Articles
Browse every published article connected to Susan Dunn, with exact attribution and full-archive search.
Articles
Browse every published article connected to Susan Dunn, or search within this exact expert archive.
More than 48% of US households are headed by unmarried individuals. The American Association for Single People projects that by 2010, 47.2% of adults will be unmarried. Being single does not mean being alone, not does being in a couple for the holidays insure happiness. Let’s dispel some ...
If not “dead,” it’s certainly in extremis. That’s a medical term meaning “at the point of death,” but the gist of the phrase will work. Email is in trouble, perhaps extreme, but we do not know. Is it stressed, or has it moved into strain? What will be the future? Of course no one knows. ...
I'm using "Now, Discover Your Strengths" by Buckingham and Clifton, for career coaching for clients with marvelous results. It was published this year and based on a survey done by The Gallup Organization of over 2,000,000 people who were excellent at what they do. The usual premises in ...
It’s common at mid-life to have the feeling that you didn’t factor yourself into your own life. In fact I got that phrase from a client who, at 47 years, had noticed that she hadn’t. You think your goals and plans were all about you, but at mid-life we often have the feeling that we were ...
Christmas has a knob. Use It! What does this mean? It means you have choices. It's your holiday and you can have it just the way you like it. Turn it on, turn it off. Turn it up, turn it down. Adjust the dial. Get rid of the static. It means you're free to celebrate or not, in exactly the ...
What do you do when you don’t know the language or customs? That’s when your EQ, or Emotional Intelligence, comes in handy. On my recent tour to Russia, the people in large cities (Moscow, Saint Petersburg) knew English, but not in the small villages (Yaroslavl, Uglich). I thought I’d pick ...
Intuition is a great emotional intelligence competency to have. It expedites decisions and is a very sure way of knowing. It also helps us stay safe. From an extensive study of intuitive people, these are the traits they're most likely to have. 1. A woman over 40 with an advanced degree in ...
Keely is 30 and has been married for about 6 months. Last time we talked, she was expressing dissatisfaction with the man she’d married. They had disagreements over political issues that were influencing where they shopped, where he worked, and what TV shows they watched. She was wondering if ...
If you’re stuck with something you’d like help with and no one else comes to mind, you might try a coach, and here’s why: Coaching developed to fill a need that wasn’t being met. Actually it developed to meet a number of needs that weren’t being met, and it’s still evolving. If there’s ...
Worrying? Who doesn’t these days? There’s such a great choice of things to worry about – terrorism, the economy, the rising cost of health insurance – and then there’s our more personal list – the difficult teenager, an aging parent who’s not doing well, the threat of being downsized, the ...
There is a demographic trend you need to be prepared for if you have employees. According to demographic trends analyst, Cheryl Russell, by the year 2005, the most common household in the US will be single-person households. "Never before in American history has living alone been the ...
Coaching's been around for about 10 years but there are still lots of people who haven't tried it yet, and don't know what it's about. Two major confusions in people's minds are: nn· What's the difference between coaching and therapy, and;nn· What's the difference between coaching and a good ...
Bravi Azurri! The Italians deserved to win. They outplayed and outmaneuvered the opponents, including using what they call “furbo.” It means being wily, cunning, or tricky. It’s an integral life skill as well as football skill. It works and it’s part of emotional intelligence. As you ...
Coaching developed because it met a need. People who weren’t in need of psychiatric therapy needed more in terms of advice and guidance than friends or family could, would or should provide, and were seeking this from various professionals in their lives – doctors, financial advisors, ...
Self-expression is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. It helps you solidify your thoughts and feelings, gives you a chance to pass on the knowledge and wisdom only you have to give, and nourishes your creativity. Perhaps you’ve seen an article on the Internet and said, ...
The flareup was immediate. "I'm writing a book called 'How to Choose the Perfect Gift for the Woman You Love,' I told my friend Sam, and he replied immediately, "If any woman doesn’t like what I get her then…” and his voice trailed off in… what was it? Anger? No I think it was more ete al ...
I've been planning to move for some time, but first I had to repair the foundation on my house (a common problem in south Texas) and also get a new roof because of hail damage (another common problem in south Texas. I finished getting those major projects done, and turned to the tweaking of the ...
Introverts make up about 10-30% of the population, but they're highly represented on the Internet! However much of the world is designed for extraverts, who predominate. Being an Introvert can be like being left-handed and living in a right-handed world. Sometimes it can feel like the ...
Emotional Intelligence is all about self-awareness, understanding how emotions work within you and others. Our feelings are regulated by neurotransmitters such as serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. Here are some things to know about serotonin, called the "feel good" ...
Introduce interesting topics of conversation - good movies you've seen, places you've visited. If you're stuck, ask the other person something - Do you have children? Did you get away over the [holidays]? Have you read [the latest bestseller]? Where do you work? Any of these questions will get ...
Time Management Seminars don’t work, and here’s why: They are treating the symptom and not the cause. They’re based on two assumptions that no longer work. The first is that you don’t know how to manage your time. Let’s say you’re asked to attend a Time Management seminar at work. You’ll ...
My granddaughter is 5. Last time she smacked her little brother and I had words with her, she said, “I didn’t mean to hit him.” A preposterous statement since I’d seen her walk over, pick up a book and whack him with it. But then she’s only 5. It continued, as I comforted both the offended ...
This question appeared on a blog recently, and of course it caught my interest as it was framed in terms of Emotional Intelligence. I maintain the answer is quite simple: because no one ever taught them how. Now, let me say that I don’t know that middle managers don’t know how to lead. In ...
Elmer builds roofs and runs construction crews. One afte oon he went fishing with one of his employees. Same bait, same hole, same fishing pole, but he was catching nothing, and his buddy was raking them in. “How come you’re catching all the fish?” Elmer asked. “It’s ‘cause I have to, Mr. ...
We tend to think of feeling angry as being caused by rude drivers, people we don't like, or 100 degree temperatures, and feeling good as being caused by kind people, successful projects, or ice cream cones. When we're working on our emotional intelligence we work on our self-talk and ...
Difficult to diagnose, with no known cause (and/or multiple causes), and no known cure, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or ME) plagues over 1,000,000 people in the US. Here are some of the latest findings about this syndrome: 1. About 1.3 million people in the US have ...
March is National Women's History Month and this year's theme is "Women Pioneering the Future". According to the National Women’s History Project, this includes both “pioneering women from US history, who led and won struggles for equality and civil rights, created and advanced educational ...March is National Women's History Month and this year's theme is "Women Pioneering the Future".
What's the pulse out there? Many of us opted for a quiet New Year's Eve choosing Mozart and a glass of wine in front of the fireplace over getting drunk, hanging off the rafters, and negotiating a statistically dangerous drive back home in a sort of mad compensatory gesture. It’s really just ...
Knowing how you feel, having personal power, managing anger, being creative, focusing on your strengths and having Intentionality - these are all emotional intelligence competencies. 1. You can never go down, never go down, never go down the ndrain. 2. You can stop when you want to, stop ...
I grew up with the Edwards boys, Eddie, Freddie and Paulie, I’ll call them. Paulie was the youngest and his face and hands were terribly scarred. Eddie and Freddie had found some matches and gone out back and set a fire, bringing Paulie along to watch. Somehow Paulie was the one who ended up ...
DECLUTTER Consider anything that might be more costly to move than to rebuy. Have a garage sale, take things to Goodwill, call Habitat to come pick up big items. When you come across something you haven’t used in a couple of years, unless it’s sentimental, get rid of it. TRANSFER ...
I have been a fan of Edith Piaf’s for many years. Among her esoteric US following was the basketball team at my college, which used to warm up to her song, “Milord.” I was also a student of French, and learned to sing along with many of her songs. Even though I knew nothing of her life, and ...
We tend to think of feeling angry as being caused by rude drivers, people we don't like, or 100 degree temperatures, and feeling good as being caused by kind people, successful projects, or ice cream cones. When we're working on our emotional intelligence we work on our self-talk and ...
You're the new secretary and your boss asks you to become a Notary Public. He then walks back into his office and you can hear him on the phone talking about a contract he wants out of, and the fact that he's going to falsify a date and signature -- "No problem, my secretary will do it." It ...
Someone emailed me recently, "Do you think it's possible to have too much emotional intelligence going on? To the point that perhaps logic takes a backseat?" Good question. The fact is, we need both IQ and EQ. You can't have "too much" emotional intelligence, but that doesn't mean atthe ...
The first date is a high-stress time. Here are some ways to make it work better for you. 1. Keep it in perspective. If it's going well, no problem, but if it isn't, remember it's just a date and it'll end. Make the most of it. 2. Keep your expectations in line. Consider possibilities rather ...
How's your list of New Year's resolutions coming? Studies show that most people have already failed by the 15th of January. Has this happened to you? If so, you may have nleft out the prime ingredient for your success - a coach! Coaching is a new field. Until you've talked to someone who's ...
Emotional Intelligence is the study of “the wider range of qualities which enable people to excel – self-awareness, impulse control, persistence, empathy, etc.” (Daniel Goleman). Emotional Intelligence (EQ) refers to your ability to understand and manage your own feelings and those of others, ...
One of the surest paths to personal growth and well-being nis expressing yoursel. You can do this through jou aling, nbut there's a more fun way: write articles for the Internet. The web is hungry for information! Webpublishers looking for content for their websites and ezines and you could ...
If you're an introvert (about 10% of the population), the holidays can be a stressful time. Here are some things to keep in mind to make it more enjoyable for yourself. 1. Be sure and plan plenty of time for extra rest and time alone for recharging your batteries. 2. Don't accept every party ...
As we navigate the continuing maze of medical care, the wait between medical tests and results seems to be taking longer all the time. Routinely we go in for the test, the results of which will be important to us, and wait in the hospital or at home for hours, days, sometimes even a week or ...
“You gotta pay the price,” one of my clients is always telling me. She’s referring to what is a law of physics, and also the way things work – what goes up must come down. The higher your Christmas, the more exciting, chaotic and tumultuous, the more likely you’ll be tumbling down just as far. ...
The reptilian brain takes over sometimes; it's there to keep us alive, and it's instinctual messages are strong. The limbic brain can also "flood" us with emotions. Have you used the phrase, "talk til you're blue in the face"? These are some of the times when our neocortex (thinking brain) shuts ...
One of the hardest things for some people to do is to accept the blame for something they did, as in admit they made a mistake. This has to do with authenticity, with being honest with yourself, and with your self-esteem. Perfectionists have the hardest time owning up to a mistake; in fact ...
“What you need to do is to have some fun,” a therapist friend of mine told me last month. I wasn’t there as his client, but I could be, if that sort of conversation continues. You see, I’d just had what I call “fun”, in visiting with him. He’s funny, he listens to me, he has interesting ...
Much excitement and mystery surrounds the “formal nights” on cruises. It’s customary to have one formal night on a 5-day cruise, more in proportion on longer cruises. On my first cruise, I wondered what it would be like, how dressed-up people got, and what I would feel comfortable in. Let ...
"I've been terrified every day of my life but that's never stopped me from doing everything I wanted to do." ~ Georgia O'Keefe, American painter Go to: http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/okeeffe/p-okeeffe4.htm to see one of her paintings, called "Music - Pink and Blue II"
In today’s litigious society – and simply because you care – planning the holiday office party must include thoughts toward the safety of guests, especially if you’re serving liquor. Here are some tips to aid your planning: First of all, someone always gets assigned to PLAN the party, but you ...
Martin Seligman, Ph.D., noted Optimism researcher, who’s now studying Authentic Happiness, has proposed that one of the surest paths to happiness is to know your signature strengths and build your life around them, particularly if it’s in a way that has meaning to you. Management gurus, ...
Lifelong learning is one of the things that makes us resilient. The older you get, the more important it is to learn something entirely new. It literally regenerates the brain, and makes it more resilient to insult and injury. The most important thing to learn about learning is that old dogs can ...