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I don’t have to tell you, hope is a rare commodity in the world today. Its opposite, despair, seems to have gained the upper hand.

Yet everything good starts with hope. This country was founded on hope; it has endured because of hope; our greatest leaders in every sector are those who give us hope.

With hope everything is possible. Hope breeds optimism and positive energy; positive energy breeds the kind of resolve that causes heroic effort. Heroic effort creates results - even miracles.

Many… Continue

The Reader's Digest invited me to write a blog about how to make this holiday season less stressful. Check out www.readersdigest.com there are lots of good tips from various experts on the site. The piece, which I’ve included below, was fun to write. I just asked myself what were all the dumb things I do over the holidays that drive me - and everyone around me - crazy... and decided to toss them out this year! You can do the same. Read on...


8 Things… Continue

My good friend Nadia Allaudin of Merrill Lynch sent along these fabulous, motivational quotes. I think you'll like them:

"I dream of men who take the next step instead of worrying about the next thousand steps."

- Theodore Roosevelt


"Get bored with your past, it's over!"

- Caroline Myss


"Don't listen to those who say, 'You're taking too big a chance.' Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor, and it would surely be rubbed out by today. Most important, don't listen when the little… Continue

In case you're sensing a theme in the photo, this is my Red Hat group -- the Red Hat Rovers. And two weeks ago we roved to Merrimack Hall here in town and attended a program by Gail Blanke called Throw Out Fifty Things.

Based on her book Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life, the program sought to empower attendees by encouraging us to literally throw out fifty things in our homes and unclutter our lives both physically and emotionally.

Gail is a motivational speaker, colum… Continue

Posted by Deborah Storey September 11, 2009 9:35 AM
Categories: Entertainment
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - Throw out 50 things.

Motivational speaker and life coach Gail Blanke threw out the challenge to a sold-out crowd at Merrimack Hall on Thursday night.

It sounds so simple until you go home and try it.

But by using humor and inspirational stories of those who have succeeded, Blanke was convincing in her argument that women should simplify their lives of "mental and emotional clutter."

The goal, she… Continue