By: Joe Kowalski
Owner/CEO Empowered Community Services

Most everyone can remember the panic, sudden jolt, and jarring pain of hitting the ground after their friend jumped off the teeter totter when we were kids.

Or that time when you were in a hurry to get home with the groceries. You’re late, it’s raining, and instead of making three trips into the house with the groceries in the rain, you try to carry all 37 bags at one time, only to slip on the pavement sending a week’s worth of groceries all over the garage floor.

What about this one? You are up against a deadline at work, going on 4 hours of sleep and you get a call at 5:30p from your spouse demanding “where are you?”  With everything going on, you forgot to update your calendar with the kids’ recital that you are now going to miss.  
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These lessons on gravity, imbalance, and regret are hard to forget. Unbalanced objects, whether they be playground equipment, people, or the expectations of others, will always fall.
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My wife and I have four children (3 high schoolers still at home,) a new grandson, 3 dogs, and I run my own small business. The demands on my time are many and balance becomes more and more difficult to maintain. By my own admission, I have a lot of work to do when it comes to balance in my life, but the following are a few pieces of advice I’ve come to cherish on this exceedingly difficult subject.

By: Ronda Nissley

Many of us are familiar with the biblical story of Daniel who was a high ranking administrator in ancient Babylon. Daniel is often hailed for his wisdom and courage in the face of adversity. But did you ever wonder how Daniel was able to not only survive but thrive in what was likely a hostile work environment? Likely, he faced many things that conflicted with his faith and culture.

Starting in March we've been alternating blog posts and "our stories" videos on Tuesdays. Blog posts will appear  on the 1st/3rd Tuesday and videos on the 2nd/4th Tuesdays. Everything we post here is under the umbrella of practical tips & insights for your relationships.

We're so excited to feature a fun Our Story video featuring Kevin, Carisa and Brian from Holmes in Springfield. They are siblings who assumed primary leadership of a their family business in 2007. In the process they sought a more team friendly workplace culture.

By Carisa Peters, guest blogger
Owner and Administrator of Holmes Marketing Services.
Her focuses are Human Relations, Client Experience, and Office Culture.

The average person will spend over 90,000 hours working in their lifetime. Because of this, your work environment can have a huge impact on your quality of life. As the world around us accelerates at a rapid rate, we are learning from studies that individuals are a bit worn out from all the hustle and bustle of a world that is always “on”. What would make the workplace setting less tedious and more fulfilling?​

By Lavern Nissley

Everyone has a personality. Some are outgoing; others are reserved. Some take risks easily; others are cautious. Some hate change and prefer routine; others love change and prefer variety.

If your personality could be represented by colors, what would you be? Red? Orange? Yellow? Green? Blue? Purple? A combination of colors? If you're curious and really want to be certain, well . . . you're probably a blue.

By Lavern Nissley

You've likely heard of the Bermuda Triangle, a region in the western Atlantic Ocean where a number of ships and aircraft have disappeared mysteriously. Not surprisingly, it's also called the Devil's Triangle.

Less familiar to most people is the Dreaded Drama Triangle, a social model of human interaction, especially when conflict is involved. It's as ominous and scary as the Bermuda Triangle. Want to know why?