Writings by Diane

Finding inspiration can be fun and exciting—sustaining motivation from that inspiration is when it becomes tricky. The first time I saw the movie The Diving Bell and the Butterfly , I was immediately touched by the sheer determination of Jean-Dominque Bauby. The movie chronicled this man going through an awful health crisis (a stroke that leads to locked-in syndrome ) and horrendous physical therapy challenges. He was trained on a way to communicate by way of blinking his left eye.  Through this new method, he was able to write his memoir by painstakingly spelling out the words one letter at a time. This fact has always fascinated me and I have used it as one of my motivators.  Sometimes I find myself not being as productive as I should be during my writing time. I let distractions have their hold on me. I then think of the image of Monsieur Bauby  lying in the hospital bed blinking furiously to create his work.  Here I am with all of my faculties, w...

Ever since I can remember, whenever I’m presented with a list of tasks to accomplish, I am prone to barrel ahead to get things done. I have the list in my mind, so there was no need to write down the exact things I was completing.  My opinion was why use up time for planning and list-making when these minutes can be used to just finish the job? Then, I saw something that changed my perspective. A few years ago I was watching Kimora Lee Simmons Life in the Fab Lane .  In the episode, Ms Simmons had a late night meeting about her clothing line.  If memory serves, I recall she made the announcement that she had many things to accomplish, including have dinner. Then, she proceeded to write this to do list on the palm of her hand, including the item get something to eat! I was fascinated that she wrote out that list. If it were up to me, I would keep these steps in my head. Then, I began to think of it another way. By her writing down the things on her biological Palm Pil...

Last week at my Toastmasters club meeting, we ran out of time for Table Topics. This segment of the meeting is when a club member is assigned to give the other members questions so they can give an impromptu 1-2 speech on that topic. Typically, the questions are related to the theme of the meeting.  Naturally, the theme of the meeting was Valentine’s Day. It was offered that next week these Table Topics could be used. Then it was shared that may not be a good idea, since the questions related to romance and “lovey dovey” stuff. I said “It shouldn't matter if we do this next week. Do we only have one day that we can talk about love?!” I have been thinking about this the day after Valentine’s. How much emphasis is focused on this day that it has to be super romantic? What about the people without partners? Isn't it cruel to exclude them from a basic feeling such as love? Also, as I grow older, I’m not a huge fan of all of the paraphernalia that is sold during this day. Sure,...

One of my favorite snacks is popcorn, especially the microwave kind. It was so convenient to place the bag into the microwave and in 3 short minutes, have a warm, buttery treat.  Also, there are other flavors of microwave popcorn. I remember there was a co worker of mine who would cook up an afternoon snack of Jolly Time Marshmallow flavored popcorn. The sweet aroma permeated the hallways that we left our cubicles to track down that delicious scent! Sadly, all that sweetness, salt and calories are not conducive to my conscious healthy eating. I decided to abandon popcorn. Then, one day on the radio, we were listening to the John Tesh Show and he mentioned that a cup of plain air popped popcorn is 31 calories . This is opposed to the microwave varieties, ranging from 60 to 120 calories . With that knowledge, I decided that air popped was the way to go. After purchasing the appliance and setting it up, I poured the measured kernels into the cooking chamber. I covered it with t...

Lately, I have been watching many top ten lists on You Tube.  It started with viewing watchmojo.com  with my teenage son.  We shout out what we think should be number one best video game or worst villain. He has been inspired since then to create his own countdowns. I have also stumbled across Matthew Santoro’s channel  and his show has also been added as a favorite.   Back in my day, top 10 lists were relegated to the David Letterman Show .  Now, I can watch as many top 10 lists as I please.  Yea, technology!! Taking a queue from my son, below is my countdown to my top 10 reasons why I watch Top 10 Lists: 10. The facts are listed in short tidbits that you don’t feel overwhelmed and able to retain the information.   For instance, I learned that we share a considerable amount of our DNA with bananas. Therefore, I have concluded it’s not a big insult to call someone a “banana”.  9. Goodness knows I have turned on YouTube during ...

Who doesn't enjoy singing along to the radio while driving? I know I sure do!  Plus, I’m not the only one that substitutes their car interior for a sound studio. I’ll give you a couple of examples. One day, I was listening to Ke$ha’s TiK ToK in my car and humming along. Then I happened to glance at the car sitting next to me at the stop light. There were young women in the car and it appeared that they were singing. As the song blared from my speakers, I could see that the lyrics were in sync with the girls’ singing. I was thrilled. It took all my strength not to roll down the window and yell to them “Hey, I’m listening to the same song! Aren't I hip?!”  It was probably good that I didn't shout that out loud! Another time as I was driving, I stopped at a red light. I was behind a young man who was sitting behind the wheel. I noticed him furtively look to his left and to his right. I didn't really notice him until he started swiveling his head. Now I was curious to ...

A comedienne that has become one of my fast favorites is Kathleen Madigan .   I laugh out loud as she retells hilarious stories about her family. She also has a quick wit about her that she is able to summarize events and glean either the sheer absurdity or simple genius. One example is in her stand up routine, she relates a news story about Mike Tyson.  Apparently, he paid someone nicknamed Crocodile to be a personal motivator .  In her routine, Ms Madigan jokes she would love to have someone named “Alligator” tell her after her show she was a very funny lady. I started to think it would be nice to have a personal cheerleader, someone who would lift our spirits when we had a bad day. It also reminded me of an episode of Designing Women when someone invented a standing ovation box. Funny enough, life has imitated art, because now there actually is a box of applause .   With the New Year, resolutions and changes are customary. Wouldn't it be great if fo...