Want to level up? Change gears!

LIFE LESSON

Failure is an opportunity for growth. Owning your choices and actions allows you to change them. It’s a foundational ballast of resilience and happiness. Both occur at this intersection. You can’t bounce back without a firm floor. If you’re not honest about how you failed or you’re not honest about how you arrived at that loss, you’re not going to be able to create a firm foundation upon which to build.

Imagine taking your fingers and meshing them together like gears — that’s what I visualize when I make life changes. That intersecting and meshing of gears is something that helps move you forward. Those meshing of gears also produces friction and propulsion. As you keep moving forward, some of those gears in the wheel go on without you and you move on to another gear.

You move on to another wheel.

Part of that transition process requires radical self-honesty. Ask yourself these questions:

? What do I really want?

? What do I need?

? What’s going to be left behind?

? What am I picking up as I move forward?

As you make your way through your life, don’t worry about the people who leave you; they’re not your people. Be willing to let things go so that the things that are ready for you and that you’re ready for are able to fit into your life. This process begins by being able to state what it is that you really want.

Be willing to let go of what no longer serves you to make room for what does.

LIFE HACK

Saturday, April 13 is National Scrabble Day. This board game holds a special place in my heart. My grandmother loved language and words, so she taught me at an early age the science of Scrabble? (including the fact that it’s not a word game). It’s a game of math.

When I was in the hospital convalescing from my open heart surgery, she would ask me to learn a word a day from the dictionary, and use it in a sentence when she would visit. I’ve written previously of our “First Letter Word Game,” which was a contest that she and I would play to see who could think of the most words beginning with a chosen letter. As a child, I was also extraordinarily stubborn; my grandma called me “bull-headed.” One day, after being exhausted by my obstinance, my punishment was to look up and write out the definition for “incorrigible,” and then taping it to the refrigerator, where it stayed for a week.

Anyhoo. Back to the benefits of Scrabble?.

A slew of scientific studies confirms that Scrabble? is indeed a great brain game. Researchers found that skilled Scrabble? players use more parts of their brains.

Meaning that every game requires each player to perform deep-thought computations such as word recognition, memory, and visual perception than normal people. Scrabble? has also been shown to slow the effects of aging and protect against degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s Disease. Playing word games like Scrabble? can even compensate for lack of formal education regarding memory and protection against dementia. (SOURCE: Science Direct)

TREAT

Let’s celebrate National Library Week (April 7-13)!! Word nerds like me love this week. Libraries are more than just books: they’re repositories of scholarship and represent our collective memory. These publicly-funded centers of learning and knowledge contribute to a healthy, vibrant and resilient society. Here are a few of their myriad benefits:

? Free books galore

? Access to databases and courses

? Big savings on museums and cultural attractions

? Supporting access to information for all

Best of all, your passport to this glorious world is FREE. Here's how to get your library card.

P.S. If you’re not in Chicago, just do a web search for "how to get a library card."

I hope you’ll join me next week, because I’ve got a fun surprise that I can’t wait to share with you!

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An author, media consultant, life coach and speaker, Molly Cantrell-Kraig has been recognized as one of CNN’s Visionary Women, been profiled by both the Christian Science Monitor and the Shriver Report. Cantrell-Kraig has also been interviewed on the Women’s Media Center and the BBC, speaking on such topics as women, independence, gender roles and life transitions. From her beginnings as a single mother on welfare, Cantrell-Kraig is a self-described work in progress whose focus is on helping others achieve their goals by sharing her own experiences.