The Best Advice I Never Got: We Need Ghouls and Monsters to Cope with Real Fear

By Lee Aldrich
Oct-31-2013
Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich, The Best Advice I Never Got
10 Comments.

Many moons ago when I was quite little and before I could read, bedtime frequently included mom or dad reading a story or poem from one of my favorite books. It wasn’t until very recently I realized that it wasn’t Edgar Allen Poe that first piqued my fascination with the macabre, it was one very particular poem in the children’s book I liked. The poem had a dark edge, something I had never been exposed to, and I distinctly remember […]

Tags: Bela Lagosi, Boris Karloff, Fear, George Romero, ghosts, ghouls, halloween, horror, Lon Chaney, monsters, mummies, vampires, Vincent Price, zombies

The Best Advice I Never Got: The Choices Are Yours

By Barbara Coleman
Oct-29-2013
Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich, The Best Advice I Never Got
7 Comments.

This month here on middleSage our topic of choice is “The Best Advice I Never Got”. We’ll be talking about the lessons we learned later in life, lessons that would have saved us a whole lot of heartache had we learned them earlier. In the spirit of “I wish I knew then what I know now”! Today I’m talking about Choices. Specifically, the choices we make in our lives everyday. I’m talking about the choices we have to make to prepare […]

Tags: choose to be happy, choose to be happy over right, control

The Best Advice I Never Got: We Will Always Want Our Parents

By Lee Aldrich
Oct-24-2013
Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich, The Best Advice I Never Got
10 Comments.

This is a difficult time of year for me. Two years ago my dad, “your wonderful, wonderful father” as he referred to himself, was in an accident. It had been raining and a woman hydro-planed and crashed into him head on at 45 miles per hour. The next day I jumped on a plane and headed to Detroit for what was to become one of the most heartbreaking, reflective and poignant weeks I’ve experienced. We watched as dad went through […]

Tags: death of a parent, family, family after the death of a parent, life after the death of a parent, middlesage, parents

The Best Advice I Never Got: Let Him Pull The Sled And Lose The Need To Control

By Barbara Coleman
Oct-22-2013
Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich, The Best Advice I Never Got
18 Comments.

This month here on middleSage our topic of choice is “The Best Advice I Never Got”. We’ll be talking about the lessons we learned later in life, lessons that would have saved us a whole lot of heartache had we learned them earlier. In the spirit of “I wish I knew then what I know now”! Today I’m talking about Losing Control. No, I’m not talking about throwing caution to the wind, or letting go of your inhibitions or even […]

Tags: best advice, Control Freak, Controlling, Let someone pull your sled, Lose Control

The Best Advice I Never Got: “We Must Be Willing to Give Up the Life We’ve Planned…..

By Lee Aldrich
Oct-17-2013
Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich, The Best Advice I Never Got
10 Comments.

…so we can live the life that’s waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbell When I was a wee bit younger, I wanted to be a veterinarian. I was constantly bringing home wounded birds and lost cats and dogs. Even the neighborhood squirrels knew what time I got home from school and would wait on the porch or in the front yard while I ran inside to get the nuts I would hand to each of them. (One even followed me […]

Tags: "We must be willing to give up the life we've planned so we can live the life that's waiting for us.", Barbara Walters, Ella Fitzgerald, English Language Major, I know why the caged bird sings, Joseph Campbell, Mark Twain, maya angelou, poetry, prose, writing

The Best Advice I Never Got: Be The Author Of Your Own Life. Drop Your Baggage.

By Barbara Coleman
Oct-15-2013
Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich, The Best Advice I Never Got, The Narcissistic Mother
17 Comments.

This month here on middleSage our topic of choice is “The Best Advice I Never Got”. We’re talking about the lessons we learned later in life, lessons that would have saved us a whole lot of heartache had we learned them earlier. In the spirit of “I wish I knew then what I know now”! Today I’m talking about Moving On & Losing Your Emotional Baggage. Emotional baggage isn’t a term we’re unfamiliar with. It seems it’s part of our […]

Tags: create your own story, dealing with the past, emotional baggage, moving on, narcissist mother

The Best Advice I Never Got: Friendships are like Gardens – You Have To Get Rid of the Weeds

By Lee Aldrich
Oct-10-2013
Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich, The Best Advice I Never Got
5 Comments.

My Nana gave great advice. In regard to friends she said “You need to have more than just a few friends. It’s good to have lots.” My mother also seemed to adhere to the same philosophy and so did many people around me. In the age of people having hundreds or thousands of “friends” I wonder how people keep up with them all? How can you expend the time and emotional energy to cultivate real relationships among thousands? You can’t. […]

Tags: amanda christian, andrea bonoir PhD, ending friendships, friendships are like gardens - you have to get rid of the weeds, psychology today, the best advice I never got, tiny buddha

The Best Advice I Never Got: Deliberate Failure

By Barbara Coleman
Oct-8-2013
Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich, The Best Advice I Never Got
18 Comments.

This month here on middleSage our topic of choice is “The Best Advice I Never Got”. We’ll be talking about the lessons we learned later in life, lessons that would have saved us a whole lot of heartache had we learned them earlier. In the spirit of “I wish I knew then what I know now”! Today I’m talking about failure….specifically, planning for it. Hope for the best…Cope with the rest? As I always shout at the TV when I […]

Tags: best advice, failure, learning to fail, success, Ty Cobb

Best Advice I Never Got: Accepting the Present Moment

By Lee Aldrich
Oct-3-2013
Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich, The Best Advice I Never Got
4 Comments.

The word surrender has always seemed to carry a negative connotation. The side that surrenders in war loses. The people who surrender to another often give up themselves. But the type of surrender I’m taking about is the ability to yield to the moment instead of working against it, and in doing so, unburdening ourselves. Had I learned this lesson earlier in my life, I would have felt far less stress, grief, and consternation. Eckhart Tolle in “The Power of […]

Tags: accepting the present, accepting the present moment, eckhart tolle, h. jackson brown jr, life's little instruction book on wisdom, life's little instruction book. middle sage, stillness speaks, the best advice I never got, the power of now

Best Advice I Never Got: Girls Need To Develop Boundaries

By Barbara Coleman
Oct-1-2013
Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich, The Best Advice I Never Got
11 Comments.

This month here on middleSage our topic of choice is “The Best Advice I Never Got”. We’ll be talking about the lessons we learned later in life, lessons that would have saved us a whole lot of heartache had we learned them earlier. In the spirit of “I wish I knew then what I know now”! Today I’m talking about Setting Boundaries…. Boundaries aren’t fences that keep us in, they’re not lines in the sand that require permission to cross […]