Favorite Blessing
By Barbara Holstein | November 14, 2008
May you always be able to focus on the small delights of being alive and notice and enjoy the amazing combinations of ingredients that assemble in our lives for our pleasure and nourishment!
Topics: Blessings | No Comments »
Nancy Drew and THE TRUTH, (I’m a girl, I’m smart and I know everything!
By Barbara Holstein | November 12, 2008
Me and My Best Friend Nancy Drew!
I’m remembering some special times I had with a best friend, Nancy, when I was growing up. Oh, they were wonderful adventures that we took together-just Nancy and myself. And when it came to an end I had a let down that could only be compensated for in one way-a long bike ride, a coffee ice cream cone with jimmies on top and the beginning allure of the next Nancy Drew book. I guess you realize that Nancy Drew was my best friend. Wasn’t I lucky?
I think that Nancy Drew was an important icon figure to me, as a positive psychologist, because in the language of Positive Psychology, she gave me hope. She validated that I was smart. She reinforced my resiliency. After all, I figured out at least some of the mysteries before she did. She gave me such a sense of competency. If she could do it, so could I. I just hadn’t had the right opportunity yet, so for now I accompanied her.
She reinforced my strengths and interests. After all, I could figure people out. I could travel, if only my parents would let me. I could act very grown-up and be a leader. For example, I was on the Student Council. Yes, everything about her was affirming to me. Even her boyfriend gave me hope that someday I would have a boyfriend just as nice and kind and loving, In fact, Nancy Drew was probably the best therapy I had in my life from the ages of 9-11. And she didn’t even know she was a Positive Psychologist!
I guess that is why she is so important to the girl in my new fiction book, The Truth (I’m a girl, I’m smart and I know everything). My character has many of the same feelings about Nancy that I did. She is a bit more competitive with Nancy than I was. But that is ok. Everyone is different. And it is because of Nancy that she has the strength to solve an important mystery that is essential for her growing up happily. But I can’t tell. That would give a big secret away that I want you to read. After all, every author wants her book read. So of course, I can’t tell all. I’ll just give you one more clue: the mystery involves a locket. Happy reading
Topics: Fond Memories that Enhance Happy Feelings, Positive Psychology, Positive use of Memory, Women's Happiness | No Comments »
Anatomy of the Truth
By Barbara Holstein | November 11, 2008
FA032 - Anatomy of “The Truth”
Doctors Brian and Giuseppe talk to Doctor Barbara Becker Holstein about her recent book: “The Truth: I’m a Girl, I’m Smart and I Know Everything.” Dr. Barbara’s approach as a positive psychologist is also discussed.
Listen here:
Topics: Dr. Holstein's Podcast Archives, Positive Psychology, Kids, Tweens and Teens, Tweens, Weekly Podcast | No Comments »
Daily Connections TV
By Barbara Holstein | November 11, 2008
Helping your daughter with social issues such as gossping, rumors and bad reputations:
Topics: Positive Psychology, Kids, Tweens and Teens, Tweens, Video | No Comments »
Favorite Blessing
By Barbara Holstein | November 7, 2008
May each deed you do always tip the in favor of the world just being a little better place, filled with more love, kindness and positive!
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Favorite Blessing
By Barbara Holstein | October 31, 2008
May you always have the courage and heart to do good with or without clear reason. That way you never to wrestle with the traps of selfishness or greed!
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WE All NEED A DOSE OF INSPIRATION: The Hatpin
By Barbara Holstein | October 24, 2008
We all need a sense of wonder and mystery in our lives. Sometimes a fast paced adventure movie or a good mystery read will satisfy that urge inside of ourselves. But sometimes we need to reach into the past and see that all through the centuries people have reported strange phenomenon, and of course, even miracles. Even dire predictions have not always come true! Stories from the past where people overcame negative predictions, whether by what appeared to be a miracle or by sheer will, can revitalize us and give us hope. And that is so important. Every day we need to get our energies going again so that we have the motivation to make the best of ourselves and our day. Every day we need at least a small dose of inspiration. Here is yours for today! This dose of inspiration appears in my book, Recipes for Enchantment, The Secret Ingredient is YOU!
Rabbi Akiva lived during the 12th century and was considered one of the great scholars and leaders in Judaism. He had a daughter, and on the day she was born, a soothsayer told him that she would die on her wedding day, bitten on the arm by a poisonous snake. This is as tragic a fate as anyone can imagine – raising a daughter while worrying that you will lose her on what should be the most beautiful day of her life.
Rabbi Akiva decided not to believe the soothsayer, although he certainly thought about what she had said. But he trusted God, so he proceeded to make arrangements for his daughter’s wedding. A proper suitor was found, and the wedding day soon arrived.
The daughter knew nothing of the strange prophecy, but she did have a terrible headache that day. Finally, unable to bear the headdress she was wearing, she took it off and absently stuck the large hatpin that held it into the edge of a curtain in her bedroom. Immediately, shaking and hissing sounds seemed to emanate from behind the curtain, but the daughter had already left the room.
The marriage ceremony took place as scheduled, followed by a daylong celebration and feast – and, indeed, to Rabbi Akiva’s great relief, his daughter remained alive and well. The next day, the daughter remembered the hatpin and sent a servant to retrieve it from the curtain. As he wrenched it free, to his amazement, the servant heard a loud thud, as if something had fallen to the floor. Upon investigation, he discovered a poisonous dead snake on the floor behind the curtain. It bore a fatal wound along its side, apparently from being stabbed by the daughter’s hatpin.
How Can You Relate To This Story?
I remember when my ballet teacher predicted to my mother that I would be too tall to become a professional dancer. Her prediction crushed my dreams in an instant. Now I would never become a professional dancer. I put aside my toe shoes and stifled my dreams. How ironic, given the fact that by the time I was an adult, many professional dancers were my height of 5′ 8″ or even taller.
Can you think of a time when a prediction got you in trouble? (Perhaps you became frightened or gave up on something?)
Did you ever feel you had been protected, or saved from harm, as Rabbi Akiva’s daughter was from a disaster? Tell the story.
Have you ever been able to override a prediction given to you, by sheer will, prayer, or belief in yourself? Tell the story. Comment here or write to me at drbarbara@enchantedself.com to tell your story.
Topics: Fond Memories that Enhance Happy Feelings, Positive use of Memory, Recipe for Enchantment, The Enchanted Self, Wisdom Thoughts | No Comments »
Favorite Blessing
By Barbara Holstein | October 24, 2008
May you always find ways to give and take from life and others so that you continue to overflow with delight. Then you certainly will have the blessing of renewed energy, and you will be most satisfied with whatever you are able to do in you lifetime.
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Favorite Blessing
By Barbara Holstein | October 17, 2008
Even after a bad night, may you always awaken to a world that reminds you by your first cup of coffee that you are loved and blessed with special gifts. My you realize by the time that you get into your car or do your first chore that your personal treasures never get old or out of date. By the time you go to bed that night, may you be blessed with a delicious night’s rest and the optimism and well being that comes with contentment.
Topics: Blessings | No Comments »
Wisdom Secrets to Happiness Brought to you by The Enchanted Self
By Barbara Holstein | October 16, 2008
If we can find the wisdom secrets to happiness, and we can also learn how to integrate them into our lives, how to practice them, find the recipes that go with them and stir that wonderful pot, we can end up much happier.
We do know as women that happiness is sometimes something we’re chasing like a donkey with a carrot in front of him on a stick. We often feel that we don’t catch up with happiness. We’re exhausted, we’re drained, we’re trying to please others.
So, happiness sometimes eludes us. It’s like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Sometimes we feel as if we never get to the pot. And that, to me, as a Positive Psychologist, is a very despairing part of being a woman. Because we are entitled to live a positive life, a life of happiness, meaning and purpose where we are able to recapture the best essence of ourselves, our talents and potential, learn how to weave our capacities in a magical way into new fabric, new yarn and new stories for our lives every day.
That’s why I call my positive psychology The Enchanted Self ®. Because there always is some magic in pulling together the best of ourselves, integrating it with the world as the world presents itself to us, and moving forward and experiencing that wonderful feeling, that sense of well-being that can only come when we’re in stride with ourselves and we’re feeling contented, feeling happy about what we’re doing.
What do you think some of the wisdom secrets for women are? I’ll share more next time, but I really want your ideas on the subject also. Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein (Some of this was taken from a podcast on Happiness for Women Only. All are archived on www.internetvoicesradio.com at my page which houses Happiness for Women Only and Kids, Tweens and Teens, A Positive Psychologist Looks at All Three.
Topics: Dr. Holstein's Podcast Archives, Positive Psychology for Women, Positive Psychology, Kids, Tweens and Teens, Positive use of Memory, The Enchanted Self, Wisdom Thoughts, Women's Happiness | No Comments »