Health Talk Today Rotating Header Image

Dream Board

Creating a dream board, also known as a vision board, is a great way to “see” your goals. My first vision board was made 20 years ago as a class project. The assignment was to make a collage of my life. Being more practical than creative, I made a spiral bound book. It included a short biography, pictures, quotes and cartoons that seemed appropriate at that point in my life. Along with it, I made a crock pot full of stuffed cabbage. Cooking and entertaining was a big part of my life back then. Together they incorporated my life history, my emotions and my goals.

Now I realize I’ve had vision boards all along - Some very informal.  For years, I’ve had two $1,000,000 bills on my desk.  They are both in stand up frames and look real - Except one is much larger.  I’ve also done a slide show vision board as a screen saver.

Windows gave me the opportunity to post pictures of my dreams and goals right on my desktop. I change the pictures frequently, alternating among landscapes that I love, holiday themes, photos, motivational messages and things I want to attract into my life.

A while back, I found a free vision board website and created one there that I was able to save.  The site had some images and text, but it was very limited.  You can see mine here.

I know dream boards work. My brother used to live on the 2nd floor of an apartment building in south Florida. It was short term - Just a few years. Out the back was a view of the golf course and very scenic. But, his office was the 2nd bedroom that faced the parking lot.

So, instead of looking out the window at the asphalt and parked cars, he bought and framed a postcard of the beach. That’s what he saw day in and day out.

Weeks after he and his wife moved into their high rise condo, he was unpacking the rest of his office things. When he found the framed postcard, he did a double take.

His new office was still the 2nd bedroom, but the view out the wall-to-wall windows was the EXACT view in the postcard - Including the building next door and the jetty into the water.

•*¨*•.¸¸ ¸¸.•*¨*•

Oprah Winfrey has just added a dream board to her website.  You need to register - It’s free.  Then, you can create a dream board, using the images on the site.  Add text and upload your own images.  It can be saved, shared, emailed and printed.  Thanks, Oprah.  It’s the best, free dream board site I’ve seen.

Here’s my latest dream board . . .

Marilyn Kvasnok's Dream Board - May 10, 2010

Marilyn Kvasnok's Dream Board - May 10, 2010

I saved my dream board as a .jpg file.  It’s now wallpaper on my desktop, so  I see it off and on, all day long.

What does your dream board look like?

Marilyn Kvasnok

Safety Tips

While I was researching yesterday’s post about Maya Fleckenstein, the 12 year old girl who was missing, I ran across a couple of very informative documents.  These safety tips are compliments of the Parma Ohio Police Department.

Residential Security Survey
No one can completely burglar-proof their home.  The idea is to make it as difficult as possible for a thief, hoping he’ll decide it’s not worth the trouble to break in.  This document has a checklist with many practical suggestions for home security.

Personal Safety Tips
Stay safe while you’re in your home, in the car and walking outside.

Marilyn Kvasnok

Code Red

I got an automated call at 10:30 pm last night.  Code Red was the caller ID name.  The call was from a local police department with information about a girl who was missing just a few blocks from my home.  The call had all the pertinent information . . .

Maya Fleckenstein

Maya Fleckenstein

  • Maya Fleckenstein
  • Black hair
  • brown eyes
  • Wearing a blue tee shirt, blue jeans and orange shoes
  • Last seen at 10:00 pm ET
  • Corner of West 130 St and Sprague Rd in Cleveland, Ohio
  • If seen, call Parma, Ohio Police at 440-885-1234

The message asked me to check my yard.  We have no streetlights, so it was very dark.  I turned on the outside lights and looked around.  I noticed there were other lights on down the street.  I wondered how many of them were checking for Maya, too.

I watched the 11:00 pm local news hoping to hear that Maya had been found safe, but there was nothing.  And no report this morning, either.  So I did a little research this morning.  I went to the Parma, Ohio Police Department website.  There was no news about Maya, even though there was a section with News Releases and another with Alerts.

So, I tried WOIO’s website, a local TV channel.  I didn’t see a news story, but a search of the site found an article from January 21, 2010.  There it was … Maya’s picture, a video and the story of how she walked away from her school.  If this happened in January, why did I get the call in April?

Next, I called the Parma Ohio Police Department.  The phone number in the message I got was the non-emergency number at the police station.  The dispatcher explained to me that Maya is a problem child and has run away in the past.  Last night, she was with her mother, driving to the hospital and Maya suddenly jumped out of the car.  How frightening!  She was found safe a short time later.

I didn’t mind that the phone rang at 10:30 pm.  In fact, I feel even safer knowing that this automated system is in place.  I wonder what other emergencies and disasters would be reported this way.  I love technology and think this is a great use of computerized phone calls.  Parma is a neighboring suburb.  I hope my city has Code Red, too.

Marilyn Kvasnok

Top 10 Healthy Skin Tips

Girl Washing Face

Babies are born with the softest and smoothest skin.  But as we age, our skin can take a real beating.  An unhealthy diet, air pollution, soaps and cleansers, smoking, sunburns, tanning booths and cheap cosmetics with harmful chemicals.  It all contributes to the aging effect and shows the most on your face.

If you want healthy skin, you need to take care of it.  And the best time to start is today!  It’s possible to slow down and even improve the health of your skin.  Make these 10 tips part of your daily routine and they’ll become good habits.

  1. Avoid excessive sun exposure. A little sun is good.  It helps your body make vitamin D.  But too much sun, especially in the heat of the day, can burn your skin.  So, wear sunscreen on all exposed skin.  And wear a hat to shield your face.
  2. Take a multivitamin to guarantee you get sufficient vitamin D.
  3. Use moisturizer to keep you skin hydrated and protect it from the elements.
  4. Use all natural cleansers with no harmful chemicals.  Gently wash your face in an upwards direction.  Never pull the skin downward.
  5. Don’t smoke. Smoking causes wrinkles and premature aging.
  6. Sleep on your back. It helps counteract the gravity that’s been pulling your face downward all day.  And it keeps your face from being pulled by the weight of your face on the pillow, if you were to sleep on your side.
  7. Facial exercises can help keep a youthful look.  It can avoid and even improve wrinkles, crow’s feet, laugh lines and a sagging neck.  Even smiling and laughing helps to exercise facial muscles.  There are many facial exercise experts.  Carol Maggio is at the top of my list.
  8. Eat a healthy diet of fruits, vegetables, lean meats, fish and healthy fats like olive oil.  Chocolate is NOT one of the 5 food groups on the food pyramid!
  9. Don’t touch your face. Your hands have bacteria that can cause infection and make your skin break out.
  10. Use all natural cosmetics. Anything you put ON your skin gets absorbed INTO your skin.  From there it goes to your bloodstream.  Make sure it doesn’t contain harmful chemicals.

Marilyn Kvasnok

My Deepest Fear

Happy FamilyMy deepest fear is not that I am inadequate.  My deepest fear is that I am powerful beyond measure.  It is my light, not my darkness that most frightens me.

I ask myself, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?  Actually, who am I not to be? I am a child of God. My playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around me.

I am meant to shine, as children do.  I was born to make manifest the glory of God that is within me. It’s not just in me; it’s in everyone. And as I let my own light shine, I unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As I am liberated from my own fear, my presence automatically liberates others.

~Marianne Williamson

PS:  Originally, this quote was “Author Unknown.”  Thanks to Elizabeth Aleccia for identifying the author.  The title and text have been corrected to exactly match the author’s quote.

Marilyn Kvasnok

To subscribe by email: Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner