Today someone told me they had thought about introducing me to someone else… a potential new friend some time ago. She decided against it because people so often just let you (me) down so profoundly, she did not want to risk my being devastated by someone she thought I should be friends with.

Hearing this I was stunned and then flooded with relief. During the time frame she was referencing, I just could not have handled another bad investment / friendship going south but boy is this ugly or what?
Continue reading Shocking But Sadly True…

The other day someone asked me an interesting question: ‘When you talk to your friends, what do you talk about?”

The question surprised me but I didn’t hesitate coming up with an answer and listening to myself was illuminating. Turns out most my conversation with friends is around how I feel about one thing or the other and my concerns, wishes, hopes and dreams for the future. I definitely don’t conceal my feelings regardless of what they may be. I will tell the most private thing I know, in the exact moment and without a qualm.
Continue reading Open Question: Conversation With Friends

The impact relationships have on us is enormous. Recently one of my friends got into a serious relationship and I’ve noticed I have less in common with her all the time. There has been no conflict but I am willing to concede at this point that our lives have taken us in different directions.

This is no reflection on the quality of the man. As far as I can tell he’s done her nothing but good, we just don’t seem to relate anymore. The same thing happened on this blog when the AMF and I broke up (he was an artist) and I took off with a soldier. A whaaaaaaaaat? There were a number of people who no longer felt they could relate to me.
Continue reading Your Friend Gets Involved With A New Man And…

Turns out when a person or person shows up and treats you well, you start to become well. Are you familiar Dr. Masaru Emoto’s work with water crystals?

He was featured in the movie, “What The Bleep Do We Know” and you can read his freakishly good book, “The Hidden Messages in Water”. But essentially he discovered that water takes on the energy of whatever it’s exposed to via his experiments.

Continue reading The Power Of Love and Friendship – Part 4: The Benefits Are Far Reaching and Eternal

So when I met HQ, I was incredibly miserable although no one had any idea of this. It’s a quality about me. It’s called Jupiter… I mean, “Dimples rising”. When you grin all the time and have dimples no one imagines there is a problem, never mind a serious one but HQ eventually learned that this was the case.
Continue reading The Power Of Love and Friendship – Part 3: Cards, Cars and Fast Women

“I can’t believe you were fat,” whoever it is will say.

“Well I was. I looked like hell. I was with the wrong man, for one thing. And it’s unbelievable what that’ll do to you. I think it nearly killed me. It was completely devastated and so incredibly unhappy.”

“You?” They are always incredulous.

“Yeah. But those days are gone.”

And eventually whoever it is will wander off and I will invariably think of my editor, HQ. Because he is the one who almost single-handedly saved me. Continue reading The Power Of Love and Friendship: Part 2 – Investing In Others…

Occasionally I get talking to someone in the gym and they’ll say something about my body. Something nice. And I am always very grateful, not just for the compliment but for the chance to reflect. Because it surely hasn’t always been this way.

“Thanks,” I’ll say. “Thanks very much. It’s taken awhile. When I first walked in here, I was really overweight. I got on one those treadmills over there and I was so out of shape, when I got off the whole room was spinning!”
Continue reading The Power Of Love and Friendship – Part 1 – Don’t Be Deceived

A couple weeks ago I republished a piece from 3 years ago regarding my propensity to gather various people’s perspectives when mulling a theory or trying to solve a problem. I make a point of consulting as diverse a group as possible because you’d just be amazed what you find out if you talk to people from different cultures and I mean talking to them in depth, beyond levels that would be considered PC.
Continue reading Diversity (For Those Who Can Handle It)

Dear Unsure,

I think I can make this very simple for you, so I’m going to do that first and then I’m going to make this hard. Here is the simple solution: Leave him! Could you do it? I’m guessin’ you’d be cryin’ for this guy within a week and crying even harder six months down the road.

Continue reading Love and Money: Venus in the 8th House – Astrology-Based Advice

After  thinking about the people I know and how I tap them for opinions I started to wonder what roll(s) I might play for others. I have a feeling if I asked I would be surprised. Because when I told my inner circle,  “I call you for blah blah blah”, they were completely surprised at how I see them.

Scott had no idea I see him as the ultimate compassionate person. He’s not going to write anyone off, ever! “There’s always hope, Elsie.” This is what he says all the time about everyone, every time so when I get in a situation where something falls off the page of everyone I know, I can call Scott and voila! There is still hope!

Continue reading 3 Years Ago On The Elsa Blog: What Function Do You Play In Other People’s Lives?