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| Contact Pat |
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2873 Martin Rd. #378
Dublin, Ohio 43017-2094
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Dear Friends of Balancing Act,
Sunday morning, our family was clustered around the kitchen table, glued to our daughter's laptop.
We weren't waiting for the latest alert on the Dow. We just couldn't stop watching the Columbus Zoo video of Phoebe the Elephant and her brand new calf learning to walk. If you could use a mini stress break, take five for a virtual trip to the zoo. Check out the persistence - and humor! - of nature.
Speaking of animals, we have a winner in the Name That Dog! Contest - a woman who claims her dog is pretty savvy about time management. And from the Belly Laugh! Workshop I put on in March, some exercises to jumpstart your creativity and problem-solving skills with humor.
With all those end-of-school events coming up, I'm sharing a very important Leash Law this month: The Power of Doilies. If you're a worry wart, there's a life-changing lesson from my pal Bill Slabodnick. If you're a woman in need of inspiration, I know at least two places you can find it in April. And finally, if that's not enough, I've found a cure for the common cold. Just click here.
Let's stay balanced!
Pat
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| Introducing...Henry the Time Manager |
 Thanks to dog-lovers everywhere, the dog on the cover of my upcoming book, The Dog Ate My Planner, is no longer anonymous. Pet owners across the country, vying for a free cartoon drawing of their own favorite pet, sent in a deluge of possible names from dog parks, dog washes, pet stores, veterinary offices, and the Internet.
A few favorites entries: "Trouble" (because he is), "Seemore" (as in see more pages), "Reed" (as in keep reading), "Blackberry" (because the PDA has "eaten" the paper planner), "Franklin" (because he probably ate a Franklin planner), "Paige" (because he's romping through the pages of the book), "Munchie" (because he tends to ingest just about anything), "Keeper" (because we love him anyway), Olly (because he looks like an Olly), and Dervish (as in the whirling kind).
Henry and Owner Mary B. Relotto
I love them all! Carolyn Fergus, who suggested the name "Trouble," wins my sympathy and the first runner-up prize, an autographed copy of The Dog, for her story of how her lab Dinah once ate her checkbook - not the blank checks but the transaction register for the previous nine months. Carolyn is a resident of Wesley Glen, a senior citizens center in Columbus, OH.
So why did the judges choose the name Henry? Because Henry is the name of a much-beloved real dog whose owner, Mary B. Relotto,also of Columbus, believes he would eat her planner only to send her a message: "Slow down, sister!"
"We rely too much on our planners as it is," she says. "Aaah...to live a loved dog's life."
So very true! If Henry, who looks a bit like the book's shaggy troublemaker, makes us smile and slow down, he's accomplished the mission of The Dog.
Mary B. is known to Columbus women as the founder of the networking organization Dames Bond. Look for her and Henry at an upcoming book signing, where Michael H. Whiting, the book's illustrator, will produce the prize sketch.
Note: If you belong to a group that could use a speech, workshop or lunch 'n learn on finding stress relief through humor, just contact Henry and me to book one of the Dog Ate My Planner programs described on my web site. (Henry the cover dog, not Henry the real dog).
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| Belly Buttons from Belly Laugh |
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When I taught "Belly Laugh to Your Aha! Moment" in Upper Arlington last month, it was a two-hour workshop. This summer, I'll teach it for a week at Chautauqua Institution in New York.
But for you who need an instant creativity boost, here are a few sample exercises to make you a champ in the creativity department. They're based on research showing an overlap between the mental processes we use in humor and the processes that make creativity flow.
EXERCISES ON THE RUN
- Take a moment to consider what a cat and a refrigerator have in common.
- Let your imagination run with this starter sentence: "Growing up, the food was not always up to Julia Childs' standards."
- Pick one letter from the alphabet. Start as many words with it as you can. (Nonsense words allowed and encouraged).
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| Are You A Worry Wart? |
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 Worried in this economy? Take a tip from my friend Bill Slabodnick, an 80-something who looks and acts a decade younger than his age.
Bill worries only on Wednesdays from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
If something comes up in between?
"I just wait till Wednesday," he says.
Anyone else have a Worry Wart remover?
Please head for the Dog Journal to share it and help the rest of us get our lives back in balance.
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| Leash Law No. 4: Use Doilies |
 Brace yourselves for the baking season. It's coming soon, as every organization and every school lurches into the end-of-year spring event season. A little-known fact is that virtually every requested "baked good" can be enhanced by a doily, especially when the baking has been done by someone else, for example the Wonder Bread thrift store. Store-bought brownies, snipped out of their cellophane wrapping, look homemade on a doily, especially when they're sprinkled with powdered sugar and covered with a tent of aluminum foil.
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| Inspirational Opportunities for Women |
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This month offers some neat inspirational opportunities for women in the Columbus, OH area. (Sorry, guys. It just turned out that way).
On Friday, April 10, Linda Wisler Luft of Fireball Coaching and Consulting, will present a Vision Board workshop and showing of the inspirational movie "Glow," in which successful women entrepreneurs will share how they overcame adversity to change their businesses and their lives. Registration details for the event, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Trillium Place, are on her website.
On Monday, April 27, Ohio Transitioning Women, a group of over-50 professional women forming a Central Ohio chapter of The Transition Network, will have a peer group discussion on "Epiphanies And What We've Done With Them," from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Old Worthington Public Library meeting room, 820 High St., Worthington. Free event. Bring a brown bag supper.
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| Coming Soon! |
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Pat's First Book
The Dog Ate My Planner:
Tales and Tips from an Overbooked Life
(Two Harbors Press, Minneapolis, MN)
Click here to reserve a copy before May 1 at a special rate.
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Copyright 2009 Pat Snyder
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