Wagaliciousness Begins Here!

Are you stuffed full of holidays like I am? In the span of six days, we’ve celebrated Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and now Giving Tuesday. It’s been an expensive, exhausting six days for a lot of people!

As the calendar rolls around to the end of another year, this time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve is filled with to-do’s – those you need to do, plus those that others need or want you to do. Especially when it comes to family gatherings, we put a lot of heavy expectations on ourselves. And the music doesn’t help, with holiday songs proclaiming that it’s the most wonderful time of the year, describing idyllic snow scenes, fireplaces, and true love, and of course we can’t forget the poignant longing in songs talking about missing loved ones at the holidays.

I’m not here to remind you of the extra stress you carry this time of year. Nope, as with every issue, this newsletter contains helpful information...

Day after tomorrow is Thanksgiving, traditionally the eating-est holiday in America. Attendance at family gatherings is expected, and woe be unto the newly married couple with parents, step-parents, grandparents and step-grandparents who all expect them to show up hungry to multiple, separate, family feasts. 

Thanksgiving is an emotional stick of dynamite. Wait – maybe “roller coaster” is the better analogy, because at least there are high spots to go with the predictable blow-ups. What could go wrong when people who are related to each other and who maybe don’t see each other all that often gather to share a meal?  

The host and family have been cleaning and cooking for days and are exhausted 

The guests arrive, most bringing what they were asked to bring and a few bringing what they wanted to bring, whether or not it was needed or wanted 

This cousin gets on the nerves of that cousin and loud spats ensue 

This uncle and...

Maybe the Grinch had something to do with it. Or maybe it was the late Joan Rivers, a comedienne famous for her “Can we talk” question as she launched into pointed, comical griping about someone who was annoying her.

November 19^th – today – is Have a Bad Day Day. And the Voice of Wagaliciousness, the person who helps you keep your emotional balance while the world around you wobbles out of control, wants you to celebrate this with gusto.

I do want you to be prepared, in case someone tells you to have a bad day today. Please don’t punch them!

There’s a very positive reason for this negative-sounding holiday: we can’t all “have a nice day” every day. As a matter of fact, much as we’d like to, most of us don’t even string together an entire 24 hours without at least a little bit of badness in it. It’s a lovely goal to “have a nice day” every day, and the tools and coping skills that help you “have...

Are you a veteran? Thank you! Are you the parent or sibling or child or spouse/partner of a veteran? Thank you! And yes, Veterans Day was yesterday – there are not enough ways to thank those who choose to serve in ways that most of us wouldn’t. Veterans are vital to the survival of our country – thank you to everyone who serves and has served.

And then there’s this weird, confusing piece:

Veterans Day is often treated as a very somber occasion, and I’ve never really figured that one out. On Memorial Day, a day set aside to remember Americans who died in battle, we have cookouts and fireworks. On Veterans Day, a day set aside to thank those who fought on behalf of our nation and returned home, there is a solemn wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington Cemetery’s Tomb of the Unknowns, a monument to military men and women who died in battle and whose remains were not recovered.

I’m pretty sure we have the observances flipped,...

(disclaimer – this post is about process, not any party or political candidate)

It’s OK if you feel proud today. It’s OK if you feel disgusted today. It’s OK if you feel anxious today. It’s Election Day in the United States, and we’re anything but united.

I worked in radio for nearly 4 decades. I loved being a radio personality, loved working with news professionals who upheld standards of excellence that included using impartial languaging, no matter what their personal politics were, and especially loved the volume knob for the studio speakers during the political seasons. Turning the speakers down – way down! – during the political ads was how I stayed sane until each election season was over.

There have always been negative political ads. Why? Because it’s the wild west where lying is concerned, media outlets make a LOT of money on political advertising, and because negative political ads work.

Some negative...

What are you passionate about? What do you do to share your passion? When you’re sharing your passion, do you feel like you’re in your sphere of genius? 

Today I’m at the Saint Bernard Club of America’s National Specialty, a huge annual show held this year in Loveland CO. Do I have a Saint Bernard? No. Do I want a Saint Bernard? No – I admire the breed and it is way more dog than I want to try to manage, though they are sweet as they can possibly be. I’m there because they’ve invited me to come and share what I know about being more successful in the show ring, and about canine structure and movement.   

Kinda random, right? And today, as you read this, I’m standing firmly and happily in my sphere of genius. I want you to know how to do it, too. So back to those first three questions, because they’re the springboard to you stepping into your own sphere of genius: 

1.      Discover...

Do you have a friend who’s persnickety about the “ethnic correctness” of food? One of mine refuses to go to a very popular Italian restaurant owned by a Middle Eastern man, not because of the man’s ethnicity but because his dishes are fragranced with more than just garlic and basil. She believes that if it’s being called “Italian” then the food needs to be authentically Italian.

Maybe she has a point. Yet she’s missing out on some of the most delicious Italian dishes I’ve ever had, and I lived in Italy for three years of my life.

Maybe you have a friend who hates TexMex food because it’s not authentically Mexican. OK, maybe they have a point, too, like my friend might. Yet if they want to be true to their demand for “ethnic correctness” they need to keep their paws out of the nacho plate, keep their hands off the fajitas, and are not allowed to even think of scooping up any of the cowboy beans. Those are all...

Six seasons. One hundred eighty episodes. Syndicated in dozens of languages in countries worldwide. Almost 75 years since it debuted, the I Love Lucy show still attracts over 40,000,000 viewers each year.

How’s that for a silly half-hour sitcom?

Turns out, the sitcom created as a showcase for Lucille Ball and her then-husband, Desi Arnaz, was more than simply a showcase. It’s a deceptively simple, incredibly complex series of life lessons about humor, acceptance, perseverance, and trust. With comical storylines crafted around core values, along with four main characters who are instantly relatable and likable, the I Love Lucy show changed the landscape of television and of how people viewed relationships, friendships, and careers.

• Do you ever feel like no one understands you? That was a key piece of Ricky Ricardo’s life experience on the show.
• Do you ever feel like your dreams will never come true? That was a key piece of Lucy Ricardo’s life experience on...

When you were 7 or 8, what did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a nurse. Nurses were glamorous – they wore white uniforms with matching white shoes and hats, and I was convinced that’s what I’d be. It wasn’t long before I was on to the next thing I wanted to be – a veterinarian, then a pilot, then a performer – and the idea of being a nurse was as over and done with as an outgrown pair of shoes.

Thankfully for us all, real nurses weren’t as mercurial as I was in their pursuit of a career. Thankfully for us all, once they decided on nursing as a profession, they schooled and trained and worked their way into a career that’s probably more like a calling for them than a job. The work is hard, the hours are long, the patients are often surly, and yet they maintain their professional demeanor and take care of their patients, whether those patients are human or companion animal. 

This week is a trifecta of nursing...

Do you have a dog? Maybe more than “a” dog? No judgement – my life has been dog-filled for as long as I can remember. The family dog was a mixed breed cutie, my dream dog was a Siberian Husky, and I got my first one when I was 20. I haven’t been without a Siberian since, and most of the time I’ve had more than one. My current Siberian is Kacey, and her canine housemate is Archie the Standard Poodle. I can’t imagine life without a dog – if that sounds like you, too, then we’re already friends, whether we’ve met or not.

Dogs are a wonderful example of being in the moment. They are keen observers of “right now” though their main way of examining the world is with their nose, not their eyes. They’re also keen observers of us – think about the things you do often in your day. Chances are your dog knows what’s about to happen based on your routine. For instance, when I’m putting on...