Word-Of-the-Week #1089: Action
July 3, 2025 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #1089: Action
Action – something that people do or cause to happen.
Is it easy for you to take action? Do you ever second guess yourself? Is there something you know you should take action on that you are putting off? What is stopping you?
I wanted to keep the WOW short and simple for the holiday week and chose to re-run “Row Your Boat,” from Steve Straus, author of STEVE’S 3-MINUTE COACHING. It’s a great one going into summer!
“Wayne Dyer was the first person I heard tell this story, but I believe he gave credit to someone else. It has been around a long time and tells of several great truths.
Principle: Row Your Boat
(Principles are basic truths that, when applied, cause success to come to you easier and quicker.)
Row, Row, Row
(Be in action. The universe rewards action.)
your boat,
(Your’s. Not someone else’s.)
gently
(Enjoy the process.)
down the stream,
(Go with the flow. Stop fighting.)
merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
(You could be a grump about it, but don’t be.)
life is but a dream.
(Chose to have very good dreams.)”
— Copyright 2025 Steve Straus. All rights reserved. —
I just love this one! How about you? This week focus on what courses of action you are going to take. Do any relate to your job situation? How about your personal life? How would it feel to live your dream and row your boat gently down the stream? Enjoy the ride!
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Word-Of-the-Week #1088: Appreciation
June 26, 2025 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #1088: Appreciation
Appreciation – recognition of the quality, value, significance, or magnitude of people and things.
How willing are you to help a fellow worker in a time of need? Do you give others recognition when they deserve it?
This week features the last half of “Expressing gratitude can transform your work, life. Here are some ways of how workers can incorporate more appreciation into their day” by Cathy Bussewitz for The Associated Press.
To Recap:
Proponents say expressing and receiving appreciation can help reduce stress, as well as improve a person’s mood and outlook.
- Start small
- Cultivating gratitude in the workplace
- Taking it further
Wittsell is part of a team of volunteers at Denver Health’s RESTORE program, which connects front-line hospital workers with trained peer responders for confidential emotional support.
The hospital started the program as a way to improve and sustain the emotional well-being of its workforce, said Tia Henry, the program’s director. Volunteers take shifts so someone is available around the clock to answer calls from hospital personnel who are struggling with stressful events such as losing a patient or witnessing violence.
Volunteers and staff regularly express gratitude for the program, Henry said.
“I’ve had calls on my way to work: ‘I’m having a hard time and I need to talk with somebody who gets it,’” Wittsell said. “It’s a good way to give back to the people that I work with.”
Aside from peer support, RESTORE also provides training and education to employees about stress, burnout and techniques to de-escalate violence, Henry said.
“We’re not doing counseling or therapy, but we’re using components of psychological first aid to truly engage timely with our teammates when they’re distressed, helping them calm their nervous system and get back to the place of regulation where they can show back up and do what it is they need to do or they can lay something down and go back home,” Henry said. “That is gratitude from my lens.”
Indy Public Safety Foundation, an Indianapolis nonprofit organization that supports front-line workers, shows gratitude to police, firefighters and paramedics through awards banquets, trainings, and showing up with food, shaking hands and saying thank you after a community tragedy.
Foundation staff members take gratitude a step further by providing tools and equipment such as electric bikes for police patrols.
While front-line workers were applauded during the pandemic, “their work has continued and arguably not gotten any less stressful, and some of that support has waned,” said Dane Nutty, the foundation’s president and CEO.
- Work for change
While practicing gratitude may make for a more pleasant on-the-job environment, it’s not a replacement for better working conditions. It’s good to be grateful to have a job that pays the bills. It’s also important to ask for what’s fair.
“Being grateful absolutely doesn’t mean that we accept anything subpar or inappropriate,” Jones said, adding that people should advocate for basic needs such as meal breaks. “It’s important not to confuse gratitude with being passive.”
This week’s focus is about appreciation. What have you done to show that you care for another person? How often do you recognize the value and significance of those around you?
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Word-Of-the-Week #1087: Recognition
June 19, 2025 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #1087: Recognition
Recognition – the acknowledgment of achievement, service, merit, etc.
How often do you feel appreciated at work and home? Do you feel a deep sense of purpose and meaning?
This week features the first half of “Expressing gratitude can transform your work, life. Here are some ways of how workers can incorporate more appreciation into their day” by Cathy Bussewitz for The Associated Press.
“Recognition impacts so many facets of the employee experience. And when you do it well, it connects people back to a deep sense of purpose and meaning,” said Meghan Stettler, a director at O.C. Tanner.
The first thing Alison C. Jones does when she wakes up is to name three things she’s grateful for. It can be as simple as the breeze from a fan or as meaningful as the way a friend showed up for her emotionally.
Jones, an organizational development consultant, said the daily practice has helped her through hardships and the anxiety and vulnerability of starting her own business as a single mom.
“When you practice gratitude, you train your brain to always look for the positive in anything. It just completely shifts everything you’re going through,” she said. “You start to see the lessons in the pain. You start to see the beauty in the very difficult times because you realize, ‘Hey, I’m growing stronger.’”
Practicing and encouraging gratitude can be a simple way to boost morale at a time when layoffs and economic uncertainty are causing stress and anxiety. Some employers have found that workers who receive expressions of gratitude show more engagement and willingness to help others.
Other proponents say expressing and receiving appreciation can help reduce stress, as well as improve a person’s mood and outlook.
But despite its benefits, promoting gratefulness is often overlooked as a valuable way to spend time and resources in the workplace.
Experts in organizational change shared ways to incorporate more gratitude into the workday.
- Start small
If you’re new to practicing gratitude, you can start at home with a routine such as Jones’ custom of expressing gratitude before getting out of bed. She made her gratitude practice easy so it would become a sustainable habit. Her one rule is avoiding repetition and stretching her mind to find new things to be grateful for each day.
Jones also recommends finding a “gratitude buddy” to share with. A buddy may be a friend from work or your social circles, and ideas can be exchanged in person, by text or email, or during a phone call. Many people find it helpful to list what they’re grateful for in a journal.
- Cultivating gratitude in the workplace
At work, a team leader can begin a staff meeting by expressing gratitude for what went well in the last week, suggested Peter Bonanno, a consultant who helps companies design mindfulness-based programs.
As humans, we often have a bias toward negativity, but gratitude “just does an enormous amount to shift people’s mindsets and the way they engage with each other,” he said. “Gratitude is especially powerful in that way. It doesn’t take a long time for people to notice an impact.”
O.C. Tanner Institute, a software and service company, helps organizations find effective ways to show appreciation to their employees, such as managers giving handwritten notes of thanks. The company helped American Airlines develop a system for managers and colleagues to recognize good work with points that can be applied to a catalog order.
It also helped Amway create gift boxes to celebrate workers’ accomplishments and important personal milestones, such as buying a home or adopting a child.
Some companies donate their own products to thank nurses, doctors, police officers, firefighters and other workers who serve their communities. Frontline Builders, a nonprofit organization launched during the pandemic, connects donors of snacks, drinks and personal care items with recipients.
“We’ve all worked in that job where we weren’t shown gratitude and realized how much that stinks,” said Jason Lalak, partnership director at Frontline Builders. “Showing someone gratitude or showing appreciation doesn’t really cost anything, and shouldn’t be that difficult of a thing, and yet it’s rarer than it should be.”
Registered nurse Denise Wittsell remembers how quiet the hospital where she works became during the pandemic. The hallways of Denver Health, typically busy with families and guests, were suddenly empty as visits from outsiders were curtailed and patients battled illnesses alone.
Once in a while, someone from the community would deliver gifts of gratitude: tasty snacks or handmade cards from schoolchildren.
“Those spontaneous recognitions were really sweet,” Wittsell said. “It just felt really kind, and it felt like there was a lot of wrapping around us, a very supportive feeling.”
This week’s focus is about recognition. Has anyone ever spontaneously recognized you? Does your workplace celebrate fellow workers’ accomplishments or milestones?
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Word-Of-the-Week #1086: Connect
June 12, 2025 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #1086: Connect
Connect – to establish a relationship.
Are you enjoying the life you have? Do you feel that something is missing?
This week features another great WOW from Sam Horn.
ANECDOTE
Journalist Rita Braver once interviewed Steve Martin on CBS Sunday Morning.
Steve is a genius, yet based on their discussion, he wasn’t a very happy man.
Rita started with questions about the evolution of his career from when he was the #1 comedian in the world.
He frequently appeared on the Tonight Show, Saturday Night Live and had top-selling comedy albums. Yet he walked away from it because, as he told Rita, he felt he couldn’t “top himself.” The pressure of being funny all the time was too much.
He transitioned into acting, wrote books, hosted the Emmys and won Grammys.
Yet, the entire time, Steve confessed he never really felt he had “arrived.”
Toward the end of the interview, Rita looked at Steve almost tenderly and asked, “So, it’s really turned out okay, hasn’t it?”
Martin shrugged and said, “If only someone had told me that 30 years ago, I could have relaxed and enjoyed it.”
Wow. The poignancy of his remark and his regret have stayed with me for years.
It seemed, for Steve, the jury had always been out. He had never stopped, looked around, and realized he already had a good life right there and then.
It seemed he had never deeply connected with the people and experiences he was having because happiness was always “out there,” somewhere in the future.
ACTION
- How about you? Could it be that you already have a good life right here and now that deserves to be noticed, appreciated, imprinted, and connected with?
- Are there people reaching out who want to connect with you – and they’re waiting for you to reach back?
- Have you been promising yourself you’ll connect with them when you’re not so busy, when that project is finished, or when things slow down at work?
- Please understand once and for all… YOU’LL NEVER GET ALL CAUGHT UP.And the happiness we seek is not out there somewhere. It is right here, right now… If we take the time to stop, look around and connect.
This week’s focus is all about connecting. How do you feel about the people and experiences you are having? Are you relaxing and enjoying what you have in the moment?
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Word-Of-the-Week #1085: Vacation
June 5, 2025 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #1085: Vacation
Vacation – time devoted to pleasure, rest, or relaxation.
Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer. Have you made any plans to take a vacation? Would you like to have less stress and feel better?
This week features “Why taking a vacation is good for you. Data shows that getting away can boost your health, happiness and love life” by Beth Howard for The Washington Post.
“Vacations can sometimes seem like more trouble than they’re worth when you come home to a full inbox and a fire hose of problems requiring immediate attention.
But people who skip vacations may be missing out on important health benefits, according to a growing body of research linking regular getaways to everything from better heart health to a lower risk of metabolic disorders and even a longer life. A 2025 review of 32 previous studies in the Journal of Applied Psychology also found that the immediate effects on well-being are more profound and long-lasting than previously thought.
Among the findings in one longitudinal study that followed more than 12,000 men at high risk of coronary heart disease: Those who took a vacation every year over a nine-year period reduced their overall risk of death by about 20 percent and their risk of death from heart disease by as much as 30 percent, according to the study’s main author, Brooks B. Gump, a professor of public health at Syracuse University, who studies the health effects of taking vacations.
In other research, Gump and his colleagues found a similar connection between the frequency of vacations and metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions — high blood pressure, high blood sugar, a large waist circumference, low HDL (“good”) cholesterol and high triglycerides — that raise the risk of heart attacks, stroke and diabetes. Each additional vacation the participants took lowered the risk of metabolic syndrome by nearly 25 percent.
Other researchers have identified links between taking vacations and fewer stress-related physical complaints, lower levels of exhaustion and depression, and greater happiness and well-being.
Even short breaks have health payoffs. When middle managers were assigned to either take a four-day vacation or take time off at home, those who left town reported greater positive effects on stress and well-being, according to researchers at Austria’s University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology. And unlike a tan line, the vacation “afterglow” continued for as long as 45 days post-vacation.
- Bedroom benefits
Not surprisingly, vacations may also help pay down a sleep debt, long associated with a greater risk of obesity and diabetes, a 2022 study in Nature Human Behavior suggests. Researchers relied on data collected from Sony SmartBands worn by some 20,000 people, covering 218,000 nights of travel, some of which may have been for business. Among the travelers, people who were sleep-deprived — sleeping less than 7.5 hours a night — clocked more hours of sleep when they were away from home. (People who typically got more than 7.5 hours nightly tended to sleep less well on the road.)
“My guess is that if someone doesn’t sleep a lot at home, then sleeping someplace new might be an opportunity to catch up,” said study co-author Sune Lehmann, professor of social data science at the University of Copenhagen. People who usually sleep well may miss the routines that help them doze off at home, he said.
A 2024 study by American and Dutch researchers found that couples who take vacations that involve novel, interesting or challenging experiences keep the romantic spark in their relationships, resulting in more physical intimacy afterward.
“Passion can fade even in good relationships,” said study author John K. Coffey, associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University. “But the more new experiences couples had during their vacation, the greater their passion and physical intimacy were after the vacation.”
The key, he said, is to engage in activities that satisfy the innate need to learn and grow, a concept known as self-expansion. You don’t have to “go big” with an expensive adventure, he said. Exploring a new city, visiting a museum or trying different cuisines can make a difference. Even bad experiences like getting lost or missing a connection can bring you closer. Coffey acknowledged that other factors could account for the intimacy boost. Having the leisure and wealth to travel in the first place might reduce a couple’s stress, leading to a better sex life.
More than the immediate rewards, “vacations provide a buffer against chronic stress and inflammation — both of which wreak havoc on the body,” said Gump. Vacationing turns off the spigot of stress hormones like cortisol and allows the body to reset, restoring equilibrium, he said.
With a total break from work, “you regain lost psychological resources like energy and positive mood and emotions,” said Ryan Grant, a doctoral student at the University of Georgia and lead author of the vacation aftereffects review study. Vacations that involve physical activity and socializing with family or friends can be particularly good, he said, since both have been shown to improve health outcomes.
- Making the good times last
To ensure your vacation packs the maximum wellness punch, experts provided these tips:
- Minimize engagement with work. “During the vacation itself, it is key that [you] mentally disconnect from work as much as possible,” Grant said. Limit the time you spend taking work calls or answering email to once a day or less. This season of the TV series “The White Lotus” provides a perfect example of how not disconnecting can be very bad for you.
- Be active. Grant’s meta-analysis found that engaging in physical activity during vacation was the top predictor of better health outcomes later. (Social activity was the second most important factor.)
- If it’s hard to get away for a single long vacation, schedule several short ones. Wellness benefits accrue regardless of a vacation’s length, research has shown (though you may get a bigger boost the longer you are away). Some data suggests these benefits are less seen among people with high-stress jobs, however.
- Savor the memories of your vacation to extend the afterglow. Jessica de Bloom, a professor of psychology and public health at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, who has led several studies investigating the effects of vacations on well-being, says this can be very helpful to health. Picture the whitecaps or perfect waves from when you were taking surfing lessons in Puerto Rico. Or try to duplicate the indescribable mole you tasted in Oaxaca, Mexico, and feel the pleasure and delight rush back, or remember the warm wind from an hour-long bike ride you took. “Keeping a vacation diary or talking about the top three experiences of the vacation may help people to attend to and appreciate the positive vacation experience more,” de Bloom said.
Regardless of the setting or circumstances, Grant said, it’s the breaking up of intense periods of work with long periods of rest and recovery that makes the difference to health and well-being. “We need vacations to take care of ourselves,” he said.
This week’s focus is about taking a vacation. When was the last time you mentally disconnected from work? Have you ever taken a vacation that involved novel, interesting or challenging experiences? Would you like to have greater intimacy and satisfaction in your personal relationships?
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