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/building-a-happiness-habit-2636 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/building-a-happiness-habit-2636#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 07:01:04 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2636 Ellie and I face a common problem. We both have to come up with topics to write about. While neither of us could probably tell you exactly how we do it, it seems to be true, at least for me, that it has something to do with showing up. I’m sure you’ve heard that 80% of success in life is showing up. And so it is with writing. When Ellie and I are asked to present at business and community meetings, whether we’re conducting training or simply providing inspirational encouragement, we always include some ...Continue reading » Building a Happiness Habit]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/building-a-happiness-habit-2636/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/change-is-the-foundation-for-growth-2600 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/change-is-the-foundation-for-growth-2600#comments Wed, 04 May 2011 07:01:02 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2600 It seems that my entire work life, there has always been a struggle to get to a balanced state. I feel as if I struggle to find time that isn’t committed to someone else – the job, the dog, my family. And, no matter how much I do for each of these, I feel as if I am shorting someone else. I had always thought of balance as being ...Continue reading » Change is the Foundation for Growth]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/change-is-the-foundation-for-growth-2600/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/hitting-bottom-2563 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/hitting-bottom-2563#comments Thu, 14 Apr 2011 07:01:47 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2563 It is an old truism that people who struggle with addiction must “hit bottom” before they can truly choose to make the hard choice to be “sober.” For people who are part of the “Anonymous” community (Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, etc.) this is considered part of the process. I don’t know if they’ve truly hit bottom but at some point, something in them decides that they’ve had enough. For each and every person who makes that choice, it’s a significant moment when ...Continue reading » Hitting Bottom]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/hitting-bottom-2563/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/friends-give-you-a-cushion-for-the-fall-2546 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/friends-give-you-a-cushion-for-the-fall-2546#comments Wed, 06 Apr 2011 07:01:20 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2546 At the end of your rope? In need of a cushion? Falling, of course, can mean you’ve literally taken a physical tumble but it also serves as a metaphor for all those life-mishaps that litter our paths to success and achievement. I’ve face-planted myself more than once and been glad for the folks who were right there to make sure I wasn’t badly injured. And I’ve fallen from grace, fallen off a log, failed to make the ...Continue reading » Friends Give You A Cushion for the Fall]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/friends-give-you-a-cushion-for-the-fall-2546/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/an-elephant-sat-on-it-2465 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/an-elephant-sat-on-it-2465#comments Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:01:06 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2465 How do you regain your resilience when an elephant just sat on it? Was it only a few weeks ago that I was jumping for joy? Indeed. But then a different kind of news came down the pike… ...Continue reading » An Elephant Sat On It]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/an-elephant-sat-on-it-2465/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/republished/please-pass-the-peas-2-2174 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/republished/please-pass-the-peas-2-2174#comments Wed, 24 Nov 2010 08:01:46 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2174 Could we create more resilient families with something so simple? What family meal traditions do you remember, or better still, continue? I come from a large family. And once upon a time we all sat down and ate dinner together. Family style, and, as they say in Basque restaurants “please pass the peas.” Dinner time was sacrosanct – even if you were going out on a date, you first sat down to dinner with the family! Now a-days that happens maybe on Thanksgiving or Christmas. But the rest of the year, it’s catch as catch can. Every man and child for themselves. And often we have what my sis’ calls “CORN” for dinner – as in Clean Out Refrigerator Night! I think we miss out the best parts of living with this short-order, take it and run lifestyle. ...Continue reading » Please Pass the Peas]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/republished/please-pass-the-peas-2-2174/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/are-you-ready-for-the-big-bad-wolf-1827 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/are-you-ready-for-the-big-bad-wolf-1827#comments Tue, 22 Jun 2010 07:01:17 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=1827 Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Well, it seems we all are. In Love Beyond Reason, John Ortberg goes all the way back to the story of the Three Little Pigs to make a point. I know you remember the story, but just in case you want to watch the Disney version, you can see it here. Ortberg points out that every life has its Big Bad Wolves. No matter what we do, the Big Bad Wolf (BBW) comes to visit us many times throughout our lives. We never know what form he will take and there is no way to avoid him. In life, there are Big Bad Wolves and we need to deal with them. (Sometimes several of them gang up on us all at the same time — after all wolves, run in packs.) What to Do About All That Huffing and Puffing No matter what form the BBW takes, his focus is to huff and puff and blow your house down. The question is what have we done to ...Continue reading » Are You Ready for the Big Bad Wolf?]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/are-you-ready-for-the-big-bad-wolf-1827/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/doing-what-must-be-done-1237 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/doing-what-must-be-done-1237#comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:01:04 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=1237 Halderol, Depakote, Aricept, Lexapro – these are the new words that I’m learning these days.  Never did I think that I would be increasing my vocabulary so quickly.  Welcome to the wonderful world of pharmaceutical mood enhancement. To be fair, I had heard of all these drugs before because my friend May has a son who is bipolar and these drugs had been prescribed for him as they were trying to help him with his OCD and bipolar disorder.  The thing is, I had never really understood what each one did – I didn’t need to. What has caused my newfound knowledge of all these meds is that my father went on a 4-day ...Continue reading » Doing What Must Be Done]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/gen/doing-what-must-be-done-1237/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/are-we-having-fun-yet-1043 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/are-we-having-fun-yet-1043#comments Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:01:15 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=1043 What do you think:  Can we change people’s behavior for the better by making whatever they need to do fun? Recently I’ve found it necessary, in order to get my “steps” counted, to change my walking routine – I’ve had to hit the gym’s treadmill.  And I gotta say, BORING!  Until I remembered “the fun theory” which asks the question: Can you change people’s behavior for the better if you make whatever they need to do fun? Well, I’m happy to report that the answer to this question is a resounding YES!  And for those of us interested in resilience and persistence that’s GOOD NEWS!  Why you ask?  Because it offers new ways for us to stick with something that becomes tedious on the way to being done. And because, if you can get people to do things because they’re fun, well then, you have a recipe for ...Continue reading » Are We Having Fun Yet?]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2009/gen/are-we-having-fun-yet-1043/feed 0