Barbara Brooks created Flamingo Strategies LLC to help clients stand up and stand out, through telling and sharing their stories of impact and purpose.
Hacking Away at Happiness is her blog.
All by Barbara Brooks
Severance is not only a dark farce about corporate domination and workers who bond in their eagerness to belong. It’s also a commentary on love.
I’m kind of a junkie for long-form podcasts designed to make us better people. But I never thought of them as a drug.
As I spend less time alone, I’m noticing the practical compromises one has to make in order to truly share physical life with another human.
Two years ago, I bumbled my way into a relationship that actually works. I haven’t wanted to jinx it by putting too many certain-sounding words on the page. But now it’s time to try.
If we’re aware of what scares us, and we have a plan, then maybe can find calm in the eye of the crazy storm we don’t see coming.
In order to make room in our lives for what’s next, we need to understand what’s holding us back. We need to understand our WHY NOT.
Stuck is relative. I, too, have cycles of repetition and paralysis. But over the years, mine have gotten shorter. And I’ve learned a thing or two.
Lately my brain and my body are on fire. And so, too, is my heart. So I’m suddenly seeing and feeling details I’ve long been missing. You can do this too!
It will take monumental creativity to craft a new story about ourselves and the world around us—especially now. And we all—every one of us—have an obligation to participate in making it.
I read somewhere that the only reason to look back is to see how far we’ve come. But I think there are other reasons too. Especially when we’re feeling lost. Or itchy to discover what’s next.
The challenge of Christmas isn’t believing in Jesus. It’s believing that peace is possible. Peace is within our reach, if only we do the work.
So here we are at Thanksgiving. Appreciating our plenty. Acknowledging the people we love. But it’s also okay to feel a bit afraid.
Whether planning a vacation or deciding where to have dinner, we should take that old rule from journalism and turn it on its head. We should alwasys start with why.
I packed in a hurry because I’m a girl who beats deadlines. And I’m an editor, so I knew I’d have other chances to crystallize my thinking.
For us mere mortals, to stick the landing means to complete a process in an impressive and conclusive manner. So, how can we land squarely the next time we’re lost in space?
We’re all living on borrowed time. Squatting on borrowed land. Eeking out a borrowed existence. So what does safety even mean? And how does it change as we age?
Thanks to the coffee mishap, ideas are percolating. So here’s what I’m thinking about change.
So here I am again. Thinking things through and putting words on the page. Maybe love is not a project. And I’ve been going about this all wrong.
My whole life I’ve been on a quest for 20/20 vision. Perfect vision, I thought, meant perfect clarity. But of course that isn’t true.
When I got Greta, I imagined she’d be the best dog of my life. But that’s a lot of pressure to put on a dog. And even more to put on myself.
