Tag: perspective

On a quest

March 3, 2023 / Siobhan Kelleher Kukolic

My teen daughter and I were talking about mindset and perspective last weekend. She was on a quest to get a first place in her dance competitions to move up to the next level. Many times over the past ten months she got seconds and thirds and fourths and those days were celebrations. But this past weekend, when she earned a second and a fifth, she was disappointed. We discussed how mindset is everything. If you expect something and don’t receive it, it steals your joy.

We also discussed how the climb is about the little things. Continue reading

You get to

September 27, 2021 / Siobhan Kelleher Kukolic

I’m reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. He writes, “For instance, we often talk about everything we have to do in a given day. You have to wake up early for work. You have to make another sales call for your business. You have to cook dinner for your family. Now, imagine changing just one word: You don’t ‘have’ to. You ‘get’ to.”

A small but very powerful tweak. Continue reading

Emotions last moments not minutes

April 19, 2021 / Siobhan Kelleher Kukolic

I was listening to Sam Harris in the Waking Up meditation app and he said that emotions last moments not minutes. And if we can just give ourselves a few seconds of space to let the energy of that emotion enter our consciousness and sit there before we react, we could save ourselves a lot of heartache.

We only have so much energy to use each day. We have an energy budget. And if we choose to use that energy on worry or stress or blowing up in answer to an emotion that pushes our buttons, that decreases the amount of energy we can use for other things on our to-do list like growing our brains, or supporting our self-care, or helping others, or fueling our body with healthy food. Continue reading

What a difference a week makes

March 23, 2020 / Siobhan Kelleher Kukolic

What a difference a week makes.

As a mom-of-three, daughter and sister, I am, like the rest of the world, wondering what this means for my family, my community and the world as I know it. Continue reading

All weather as good weather

August 5, 2019 / Siobhan Kelleher Kukolic

Josh Waitzkin, chess prodigy and author, said that before his son was born he remembers hearing parents say, “The weather is bad. It’s raining. We can’t go outside to play.” So when he became a dad, he made it his plan to see all weather as good weather for exploring. Chaos over control. He and his son Jack have never missed a rain storm or a blizzard. Because it’s always a good time to play. Continue reading

Recent saga

July 22, 2019 / Siobhan Kelleher Kukolic

For those who have been following my recent saga of moving for the fourth time in four years, my 14-year-old son getting hit by a car on his bike and riding in an ambulance to hospital where he ended up being fine, the moving van swiping my parked vehicle in the driveway and doing thousands of dollars damage, a family of raccoons living in the fireplace at our new address and my son getting bitten by a dog on his leg before he left to compete at the North American Irish Dance Championships, thank you for listening. Continue reading

Being really happy

June 10, 2019 / Siobhan Kelleher Kukolic

What is your last memory of being really happy? Joyful? Laughing until your stomach hurt?

My guess is it had nothing to do with possessions.

It may have been a family celebration. A graduation. A healthy diagnosis. Some good news after an accident. Watching your loved one shine.

If we are waiting to be happy until we pay off the house or meet the right person or get a better job or lose ten pounds, we will be waiting for a very long time. Continue reading

Lucky or unlucky?

September 11, 2017 / Siobhan Kelleher Kukolic / 0 Comments

In his book The Happiness Advantage, author Shawn Achor talks about perspective and whether people see themselves as lucky or unlucky. He often tells a story at speaking events and asks people in the audience what they think. Continue reading

Perspective is everything

February 10, 2017 / Siobhan Kelleher Kukolic / 0 Comments

Perspective is everything.

A close friend of mine was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. She started aggressive chemotherapy a week later and was told she would lose her hair within two weeks. Although she was obviously upset, she thought about an ex-colleague in her early thirties who had died suddenly of a heart attack a few weeks earlier. Leaving behind a two-year-old daughter. And my friend was thankful for the blessing of having the chance to fight. Continue reading