Don't Miss My Next Blogtalk Radio Episode: 6 Cures For A Really Bad Mood 7/31/13 8:30 PM EDT

We all suffer a bad mood from time to time. It's never fun, but can be a more lasting, contagious experience, or a briefer, more benign annoyance, depending on how you manage it.
Tune into my next BlogTalk Radio show Wednesday, July 31st at 8:30 PM EDT for a half hour discussion about tools to contain and transform a bad mood.

Call toll-free 877-497-9046 to just listen in, or to join me on the air with questions, comments or ideas of your own. Hope you can be there!

Susan Lager

Summer Brain

Every summer I encounter a similar thing: friends, family, colleagues and clients running around, off their usual structured schedules, forgetting appointments, late for dates, and all out of whack.
I call it Summer Brain because maybe the heat and humidity, (and now the torrential rain), seeps into everyone's head and acts like a blender, mixing everything up. People who are usually so precise and committed to dates, times, goals and schedules now all seem to have A.D.D. !

As a therapist, I've learned not to take it too personally, knowing it's seasonal, and in the Northeast it's probably related to the frenetic pace around capitalizing on the measly duration of warm weather.
I make use of the found time when clients forget their appointments by filing, returning calls, organizing my desk, and wondering why I haven't caught the Summer Brain bug? Unfortunately, when I charge clients for these missed appointments they often get annoyed, probably wondering what's wrong with my brain.

But hey, it's summer! We could all instead be shoveling two feet of snow off our roofs, then shivering in our freezing cars, negotiating black ice, and praying for summer!

Life is a trip.....

Unplugged - The Joys and The Freedom!

If you're a regular reader here, maybe you've noticed my absence for the last several weeks. It's been the dog days of summer here in New England, raining nonstop, then boiling hot, then more rain. In spite of the weird weather, we in the Northeast treasure our summers ferociously, trying to capitalize on the three months of the year when snow and blizzards are unlikely. So, I too have been haunting the beaches, the lakes and the mountains, rain or shine. But, most notably, I've been almost completely unplugged from my devices (except for my professional voicemail), and LOVING IT!!!
For weeks now, no blogging, no radio shows, no YouTube videos, hardly a tweet, no clever Facebook entries, no LinkedIn updates, no book drafts, no cellphone calls, nothing!!

Instead of daily "tech dialysis" I've gone tooling around without the world being able to contact me, and the only one who even seems to notice is my husband who thinks it's inconsiderate. (We're working on a compromise).
I've gone to lunches and dinners with people I enjoy having conversations with, instead of whining to tech support.
I've gotten off my laptop and rekindled connections with colleagues and old friends. (They're still alive!)
I've actually been reading books and magazines just for fun! Freedom from emails and Google!
I've been preparing for my boating license test, learning all about "starboard stand-on" versus "port give-way," halyards, double clove knots, and such vital things I'll need to know on the waterways when I'm supposedly "manning the vessel."
I've gone on hikes, bike rides, and car rides in the countryside instead of doing professional gigs.
I've nurtured my garden, watered the lawn, planted new beds, and fought Japanese beetles instead of
battling scam sites and internet viruses.
I've visited other cities, just for fun trips to see the sites. (Cheated a bit with some book promo).
I've watched movies, plays and silly TV shows without any "productive justification."
And miraculously, without all the internet busyness, I've gone to sleep most nights at a normal hour, not on my usual vampire schedule!
I'm telling you, getting unplugged can be a total joy! How novel - life without devices! Try it!

Big Summer Cheers,
Susan Lager