Family Partnership, Empower for Life

By Amy Price  PhD

Partnership…The Work of Champions


In work with children a team means everything. Your child’s self esteem and ways of relating are constructed by what they learn from team interaction. Even in graduate school students learn that the key to power for scientists is flexibility and cooperation. Many experiments show success after many well planned failures. Sometimes it takes only a new way of seeing to trigger a break through. We can mourn the past or prepare for the future, we can not do both. Often weakness in one team member will trigger unknown strength in another so it pays to obey the three fs of creativity,. Fun, flexibility and favor.

Blessed are the Flexible, for They Shall Not be Broken

One day I was trying to find a stick to roast marshmallows on. The old ones were easy to separate from the branch but were dry and brittle. The young ones did not seem that strong but they could not be broken. They were attached to the tree and gained strength and life from it. This is like your family and you. When we are attached and meet needs for each other we are strong but when we allow the stress of life to separate us from kindness and humor our loved ones draw away in pain and begin to dry from the inside out. This applies to older people too. I will use the analogy of a Christmas tree. When I was small and Christmas was over I wanted to replant the Christmas tree. My mother laughed and said it has no roots and it is already dead. I was sure she was wrong and planted it anyway! It was cold so it looked like my mother was wrong and I rejoiced, I did notice it was not growing though….when a warm spell came death became apparent.

Our roots are our families and those we work with, we can choose to be roots that help them grow or just leave them planted and alone and see how they do…. It is good to remember that live trees are a source of shade and beauty, dead trees are ugly and take a lot of work. You can choose Life or death..you can make things happen or let things happen

My Name is Rose

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.

I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.

She said, "Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?"

I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze.

"Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I asked.

She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids..."

"No seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

"I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!" she told me.

After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake.

We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor.

Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, "I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know."

As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, " We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.

There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.

We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!

There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up.

If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight.

Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets.

The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets."

She concluded her speech by courageously singing "The Rose."

She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.

One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.

Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

When you finish reading this, please send this peaceful word of advice to your friends and family, they'll really enjoy it!

These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE.

REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL. We make a Living by what we get. We make a Life by what we give.

God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage. If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it

I had this sent to me in an email ...Author Unknown, If anyone knows the author I would be happy to credit this

Words Matter: Build With Care

Image from Verve Communications
By Amy Price PhD

The definition for word in the Greek language comes from the same root as lego or to build. Words are blocks that build for you or against you. Your conversation is your vision speaking. To see where you are on the journey of life stop to listen to the words you are saying. Are they building or destroying the dream in your heart.

Sometimes we speak negatively when people have hurt us as when we are hurling insults it distracts us from the pain we feel. It is better to stop and hurt, feel the impact and your mind will work to bring you a solution to solve the crisis. Pretending you don’t care just prolongs the agony and does not fix the problem.

People will multiply or divide you. Their motivations can be determined by the words they speak not only to you but also to others.

It takes seven positive communications to undo the effect of one negative communication. Your words are weapons for growth or destruction. Choose Growth!

Celebrating Individual Differences, Do No Harm

By Amy Price PhD

Click Here to View Video


In many respects we are strengthened by celebrating the differences in those we meet in life rather than expend useless energy trying to make them more like us.Conflicts in homes and at the workplace come because others work to exhaustion,trying to be what we want instead of who they are. This video describes the fallout and invites us to consider solutions.

It is important not to stress shortcomings to the hurt of recognizing strengths even in ourselves.

People are far more than the face they show to a group. To draw out their full
potential they need validation and celebration. Communication comes from
listening using all our senses with an attitude that is willing to hear, help
and accept change. There is a proverb that says "When the vision is delayed the
heart becomes sick" Working in arenas circumstance or others dictate but we have
not chosen to the loss of following our destiny can bring bitterness and hurt.


Ask yourself in working with others:


Am I giving orders or supplying direction?
Do I know what my family and employees care about?
In conflict do I know the whole story or just my/my freinds side?
When is the last time I was really thankful and said so to those I love or work with?
Do we laugh together?
If I was in the other persons shoes would I feel good about coming to me?

Now what can you change? When you supply value to others it will be multiplied
to you. Why not take time to do something that is important to you and your
dream and while you are there give some of your time as a gift to help some one
else take a step to their destiny.

Freedom From Inside Out

By Amy Price PhD

For freedom to have real meaning it needs to be defined from the inside out. A lot of what we do is to please others and to carve a place for ourselves to be loved and accepted or at least respected. Regrettably it seems that those we need to prove ourselves to are the ones least likely to extend the sceptre of acceptance. I am always surprised that when people comment on why they value me it has little to do with performance or making accurate choices but it has more to do with providing sanctuary and solutions. I am content with this we can always buy machines to do tasks!

I most admire my late cat, she came into our lives as a stray and refused to leave or believe she was not wanted. Because of this, we fed her, loved her and appreciated her, she gave back by being herself. I have a PhD, (I am working on another one in cognitive neuroscience and executive function) but I only wish I was as smart as the cat!

I like this quote ”Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken! Always be yourself because the people that matter don’t mind, and the ones who mind, don’t matter”

As an employer I must confess that I fired no one and we had hundreds of people working for us during our lives. I always found something else they could do and they often helped me find some one to do the job they could not. There seems to be two philosophies one being a mistake has to be someone's fault and heads must roll or my preference,let us work together without blame and find a solution...the first imposes fear and anger the second infuses hope. I want to be in the land of hope and create that for those I work with.

“Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless” Thomas Edison.

Who Says You Can't?

This entry is contributed by Rev. John Horton who is also a world class photographer.

There's an old Air Force saying, "The difficult we do first, the impossible takes us a little longer."

This young lady never listened to those who said, "Oh, you can't do that." Thank goodness she and her mother had the faith.

An amazing story from Korea . Hee Ah Lee was born with several physical deformities. She only had two fingers on each hand. And her legs ended at her knees. Her doctors didn't expect her to live. But she did live. At the age of six she started to play piano. At the time, her four fingers were very weak. She couldn't even hold a pencil. Her mother hoped playing piano would strengthen her grip.It worked. But more than that, Lee found a calling. She now tours the world, playing for stunned audiences. She plays pieces that would be difficult for able-bodied pianists. You'll love hearing her play. Click on her picture above to hear

Communication and Cognition (tips and tricks)

Information is available at faster rates than ever before. Ray Kurzweil references something he calls the law of accelerating returns. This means that information is increasing to the power of rather than by simple addition or multiplication. Even with all the new information available people take in about the same information every day as they did at the turn of the century.


What kind of person do you listen to and why? To communicate effectively become that kind of person. A good book for improving relationships and making your voice heard is Non Violent Communication by Dr Marshall Rosenberg. Dr Rosenberg is an international specialist in conflict resolution. I try to apply his principles in my work with people, often when I don’t, I wish I had….There is a lot of free information on his web site Center For Non-violent Communication, he also has DVDs available.


Got trouble keeping up? Are you overloaded with information? Visit http://sparksofgenius.com for tips and tricks to restore memory and improve mental function. Cognition can be improved by brain gyms, bio/neuro-feedback, exercise, diet, memory strategies, meditation and getting enough sleep

How can we nurture seeds of success?

Help someone else get where they want to go

Do something today to bring your dream to pass

Remember "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear"…get ready


Champions start on time…if you are late figure out why and fix it. In my case I have been known to drag my feet when I do not want to show up…sometimes it is important to just say no

Change Your Mind…Change Your Life

Recent experiments have shown that we become what we put our minds on. This is an ancient concept. In the book of Proverbs it states "As a man thinks in his heart so is he." Ancient philosophers saw the heart as the mind’s teacher. Recent science shows when people of any age exercise certain skills the brain connections grow to accommodate them. This is known as neural plasticity and can be explained by the adage neurons that fire together wire together. The neurons are like tree branches and they grow little buds called dendrites. The dendrites search for firing places and as they fire they strengthen brain connections.

Mental stimulation creates food for the dendrites so they can mate and produce strong paths. Example: Brains of London taxi drivers imaged by FMRI show growth in spatial areas which are related to finding the way to new areas. In another study participants were taught to play the violin and then asked to practice using only their thoughts. At the conclusion of the study their brains were imaged and it was found that in the area of the brain used to play music growth occurred.

Sports and business psychologists tell us that practicing in the mind produces similar results to doing. Thinking matters!
Zig Ziglar coined the phrase "Life is like the movies…You produce your own show."

Empower Your Destiny!

The Seeds of greatness are on the inside of you. You have the power to make them grow. Move beyond the limitations others have set for you. Refuse failure it is only an event and a place in time…it is not your life. To be a success you only have to get up one more time than you have fallen down. Life takes a lot of practice, getting it right is an adventure. Getting it wrong reveals one path you can avoid the next time that situation shows up. Use this as an opportunity for growth.

Refuse to beat up on yourself with I could have, I should have scenarios and skip the "if only" ruminations. When relationships cannot be restored after a misstep, let them go without burning bridges Hindsight is often 20/20 and can be used as a strategy for the next round in life. Life is like driving a car…if you look backwards while in motion your direction loses focus and allows distortion. These distortions promote conflict and confusion. Just move on. Remember to forgive others and celebrate yourself.

Make a Plan To Get A Grip…

helps to set goals as it gives your vision focus and direction. Writing something down or typing it helps to clarify the focus as this uses more areas of the brain than when you think about it without writing. Also once something is written it is easier to structure and adjust. Some people have trouble getting started. Here are some concepts that may help.
Think of all the things you would like to do in life if you had no limitations, write them down, which of these could happen in the next five years? What can you do today to bring one of them to pass. Now "Just Do It!"
Get three friends to tell you what they see as your positive qualities and what they see you accomplishing if conditions are right. This idea came from the book Brainlash by Dr. Gail Denton. Trying this out catapulted me into the area of Brain Science because three friends thought that was where I belonged when I did not know where I was going.

We learn by going from the known to the unknown. This reduces a variable we know as cognitive load. When things are taken from our minds and written down it gives them a place to rest and provides a foundation from which you can build. These are reasons setting goals and mapping out your future is important. Your vision written down can serve as a road map for your life. Write (type) your vision down