wanting to be pushy, I waited until the end of dinner to ask her if she’d had a chance to go out and look at our new blog.  She said that she had, but that she didn’t know quite what to “do” with it.  Since she isn’t the first one to express this sentiment, I thought I’d take a stab at what you “do” with a blog. ...Continue reading » Is Anybody Out There?]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/is-anybody-out-there-509/feed 2 Too Busy to Think http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/too-busy-to-think-416 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/too-busy-to-think-416#comments Tue, 14 Jul 2009 07:01:00 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=416 A BabyOY! I have waaaay toooo much to do. (I get to say OY, I come from Chicago and it's better than swearing.) It occurs to me that there comes a point in time when my immediate todo list (as in must get done by yesterday) becomes so overwhelming that I freeze. We haven't spent a lot of time describing learned helplessness and how to deal with it, but I think one of the things I do is decide that since I can't get it done, I won't try. So, here's my three steps on how to deal with WAAAAY TOOOO much to do. ...Continue reading » Too Busy to Think]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/too-busy-to-think-416/feed 1 When to Worry http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/when-to-worry-399 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/when-to-worry-399#comments Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:01:34 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=399 A little worried“They” say you shouldn’t worry, whoever “they” are.  I even have an old Ziggy cartoon in my office that says “Worry is like riding a roller coaster, it scares the heck out of you… and you always end up right where you started!”  But do you? What started this train of thought was that I was “worrying” about how we are going to expand our readership on BouncebackCafe.com and I had a great idea. (No, I’m not going to tell you what it is.  You’ll just have to wait and see if it pans out.)  The point is that if I hadn’t been “worrying” about a way forward, my mind wouldn’t have had the opportunity to pop that idea up onto my internal screen.  So, the key question seems to be “What is worry and when is it helpful?” ...Continue reading » When to Worry]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/when-to-worry-399/feed 1 A Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/a-blinding-glimpse-of-the-obvious-348 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/a-blinding-glimpse-of-the-obvious-348#comments Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:01:06 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=348 Warning! Knife Will Cut!This weekend I learned something very important about myself. Although I’m a tough broad, when I get discouraged, I back away from things that I can’t figure out. No doubt my friends and family could already tell you that, but I FINALLY got it this weekend. It came in the form of working on “the business.” Having officially launched our blog, Ellie and I now have to find ways to get lots more people to come read it. Because the internet is world wide – as in World Wide Web (www) – there is the potential to reach out to people throughout the English speaking world. Every time someone searches they get page after page of stuff, so the challenge is figuring out how to help people find us more easily. We’re still learning about how to reach the people who will care about what we have to say. ...Continue reading » A Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/a-blinding-glimpse-of-the-obvious-348/feed 0 What Next? – Part Five – Try Som’n Else http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/what-next-part-five-try-somn-else-327 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/what-next-part-five-try-somn-else-327#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 07:01:20 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=327 BalloonsContinued from Part 4 OK – so you’re worried. Your last effort didn’t work out the way you’d hoped. You’re back to square one. Now what??? This last of five optimistic approaches to unfuddling your brain will help you figure it out. Martha Beck, Life Coach advises: If you make the wrong choice – Try Som’n Else. When you’re beset by too many “what ifs” in your life, Try Som’n Else. Right now, (or later if you must) take pen and paper, find a comfy, quiet place to sit and write, perhaps put some upbeat music on your i-Pod and start brainstorming as many “som’n else” ideas as you can think of. And remember, the secret to brainstorming is to write down EVERYTHING… even the bad ideas. ...Continue reading » What Next? – Part Five – Try Som’n Else]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/what-next-part-five-try-somn-else-327/feed 0 Discouraged http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/discouraged-277 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/discouraged-277#comments Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:01:55 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=277 Disappointed BeginningNo matter how upbeat we try to be, we all have days when we feel discouraged. For me the past week has been a real challenge. You would think that a short week (I wrote this after Memorial Day week.) would make things easier, but in the end, the week felt like a failure. For some writers, just the act of writing helps them to feel better. For me that isn’t the case. As a matter of fact, when I started this post, I thought that I would probably just trash it because I didn’t see a way out of my discouragement. ...Continue reading » Discouraged]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/discouraged-277/feed 0