With great feeling, I said to a client wrestling with an important decision: "Don't worry, there is a time for everything under heaven."

Some deep corner of my memory conjured up this thought from the Book of Ecclesiastes. 

I’m not the biblical type, so I probably first heard the words as a child when my mother played Pete Seeger records, including Turn! Turn! Turn!  Or maybe it was listening to the Byrds’ hit on a transistor radio.  Whatever the source of my memory, here’s the King James Version:

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

• A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
• A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
• A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
• A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
• A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
• A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
• A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.



I leave the debate about the deep meaning of this wonderful text to biblical scholars – not to mention fans of both Pete Seeger, Roger McGuinn and the rest of the Byrds – but a few things stand out for me:  

• With hard work, the fruits of our labor, if not realized today will be realized in time – something good will come to pass

• There is a time for all emotions because they come and go – from feeling good to bad, happy to unhappy, secure to insecure and in-love to out-of-love
• Time takes care of everything –- it lets us heal, realize our dreams, forgive, let go and move on  

• Impermanence and change are the unavoidable constants – so embrace them 

Enjoy your time,
Coach Minda

In my teens, I was an enthusiastic canoeist for two weeks each summer at Lake of the Woods, near Kenora (a small city in Northern Ontario). Surrounded by wilderness, I could be counted on to:

• build an exceptional fire;
• gunnel a canoe;
• perform a canoe-over-canoe rescue; and
• more impressively, tolerate the clouds of mosquitoes that followed me into the bush while collecting firewood.

All that held true until one year, in my late-teens, when those blood sucking pests finally paralyzed me with fear and stopped me from enjoying the woods. The pride and competitive spirit of counting who had more mosquito bites or the most infected bites came to an end.

Since then, I have easily gone into a panic when swarmed by bugs. Especially salt-water mosquitos - the worst of a bad lot. I have done my best to avoid wooded areas, be out at dusk, or to sit outside without a fire burning.

This weekend black flies were out in huge numbers in the countryside. I was desperate to go for a hike and enjoy a fabulous June day. And sitting on a ledge near the doorway I saw a can of OFF!  It promised 8-hour protection to prevent mosquitoes, black flies, ticks, chiggers, biting midges and deer flies from eating you alive. 

Over more than a thirty year period, mainly because of health concerns, I had never considered using OFF.

I took the can outside, sprayed myself liberally and went for a spectacular long hike. I enjoyed each minute. There was no stress from mosquitoes or black flies hounding me. I was a free spirit in the country.  It felt like Lake of the Woods!

This on-the-spot decision made me reflect on how we go about making choices and meeting our needs. 

And here's the nub: A simple solution - OFF - freed me to think about far more important things than the cloud of mindless bugs hovering above my head. 

Wishing you a bug-free summer,
Coach Minda

Working with me is a great way to discover new things about yourself and uncover what you really want in life. Coaching helps you to discover possibilities you may not have known, then set goals and create plans, and work through any roadblocks along the way.

Disclaimer: I do not promote the regular use of DEET based repellents and if it works for you, use other less toxic insect repellents available.

I heard about a doctor who said to a patient regarding a longer-term problem,  "what works best is to surround your problem with many barking dogs." What he meant was: some medication (woof), a change in diet (growl), and more exercise (bow-wow).

I've turned this very smart thought over and over in my mind, trying to distill the doctor's insight into a clear and simple message about problems.  Especially problems that are not run-of-the-mill. I'm talking about the confusing, complicated or even vaguely defined problems where this isn't one answer or a single treatment.

As a coach, conversations I have with clients touch on a wide range of problems -- career challenges, marital problems, lifestyle issues. Typical health and wellness examples? People want to lose weight, exercise more, reduce their stress and anxiety, or drink and smoke less.

Even for the motivated person - or dog - change isn't easy or quick!

Everyone has their own way of making changes and addressing problems. But, in general, surrounding the matter at hand with a pack of barking dogs is a useful way to diversify your solutions:

• the woofs keep you alert so you don't slip into inertia;
• the growls add a rightful note of fear to the proceedings; and
• the bow-wows keep you moving ahead.

If you need some help letting your dogs out - to surround your problems - contact me.

Coach Minda