Circle of Family and Friends - You and Your Personal Community Archives

Circle of Family and Friends - You and Your Personal Community, Karen's Musings

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January 30, 2019

Change your mind and your life will change too.

The title to this post is similar to the title of one of my books written a few years ago. The exact title of that book is: Change Your Mind and Your Life Will Follow. It was a book of 12 simple principles that had the capacity to make a profound difference in how you navigated through your daily experiences. Any one simple change, for instance the decision to be gentle in all responses to all people we encounter throughout the day, can thoroughly change how we feel. It also can change how everyone we meet feels too. Life honestly isn't as difficult as we creat[...]

Circle of Family and Friends - You and Your Personal Community, Reflections in the Mirror - You and Yourself, Uncategorized

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June 4, 2018

Getting grounded again.

It always takes some time to get grounded when I move from Naples in the winter to MN in the summer. I have made this trip back and forth for nearly 30 years, which actually means about 60 trips. Egads! But Joe and I consider ourselves extremely lucky that we have great friends in both places and don't feel ready to give up the richness of the experience both locations allow us.However, age is catching up with us and we'll not be able to do this forever. It's all about community, of course. And for us, that community revolves around 12 step groups. Recovery is[...]

Circle of Family and Friends - You and Your Personal Community, Karen's Musings

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April 14, 2018

Hello again. Please forgive me for my absence.

I have been absent for quite a spell. Life got in the way, not necessarily the better parts of life. In my last post I shared that I had just had a hip replacement, actually hip revision, a redo of one that was done 19 years ago. And now, 8 months later, I have had a knee replacement. Enough already. Three hip replacements, (yes three!) and a full knee replacement is enough. My other knee isn't in the best condition but it will have to wait a while. Other than recovering from these minor setbacks, life has been good. We are lucky, aren't we? As long as we have[...]

Circle of Family and Friends - You and Your Personal Community, Reflections in the Mirror - You and Yourself

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July 12, 2017

I have not reached perfection but progress has been made.

I am talking, of course, about my recovery from hip surgery. It was a month ago this coming Friday that I went under the knife. The surgeon said he was amazed I was still walking prior to surgery. It was with great pain, I assured him. I had been getting pain blocker shots over the winter while in Naples. They served me well, in many respects. I moved with relative ease; I played golf 3 times a week; I did yoga twice a week and an exercise class too. Little did I know that I was making a bad hip far worse. This hip was initially replaced 18 years ago. I am hope[...]

Circle of Family and Friends - You and Your Personal Community, Karen's Musings

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June 7, 2017

Curve balls come in spite of us.

It's hard to believe, as I hobble around on a cane these days, that I was golfing three times a week, doing yoga twice a week and an exercise class twice a week too, just over a month ago in Naples. Our return to Minnesota for the summer has presented me with unexpected challenges. I knew my hip was going to have to be addressed. I just didn't count on the experience I am having now. Bodies change but minds aren't always able to adjust to the changes very quickly. Woe is me. I have written in many books that we are always prepared for any change that comes lon[...]

Circle of Family and Friends - You and Your Personal Community

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May 27, 2017

My retreat at the Dan Anderson Renewal Center:

The Journey to Peace Is a Daily Commitment 7 p.m., Friday, July 28–noon, Sunday, July 30, 2017. This retreat focuses on the Twelve Step tools we have all come to embrace, enhanced by basic principles from A Course in Miracles. Peace is the ultimate goal of the course, and peace is what we all deserve from living the Twelve Steps. You will understand how to attain greater peace throughout your life by the time you leave for home on Sunday. And you will have a list of new tools to use whenever you begin to falter. Call today to plan your stay. 800-262-4[...]

Circle of Family and Friends - You and Your Personal Community

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May 23, 2017

Back in MN. May 23rd. Rain and more rain. . .Occasional sun.

Dear friends. How glad I am that at least some of you have weathered the storms with me these last few months. Along with being off the grid as far as my website has been concerned, I have been a bit out of sync with much that has always kept me grounded. While in Naples these last 6 months, much of my life was rich and full of meetings and great activities, with both new friends and old ones. However, I let my writing life slide. For a time. And actually I needed the reprieve so maybe my website fiasco was one of those "unexpected gifts from the God I don't alw[...]

Circle of Family and Friends - You and Your Personal Community

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October 31, 2016

Time is slipping through my fingers. Once again.

Perhaps it's simply a sign of old age. Mondays quickly become Fridays. My "to do" list gets longer and longer and fewer things get checked off. And right now, I am actually not as busy as in the months that have recently passed. As of this past Saturday, I have completed all my speaking engagements for 2016. And I am adding engagements very selectively for 2017. I do hope my path crosses yours at one of them however. I will make sure my event section on this website has them all listed as soon as I complete this post. You can count on my doing at least one Wr[...]

Circle of Family and Friends - You and Your Personal Community

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November 21, 2015

Tools for practicing detachment:

When others begin to bother you, change your focus. Are you making someone else’s business yours? Keep everyone outside of your hula hoop. A test for whether or not you are detached: are you being judgmental? If you are feeling victimized, you are enmeshed. Are you letting someone else define your feelings? The chaos in your life is a sign of too much involvement in the life of someone else. “Attachments” sap our energy. Letting go is a decision that generally needs daily adherence. If you are about to “take charge,” pause. Doin[...]

Circle of Family and Friends - You and Your Personal Community, Reflections in the Mirror - You and Yourself

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August 28, 2015

“Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think.”

I’m sure this quote by Buddah isn’t an unfamiliar idea. Perhaps you didn’t attribute it to him but undoubtedly you have heard an idea similar to this uttered many times over your life. It’s a popular notion among psychologists and psychiatrists. Gurus of the self-help movement have relied on it for years as the explanation of why people behave as they do. It’s also considered the easiest way for people to change aspects of their behavior. “As we think so we are.” A book I wrote a few years ago, CHANGE YOUR MIND AND YOUR LIFE WILL FOLLOW[...]

Circle of Family and Friends – You and Your Personal Community