YOU DESERVE
A GOLD STAR

Hello Gold Star Revolution Squad! Welcome to Tune Up Tuesday! Not every day is an ideal day for awarding gold stars to myself or to others. Sometimes I fall back into my old, ingrained habits of negativity, sometimes I truly do have a bad day, or sometimes I just don’t feel like being appreciative – there is a strange sort of comfort to wallowing in my misery! When I am feeling like this, the first step is, of course, to be aware of the way that I am feeling. Then, I try my best to take whatever steps I can to slowly shift my mood, change my feelings, etc., no matter how small those steps might be. One simple thing that I often use to help me make this shift is essential oils. I became h

Hey there Gold Star Revolution Squad!  It's Friday, which means that it is time to announce our Friday Star of the Week. Future Stars of the Week will be chosen from reader nominations!  But since we are at the beginning of this project, I will be the one nominating our Friday Stars of the Week until the time when nominations from readers start to roll in.  Please send me your nominations, and please see the end of this post for more details on how to do that! This week I am again honoring another person posthumously. That person is none other than the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020). I was inspired to honor Justice Ginsburg as this week's Star of the Week be

Hello Gold Star Revolution Squad! Welcome to #tuneuptuesday! Today's topic on this Tune Up Tuesday is optimism. This trait can absolutely assist us when it comes to awarding gold stars! If we are optimistic, we tend to assume the best intentions in people. And when we are optimistic, we might also be more inclined to notice gold star behavior in both ourselves and others. I think it’s actually difficult for anyone to be an optimist because we are biologically wired to notice negativity (we will be exploring this topic in depth in future posts). Yet, despite this negativity bias, some people still seem naturally inclined to look on the bright side of life. Even animals appear to have a b

It's Friday, which means that it is time to announce our Star of the Week! Future Stars of the Week will be chosen from reader nominations. But since we are at the beginning of this project, I will be the one nominating our Friday Star of the Week until the time when nominations from readers start to roll in. Please send me your nominations, and please see the end of this post for more details on how to do that. I am taking a totally different approach this week by honoring someone posthumously. But I don't want this to be a sad or somber post. I want it to be a celebration of my friend's life! This week's star is my dear friend John, who died suddenly and unexpectedly on April 2nd of th

Welcome to #tuneuptuesday! I realize that today's topic is not the most relevant, practical, or realistic in these days of COVID-19. But a girl can dream, can't she??? I am dreaming of the day when all of us can travel freely again without worrying about the Coronavirus! As an adult, I have always loved to travel. But when I was young, I lived in a very tiny town in a rural part of Pennsylvania, and my family never went on vacation. Even when I “went off” to college, I only ended up about an hour away from my home, in yet another rural area. I think that staying put for such a long time really made me want to get out and see the world when I was old enough to do so on my own. I absolut

Hey there Gold Star Revolution Squad! It's #goldstarfriday, which means that it is time to announce our Star of the Week! Future Stars of the Week will be chosen from reader nominations! But since we are at the beginning of this project, I will be the one nominating our Friday Star of the Week until the time when nominations from readers start to roll in. Please send me your nominations, and please see the end of this post for more details on how to do that! This week, I am nominating someone that I have never met in person. She lives way over on the other side of the country from me. In fact, I've never even heard her voice. But she is one of the most important people in my life. Thi

Hey there Gold Star Revolution Squad! Welcome to Tune Up Tuesday! Great things rarely come from comfort zones, right? But trying something new can be scary! It's difficult to leave your comfort zone, put yourself out there, and open yourself up to criticism, failure, poor performance, etc. But if you can get past your feelings of fear, there is often a great reward on the other side – a feeling of accomplishment, renewed confidence in yourself, and maybe even the creation of a momentum for change that you can carry into other areas of your life. In other words, stepping out of your comfort zone might just earn you some gold stars! I firmly believe in the importance of a good life stretch

Hey there Gold Star Revolution Squad! It's Funtastic Friday, which means that it is time to announce our #staroftheweek! Future Stars of the Week will be chosen from reader nominations! But since we are at the beginning of this project, I will be the one nominating our Friday Star of the Week until the time when nominations from readers start to roll in. Please send me your nominations, and please see the end of this post for more details on how to do that! This week, I thought I would take a different approach and nominate someone I don't personally know. I have admired this person from afar for a little while now, and she has definitely been an inspiration to me in starting the Gold St

Welcome to Tune Up Tuesday! Have you ever experienced a negative thought or emotion upon hearing about someone else's success or good fortune? I know I sure have! It’s not always easy to award gold stars to others, even when they have done something to deserve one! Sometimes we are reluctant to award a gold star to someone else because, on some level, we are envious of the other person’s success, even if it’s just a small accomplishment. Although that person did something to merit a gold star, we cannot fully participate in their joy. We may feel a sneaking suspicion that there's not enough good to go around, and we may even feel threatened by the other person’s achievement, that maybe th