Are you a member of a professional organization? Maybe it’s the American Bar Association, or the Farm Bureau Federation, or the National Association of Broadcasters – there are associations dedicated to nearly every profession that exists. Often, these associations create special recognition days or...

Tomorrow is May Day. It’s also Beltane, a holiday that you may not be familiar with unless you’re from County Limerick or County Wicklow in Ireland, where the Beltane tradition has been constant from the earliest writings in Irish literature. Beltane/May Day marks the midpoint between the spring and...

In Latin, the word for spring is “ver.” Add an “nal” to it and you get a word that translates to “of the spring.” Tonight at precisely 11:06 Eastern time, the northern hemisphere moves into spring with the official-sounding term “vernal equinox.” Day and night are each approximately 12 hours long on...

Unless your eyes are just now opening for the very first time today, you already know today is Giving Tuesday. Today’s newsletter is short and sweet – if you’ll be giving today, please share the link to the organization you’re supporting. If you give at other times of the year, share the link. If yo...

In the United States, Thursday is Thanksgiving Day. In the early 1600’s, when the first Thanksgiving celebration featuring Englishmen in the New World happened, “giving thanks” was how people expressed their gratitude for surviving a tough year, or for bringing in a bountiful harvest.

The tradition...

Are you afraid to stand up in front of an audience and give a presentation? Most people are, including some professional speakers. There you are, unguarded, vulnerable, and relying on your memory and your personality to move the audience to think in a new way, act in a new way, and hopefully not thr...

Full disclosure – today’s post is just for fun. OK, you’re right – fun is important for team cohesion, stress relief, and for mental wellbeing, so today’s newsletter might be useful, too.

And it’s mainly for fun, and yes, there’s a prize involved!

Do you love Halloween? I love Halloween – always h...

What do they do, these vet’s assistants?

They have the best job ever!

All day with kittens and puppies they play

Getting wags and kisses – so clever!

You’d almost pay to have their day

It just sounds so life-giving…

Vet technicians are almost magicians

Turning snuggles into a living!

What yo...

Today is the day for an observance you probably don’t know about. By the end of this newsletter, I hope you’ll be planning ways to make this day a better one for you and those you love before October 10^th 2024. Today’s observance is all about something I work with veterinary teams to improve – menta...

Do you have a dog? Two? More? Are you dogless and get your dog love from friends’ dogs? Or maybe you’re someone who just doesn’t see the appeal of dogs?

If you love dogs, you’ll probably love this article. If not, read on anyway because there’s probably something here for you despite your distaste ...

Today, can you focus on spreading joy? Can you find ways to delight people you don’t know, probably won’t ever be friends with, and show them you see and appreciate them? 

Why, you ask? Hang on – I’ll spill the beans. First, full disclosure – one of my current dogs is a therapy dog, the third one I...

Let’s talk about happiness today, and how difficult it is for scientists to even define it, much less quantify it for us. A focus on happiness has been in the news so much that now its shadow twin, toxic positivity, is making headlines. In this post, happiness is being discussed as one of the large ...

About 120 years ago a phrase came into being: “get out of the doghouse.” If a couple had a fight and one locked the other out of the house, unless there was a barn on the property, the only shelter was likely to be the family dog’s house. Hence, a bid for forgiveness was characterized as a bid to ge...

Do you have to deal with someone who’s difficult? Maybe angry, defensive, egotistical, greedy – whatever they are, they just suck the life out of you?

Instead of dreading your interactions with them, try this – feel compassion for them.

Can you imagine going through life knowing that people don’t ...

Self-confidence is something a lot of people struggle with – you, too, sometimes?

We are usually much harder on ourselves than on the people in our lives. That’s a habit developed in childhood and it doesn’t serve us well at all – listening to all that negative self-talk in your head guts your self...

Do you sometimes feel like, no matter what you do, that you’re not making a very big difference in the world? Trust me, you’re wrong about that – here’s what’s really going on.

Our strengths and talents feel very natural and organic to us, so we take them for granted. It’s easy for me to distill br...

Do you ever look at other veterinarians and think they’re so much more together than you are?

I love my veterinarian a lot and hope she doesn’t do that, and hope you don’t either.

You never know what’s going on inside another person’s head, heart and life, though humans like to think you know. You...

Did you know that a goal is just an excuse to grow and learn?

Mom’s goal for me is to compete in rally obedience by the end of this year. I like that goal because there’s cheese involved and I get to play games with her.

What’s really happening when you’re reaching for a goal is that you’re stretc...

Got a client coming in today that you dread seeing?

Maybe they’re difficult, or maybe they’re a close-talker, or maybe they just don’t know when it’s time to stop playing, like my Poodle brother. Give that boy some Ace, already!

Anyway, when you know you have to spend time with someone you don’t l...

How do you respond when someone criticizes you or wants to argue?

Sometimes that squirrel sits up on the fence and chews me out – man, that frosts my fur!!

It’s really easy to get defensive or to argue – instead, memorize these words and use them as needed – “thank you for your input – I’ll consid...

Are you feeling tense and stressed with too many thoughts flying around in your head? Do you have five minutes, a private space and a towel or yoga mat?

A super-fast way to calm the chaos in your mind while relieving the stress in your back is to take a yoga break and rest in child’s pose.

Spread ...

Have you ever heard of box breathing? It’s a controlled way of breathing with specific patterns, and there are a bunch of different patterns.

A study published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology suggests that two minutes of 5-2-7 breathing a day will help you make better decisions.

B...

Do you try to live up to other peoples’ ideas of who you should be?

Sometimes Mom accidentally calls me Bonnie – that was the last red-head-Siberian she had. Oops!

If there’s someone in your life who expects you to behave, believe and achieve they way they want you to that’s probably causing you a...

How do you feel when something goes wrong?

I ran into the coffee table and knocked two books and a big candle off. Oops…my bad, Mom!

When you do something like that, do you kick yourself for failing or give yourself the grace of knowing that you did the best you could do with the information you h...

Have you ever heard that saying, “go big or go home?” Humans say it about sporting events a lot, and it’s good advice in your life, too.

Many girl humans are raised to be delicate and feminine and ladylike – bah!

Be those when and if you want to be, and be other things too. Have a big, audacious g...

Nope...not a post about exotic animal practice! :D

Do you ever feel like a chameleon – you know, like you have to change yourself to fit in with those around you?

When I go to the dog show, most of the other Siberians are grey and white and some of them raise an eyebrow at my red coat. Who cares –...

Are you feeling frumpy today?

My Poodle brother likes to chew on my ears and sheesh – the hair behind them just won’t lay down right when he does that!

Maybe you’re having a bad hair day, too? Or maybe you feel like you’ve added a few pounds or like the scrub color you’re wearing washes you out.

What do you deserve?

Really think about the things you want in life and then ask yourself, “do I deserve this?”

Now and then Mom brings home a new toy – wow! I might have a moment of “what did I do to deserve this?” and then I start playing with that toy like there’s no tomorrow.

You might feel l...

Do you trust yourself?

Seriously, do you know deep in your solar plexus that in an emergency you can handle whatever needs handling?

Think about it – in your life so far, you’ve handled everything that life’s thrown at you. Sure, some of those things weren’t fun while they were happening – look ba...

Are you looking to others for validation, love and respect? When you get it, it feels great, doesn’t it?

How about when you say something and expect a positive response, but are met with a flat or negative reply? Not so good, right? And then how do you feel? Less than? Hurt? Angry? Defensive? Maybe...

Choices, choices, choices – do you have a tough time making choices?

Will I play with the stuffed squeaky ball all by myself or will I play tug of war with my Poodle brother and the flat fox? Hard choice sometimes!!

Do you put off making a choice hoping the “right” choice becomes obvious? Not maki...

You have a tough job some days. Rude clients, no-show staffers and patients who are afraid of you and who sometimes, no matter what you do, have the nerve to go and die on you.

And then sometimes you have to help them die, and that’s hard even when you know what a gift you’re bestowing on their poo...

Do you eat enough food each day? I don’t think there’s any such thing as “enough food” but Mom disagrees!

Your brain needs over 300 calories a day just to run your body – more if you want it to do things like make decisions, sing and dance or spay that cat that was dropped off this morning.

If you...

Do you sometimes say something you wish you hadn’t said? Words are like arrows – once they’re out, they’re gone and you can’t take them back.

I growled at my Poodle brother the other day and he was sooooooo sad! I thought he’d sulk all day.

Whether you do it as soon as the words are out or do it l...

How do you feel when you get up in the morning?

I’m rarin’ to go – Mom is slow as a slug until the coffee kicks in.

If you’re that way too, guess what? You get to choose which way your day will go.

As you’re waiting for the coffee to get ready, spend a few minutes in meditation or journaling or b...

Are you running on empty? Not enough sleep, that is – that’s not a problem I have. Mom says I’m her professional napper!

Decades of research can’t be wrong – people who are sleep deprived make poor decisions, and you don’t want to do that, right?

Create a going-to-bed ritual. Mom stops touching he...

Start your day with a body/mind/soul morning ritual.

You already have a morning ritual, so this will just be tweaking it a little bit to ensure a great start to the day.

Think about the pattern you already have established – maybe it’s get up, let the dog out, start the coffee pot, let the dog in,...

Are you constantly telling yourself you can’t do something or you’re not something you think you need to be, like smarter or sweeter or something-er?

Sometimes I tell myself I’m not good enough to be a Champion and that doesn’t feel good.

Maybe try what works for me – when I think I’m not good eno...

Do you “what if” yourself?

The weird thing about “what if” is that it doesn’t do anything except make you confused and regretful.

When you “what if” over something you’ve already decided and acted upon, you’re re-living the past inside your head. You have no power in the past – there’s nothing you...

Do you have a game on your phone that you like to play? Mom has Wordscapes on her phone and she won’t let me help her play…dang it!

There’s a connection to playing games where you have to move your finger and make quick decisions as you play and making better decisions in real life.

Give yourself ...

Did someone pop your balloon today?

My Poodle brother stole my favorite stuffed birdie and wouldn’t give it back – and he’s bigger than me! That made me mad and sad and sulky.

You, too? Did your day start off well and then someone did something so bad that you just can’t find your fun self?

Try t...

Do you beat yourself up when you make a mistake? I hate it when I mess up heeling and Mom won’t give me the cheese until I get it right – geez!

Anyway, when you make a mistake, are you harder on yourself than you would be on your best friend? What’s up with that?

Give yourself the same grace you’d...

When someone snaps at you, how do you react? If you snap back, seethe or sulk, that’s a sign you’re taking that snap personally. It probably wasn’t personal – it probably was that person having a bad moment or a bad day and taking it out on you.

Try not to take it personally – instead of reacting r...

Is there someone on your team you wish was different?

I wish Mom would just leave my food bowl down all day long but no matter how many hints I drop it only comes down twice. Guess I can’t change her and guess what? You probably can’t change the person you wish was different, either.

Think about h...

Is there someone in your life you admire? Someone you feel moves through their life with competence, confidence and compassion? 

How do you feel about that person you admire? Warm fuzzies? A little bit in awe of them? And maybe, sometimes, just a little bit jealous of the ease that they move throug...

Do you value groupthink on your hospital team or are you open to dissenters?

While it’s tempting to wish for a team that’s always on the same page, humans don’t do their best work that way. First, you know how tough it is to get two people to agree on everything – how can you expect your entire tea...

You’re a veterinarian because you care about animals, right?

First of all, thank you – I love my veterinarian!!

And second of all, you know what that says about you? You are loving, kind, you care about the feelings of others and you’re a fountain of benevolent humanity.

Did you know that about y...

Do you worry a lot?

Sometimes I worry about the squirrels that jump on the porch roof – I worry that they’ll get away again!!

Seriously, if you worry a lot, what you’re really doing is using your incredible imagination to create something you don’t want.

And remember when I told you that your bra...

What are you expecting? And if you answered “a baby” congratulations, and that’s not really what I meant.

When you walk through the hospital doors in the morning, what are you expecting?

If you feel excited because you know it’ll be a day of interesting challenges faced with a great team, then you...

Do you drink out of your water bowl enough? OK, so it’s me drinking out of a water bowl – water is good for me, good for your patients and good for you, too.

Most humans don’t drink enough water, and can feel cranky, headachy or just mentally exhausted. You could keep a water bowl on your desk – ma...