Top 7 Blog posts for 2014

I hope you had a great Christmas season.  We were blessed to spend five days in Dallas, TX area with daughter, son-in-law, two granddaughters and two granddogs.  Lots of good times together, an abundance of yummy food and safe travels made this a memorable Christmas.  Since none of us knows what the future holds, we have to grab onto the blessings and good times that come our way. 
As we begin 2015, I will be sharing my top 7 blog posts of 2014 for the next two weeks.  Then I will be returning to my weekly blog schedule.  So I invite you to join me in my efforts to make healthy choices and enjoy life. 

The Value of Grit—social aspects

A group of people who support us in our goals help us build our grit-strength.  When we begin a new goal/job/career/passion, most likely we will have failures as well as successes.  Often as we begin, we fail several times and in several ways.  What will we do?  Go away and quietly suffer in silence.  That may be necessary for a short while, but don’t let those failures become a lifestyle.  Turn to your support group and get help.
My first support group is my family and close friends.  They listen when I need to vent about failures and frustrations.  They celebrate my successes
As I began to write, I found and joined Heartland Writers Group.  This group accepted me, taught me and two members became my mentors.  They taught me how to succeed as a writer.  Later I joined the Missouri Writers Guild and have friends who are a great resource:  they willingly share their knowledge as they encourage me and cheer me in successes.  I am currently members in both groups.  More information about grit can be found at http://www.uthealthleader.org/index/article.htm?id=3f86f187-b9d3-42f0-adce-d651499f5f9a

Grit and physical

The UTHealth article says that being physically active and healthy gives our bodies the ability to take action (put grit to work).   They say when our physical bodies can function, we feel more confident and able to persevere emotionally and physically.  Next time I talk about the psychological portion of grit.  If you want to read the UT Health article, you can find it at

http://www.uthealthleader.org/index/article.htm?id=3f86f187-b9d3-42f0-adce-d651499f5f9a

 Grit and psychological

When I began writing and sending out query letters to publishers, I (as all writers do) got rejection letters and/or no response.  I told myself those rejection letters were proof that I was working at becoming a writer and filed them away.  
People show grit when they work with a mindset that is positive towards life, their goals and themselves.  These people accept problems as a temporary setback and an opportunity to learn and improve.  Learn more about grit at http://www.uthealthleader.org/index/article.htm?id=3f86f187-b9d3-42f0-adce-d651499f5f9a

Grit and spiritual

Those of you who know me, know I believe in God and Jesus Christ.  The UTHealth writer says it like this:  “spirituality connects us with something that is bigger than ourselves.  It insists that we take the time to step back and panoramically access our lives from every possible angle—where we are, where we’ve been and where we want to go.”    For more information about grit and succeeding, check out this article University of Texas Health Center at http://www.uthealthleader.org/index/article.htm?id=3f86f187-b9d3-42f0-adce-d651499f5f9a