Creative commentary plus crafty composition

In a recent posting, The Look of Reflection, it was noted that the human impulse to making comparisons seems pervasive. Therefore, finding effective strategies helps us to cope, and hopefully in time thrive.

It’s worth considering that there are many other available strategies to reflect on, for uncovering and energizing the ‘better you’. Read the rest of this entry »

Tis the time of year for great expectations – on the part of shoppers looking for bargain prices.

Be it pre-Black Friday, Black Friday week, or the day itself, not to mention Cyber Monday, with surely in time more marketing lures to come, there is an aura of ‘spend now, to save later’ in the air. This seems to be going on for an expanding time frame every year. Read the rest of this entry »

The Look of Reflection

How vulnerable are you to an overload of envy about the success of others, especially people you know well?

An article in the December issue of Psychology Today delves into this subject, with a subtext of measuring how happy and successful we feel about our own lives. The ease with which this can become a personal issue has been dramatically escalated by the rise in access to and influence of social media. Read the rest of this entry »

A Multidimensional Palette

An item in the December issue of Psychology Today covers the arena of colours, which are not perceived the same universally, since many of us literally see them differently.

The article focuses on the daughter of a London florist, as such well acquainted with a wide palette from an early age, who has authored a book titled, “The Secret Lives of Color” (not British spelling, for some reason). The latter covers the history of seventy-five colours, including such obscure varieties as hematite and obsidian. Read the rest of this entry »

Anyone involved with building a successful business knows that it grows, or it founders. If increasing the pool of customers or sales does not occur each year, then the business will go downhill; no matter how effective one is, drop-offs inevitably occur with the current base, for a variety of reasons.

In the October issue of The Insurance & Investment Journal, the ‘advice’ column addresses the issue of staying on track with goals, with the carrot-on-a-stick of increasing results by as much as 500%. Read the rest of this entry »

When the laws of survival collide with the abandon of HalloweenRead the rest of this entry »

The meeting theme this week at our Toastmasters’ Club concerned one of the banes of modern life, especially in social media oriented, western societies – information overload.

Intrusive, geometrically expanding exposure to information and sources, the latter exhibiting wide latitudes of dependability, variously affects us all. Read the rest of this entry »

Today marks another of those calendar interventions we have come to know as a Friday the 13th.

While some pay little attention to the symbolic significance of this periodic occurrence, there are many who do. The fact that this is a year wherein it occurs the same month as Halloween adds some dimension to the spectre; forebodingly, it’s a superstitious lead-in to the history imbued time, combining fear and celebration at the end of October. Read the rest of this entry »

Even More Breaking News

Here’s some BREAKING NEWS:

This week’s post is a follow-up to interest piquing submission last Friday.

More to enjoy… Read the rest of this entry »

More BREAKING NEWS

Many a video news channel these days is quick to interject a “BREAKING NEWS” graphic whenever a borderline opportunity strikes, let alone more legitimate, dramatic happenings.

What this means for the viewer is that, too often, the interjection refers either to an embellished, regurgitated story, or one of esoteric, nebulous import, perhaps cliché style. Read the rest of this entry »