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/2012/gen/making-stress-your-friend-3120 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2012/gen/making-stress-your-friend-3120#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:01:54 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=3120 One of my favorite whines has to do with how I look. Yes, I’m getting older and I’m showing my age (where I can’t help it), but that’s not what I’m referring to. My problem is I’m showing my stress. For all of us who are carrying a little, or a lot, of weight around the middle, there’s good and bad news attached. The good news is that the weight that you’re carrying is less about a lack of discipline or an unwillingness to give up cake/chips/muffins/buttered popcorn, etc. than it is about the amount of stress in your life. The bad news is that if ...Continue reading » Making Stress Your Friend]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2012/gen/making-stress-your-friend-3120/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/republished/stay-here-now-2-3083 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/republished/stay-here-now-2-3083#comments Wed, 28 Dec 2011 08:01:00 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=3083 Last year, after Randy Pausch died of pancreatic cancer, Primetime aired Diane Sawyer’s interview of Randy, his family and friends. Much of the footage was of conversations that took place prior to Randy’s death. In addition to the phenomenal courage and the deliberate way that the Pausch family planned for and dealt with Randy’s death, one interchange between Diane and Randy’s wife, Jai, has stayed with me. Diane and Jai were talking about how Jai was making it through each day. Jai replied that in therapy they had discussed how we humans tend to project into the future. When she watched Randy and kids play, she would go to ...Continue reading » Stay Here, Now!]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/republished/stay-here-now-2-3083/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/goodbye-to-2011-3054 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/goodbye-to-2011-3054#comments Wed, 14 Dec 2011 08:01:13 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=3054 The end of the year is such a rush with the holiday madness and business deadlines combined. It’s easy to get lost in all the busyness. In my family, because we’ve all scattered to the winds, getting together for the holidays necessitates at least one full day allocated to travel to the festivities which just adds to the general craziness and the sense that there’s not enough time. By the time we get to the New Year, I’m ready to get a cup of hot cocoa, a blanket, a good book, an animal to keep me company, and just ...Continue reading » Goodbye to 2011]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/goodbye-to-2011-3054/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/the-best-way-to-relieve-holiday-stress-3034 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/the-best-way-to-relieve-holiday-stress-3034#comments Wed, 07 Dec 2011 08:01:46 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=3034 Has holiday busyness hijacked your Christmas spirit? Are you feeling stressed instead of jolly, exhausted instead of joyful? Ready to throw in the towel? Before you do, consider this instead: Do a little good every day. Yes, I’m really suggesting that you wedge another To-Do into your already-maxed-out day! Why? Because when we’re ...Continue reading » The Best Way to Relieve Holiday Stress? Do a Little Good!]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/the-best-way-to-relieve-holiday-stress-3034/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/caught-in-ellie%e2%80%99s-hall-3030 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/caught-in-ellie%e2%80%99s-hall-3030#comments Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:01:46 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=3030 Ellie has written in the past about how sometimes she struggles finding a way forward. I am at that point right now. To go back to Ellie’s post, Where the Hell’s the Door Out, I’m stuck in a hall and haven’t got any idea how to get out. My entire life has been filled with family conflict of one sort or another. Sometimes it was me conflicting with my parents. Sometimes it was my parents choosing to attack me or one of my siblings. Over the last few years, the conflict was with my ...Continue reading » Caught in Ellie’s Hall]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/caught-in-ellie%e2%80%99s-hall-3030/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/slowing-down-for-effect-2921 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/slowing-down-for-effect-2921#comments Wed, 12 Oct 2011 07:01:30 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2921 Since I’ve started my new job (now 8 months old), one of the things that I’ve written about most often is the need for me to have time discipline. It seemed as if I spent each day running from deadline to deadline. Finally, after all this time, I’ve started to develop a rhythm to my life during the work week. Somehow, I’ve found a way to get through each day feeling less ...Continue reading » Slowing Down for Effect]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/slowing-down-for-effect-2921/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/merri-wanna-time-2807 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/merri-wanna-time-2807#comments Thu, 11 Aug 2011 07:01:15 +0000 Ellie http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2807 First off – let me tell you a secret about PattiAnn: She can make a chocolate bar last for days! Truly! For many of the rest of us, just one taste of a chocolate bar or a french fry sends us into a frenzy of “more, I want more… I’m merry and I-wanna-eat-more…” or as I’ve paraphrased: Merri-Wanna Time! According to new research, “fatty foods may cause our bodies to ...Continue reading » Merri-Wanna Time!]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/merri-wanna-time-2807/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/what-i-learned-last-week-2688 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/what-i-learned-last-week-2688#comments Tue, 14 Jun 2011 07:01:54 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2688 This past week I developed what I call the “acid flu.” My system seems to naturally create plenty of acid and when my stress level is high, my acid manufacturing machine goes into overdrive. This leaves me feeling nauseous – not anyone’s favorite feeling – and miserable and achy. The only good side to it is that I lose my appetite. Unfortunately, this is probably the one time I need to eat – to rebalance my system. For a while, I felt ...Continue reading » What I Learned Last Week]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/what-i-learned-last-week-2688/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/continuous-improvement-2365 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/continuous-improvement-2365#comments Wed, 16 Feb 2011 08:01:15 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2365 There aren’t enough hours in the day. Ever since I started my new job, I’ve felt that I’m not ready for whatever I’m scheduled to do right now. The problem is that while I’ve been used to working in the evening, I seldom was looking at a deadline that couldn’t be extended into the next morning. For example, if I was working on a post, I could just leave it over night and take another look at it in the morning. Now, that’s pretty much impossible. If I don’t get it done tonight, the best I can hope for is that I can find a few quiet minutes at lunch which will let me work on it. If that doesn’t work, I can’t really get back to it until ...Continue reading » Continuous Improvement?]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2011/gen/continuous-improvement-2365/feed 0 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/republished/let-go-and-let-god-2-2250 http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/republished/let-go-and-let-god-2-2250#comments Tue, 28 Dec 2010 08:01:56 +0000 PattiAnn http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/?p=2250 Control – Most of us like to think we have it. If you’ve been paying attention to the economy lately, you know just what an illusion control is. People who have worked hard their whole lives are in danger of losing their jobs, their savings, their retirement or all of the above. There is a deep feeling of anger in the general population. Why??? Because this latest downturn has affected all of us and we want to blame someone. ...Continue reading » Let Go and Let God (or your higher power)]]> http://www.bouncebackcafe.com/2010/republished/let-go-and-let-god-2-2250/feed 0