— Thomas Wolfe, Of Time and the River

Dr. Tian Dayton writing for The Huffington Post explores the “biology of codependency“.  His study of the neurological findings about codependency found that codependency is fear-based. He further believes that the stress of living in a home where the children learned to be more vigilant to the adults’ moods rather than their own taught the children to access mood from outside them. What happens to the child’s moods? The child loses touch with what he/she is feeling.

Coming alive links:

1.  Give me a break: Are you busy for a reason?

2.  Formation–“to be nobody but myself— in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make me somebody else— means to fight the hardest battle any human can fight, and never stop fighting.” e.e. cummings

3.  It’s the perfect day to be alive.–includes “Wonderful Life” by Natalie Grant from her CD Relentness.

100 Ways to Change Your Life for the Better is from Cultivate Greatness. These tips were originally compiled by Jessica Hupp. I have listed the topics of the 100 tips with a link for each:

1. Health–Good health is the foundation of a good life, so make these improvements, and they’ll resonate out to the rest of your life.
2. Mental–Improve your mind by taking these simple steps.
3. Social–Take these steps to change your social life for the better.
4. Emotional–Improve your emotional life with these simple strategies.
5. Financial–Make these changes to improve your life’s financial outlook.
6. Habits–Make these changes in your daily life to improve upon yourself.
7. At Work–Take these steps to make things just little bit better.
8. In Your Community–Getting involved in your community is a great way to improve upon your life. Try these methods for getting out there.
9. In the Environment–An excellent way to improve upon yourself is to reduce the negative impact you have on the world. Take these steps to get greener and change your life for the better.

B

C

You Can’t Force Other People to Change-But You Can Help Them

Choosing Boundaries for Life Success

Color Me Happy: Use Color to Impact the Mood of Your Home

The Hidden Art of Achieving Creative Flow

D

Drawing a cartoon character in 5 steps

E

Problem Minus Ego Equals Solution
F

Take Control of Your Finances by Building on What You Already Know

Friends in Unlikely Places: The Ex-Factor

The Serious Pursuit of Fun

G

H

Get Inspired to Re-Use Trash to Make Beautiful Homes

I

10 Steps to Balance Multiple Interests

J

K

L

Live Big or Die Small

The long winding road to doing what you love

M

From Mindless Spending to Mindful Consumption

N

O

Our Luxury Additions and Lavish Embellishments

How to Make a Living Out of Your Obsession

P

Q

R

Resolution Retreat for Couples

How to Grab on to Slipping Resolutions

When a Family Needs a Fresh Start: Making a Place of Repentance

Roles and Goals

Stop Following ‘The Rules’ of your Life and Bring Back the Joy

How to Use Your Subconscious to Change Your Life

S

Shift Happens: Dealing With the Speed Economy

Celebrate Your Success

Your Sweet Spot: The Intersection of Passion, Talent, and Opportunity

T

Today did you see?

U

5 Creative Ways to Upsize Your Life by Downsizing

V

W

Time to Wake Up: Making the Most of the Moment

X

Y

You Can Become the Indispensable Litchpin

Z

Simplifying your life: Why less is more–

“We’ve done the binge thing for awhile; now it’s time to do the purge thing. Most of us have a tremendous amount of excess. Too many expenses, too much stuff, too many commitments and responsibilities.  Do you dream of calm over chaos? Do you wish you could hit a button and be transformed to the tranquility of another era? You can create an oasis of peace for yourself and your family, but you’re going to have to relearn what it means to simplify as I bust the top three myths about the subject over the next month.”

Time to simplify and de-junkify–

I” now realize I didn’t need to be better organized (although organizing the stuff you truly need isn’t a bad thing), I needed to get rid of stuff and stop buying things I don’t need.  Of course, deep down I think I knew that answer all along, but that’s a tough pill to swallow.  It’s hard to explain the mind-shift that I’m having right now about consumerism, but it’s almost as if  someone grabbed me about the shoulders and shook me back to reality.  It’s about time to start living more simply.”

5 simple steps to clearing the clutter (painlessly)–

“Keeping your surroundings tidy and organized might sound like a chore, but it’s actually one of the best ways to obtain peace of mind and a calmer outlook on life. Here’s how to make tidying and decluttering as painless as possible.”

5 creative ways to upsize your life by downsizing–

“I like to say that downsizing will upsize your life.  I know it sounds catchy, but it’s true.  Since my husband and I started downsizing over 4 years ago we have more money, time, and opportunity than I could have ever imagined.  There is no way we’d be planning a trip around the world if we were still weighed down with all the miscellaneous stuff we had acquired over the years.”

Super easy ways to filter info and declutter your mind–

“We are basically slaves to our own technological advancement and it doesn’t look any rosier in the future. In fact, the number of data sources available to you today will only continue to grow (and at an increasing rate)!”

“If you want to break out from the cycle of mental stress you need to find ways to declutter your mind and filter what you allow in.Every single day we are exposed to millions of tiny bytes of information. Fact is, without a filter you’re forcing your brain to absorb, understand, digest, and store it. I mean really, that’s a tall order – even for the human brain.”

“Decluttering your mind starts with your intent – you need to WANT to make changes first before you can address the imbalance. “

Living with less: 8 reasons to embrace the simple life–by Carole Fogarty:

1. A satisfying lifestyle becomes your priority
2. You now value the gift of time
3. Your stuff no longer demands your attention
4. Achieve more with less
5. The law of diminishing returns
6. Reduces money stress
7. Your self worth is no longer connected to the stuff you have accumulated
8. Conscious consumption

“I also learned how valuable it is to talk to people about sleep. It’s as though you are enlisting the world around you in helping you meet your goal. Not only did people share with me their sleep tips, but having people constantly ask me if I was getting enough sleep or making sure I wasn’t drinking coffee after noon or staying up past my scheduled bed time were a wonderful safeguard against falling into old, bad habits.”

“You don’t have to write about your sleep experiences twice a week and publish them on HuffPost and Glamour to get the same benefits. Tell your friends and family about your sleep goals — put it out there — and watch how many “sleep angels” start looking out for you and holding you to your sleep commitment. It’s like a Field of Sweet Dreams: build it, and they will come (to tuck you in).”

Learning and maintaining a commitment to make our sleeping important to our life will add passion and drive. Our passion is increased once we allow ourselves to believe that our dream may be possible. I love helping people so I am open to anything that will help me fill this need. Because of my letting go of old beliefs about myself, I have been freed up to work toward a movement that will enable the people I care about to join together.

Our passion comes from following our flow. Flow has been explained by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi. He describes our flow as that feeling of joy when we are doing something we love to do and are doing it effortlessly. Some athletes call it being in the zone.

Writing in her blog, Joyful Days, Daphne offers us a challenge to choose one of the following proven ways to living  a happy life:

1. Believe in something
2. Embrace silence
3. Work on your own terms
4. Find your “flow” experience
5. Have something to look forward to
6. Hang out with friends
7. Just carry on living

Many people believe that aren’t creative. Yet few of them schedule creativity. Creativity is an art and a science. You can find your creativity by making it a goal. Schedule time to spend searching and exploring your “flow” activity. Remember creativity is playing and enjoying what you do in your creativity time.

James Chartrand (who is really a woman) writing in Fuel Your Writing about how to learn the skill of being inspired suggests during the following to find your flow:

1. Explore new experiences  ”
2. Ask people about themselves
3. Bring a notebook

Broward County’s official site has links for all the cities, chambers of commerce, constitutional officiers, other counties in Florida, education sites in Broward County, federal agencies, media sites, and state sgencies.

The Fodors guide for sights and attractions in Fort Lauderdale/ Broward County has attractions by category:

• Amusement Parks
• Beaches
• Libraries

• Museums/Galleries
• Native American Sites
• Nature Preserves

• Neighborhoods/Streets
• Parks
• Promenades/Boardwalks

It also has attractions by location:

• Dania Beach
• Fort Lauderdale
• Hollywood
• Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach

Year 2000 population for Broward County: 1,623,018.

From staynplay.net:

“With 165 miles of waterways, Fort Lauderdale is a water sports Mecca. The city hosts the largest in-water boat show annually, is home to the swimming hall of fame, provides a “water bus” service through its downtown area (be sure to shop, dine and browse along the famous Las Olas Boulevard and visit the famed Las Olas Riverwalk along the waterfront) and supplies boating charters for any manner of boating fun. Port Everglades, one of Florida’s largest deep water ports, offers cruises and cargo shipping. One visit and you can see why Fort Lauderdale is known as the “Venice of America”.”

One of the best ways to see Fort Lauderdale, the Venice of America, is on the Carrie B Cruises. A FAQ for this cruise is here.

Finally , a Google maps satellite map for Broward County shows a detailed map of Broward and the neighboring regions.