Life By Design Podcast

Recently the Toy company Hasbro has launched "Ms. Monopoly," and as the box says, it's 'the first game where women make more than men.' If you're not familiar with the game of monopoly, it's a board game in which players move around the board, are able to buy property, make investments, get sent to jail, and are subject to both the randomness of good and bad luck. So what's wrong with Ms. Monopoly? Nothing. We are going to do our best to stay out of the realm of politics on this podcast. It's hard not to touch on politics a little bit, since morality and politics can be closely related. But, if you want to read more about gender equality issues, etc., there are many articles online that can provide material for you to learn more. Our job on today's podcast is to speak about the personal, self-esteem, effects of creating games and situations like this. Solely for the fact that creating high self-esteem is a precursor to health and happiness which we do care about tremendously. What we covered

• Definitions and classifications. There's not a word strong enough to describe the horror of today's misuse of language and concepts. If you don't believe that statement, stop 10 random people on the street and ask for a definition of popular, politically charged terms today (sexist, racist, etc.) and see how many different responses you get. Step number one is to define all of our terms so we can be on the same page.
• The nature of self-esteem, why it's important, why you need it and why you should be working on creating it.
• How being singled out does not increase self-esteem but lowers it.
• What lessons we need to apply to our lives.

Our days go to heck in a hand basket when we don't execute a daily routine. Things have the vibe of that time between Christmas and New Years with one major difference...there is no end in sight. If we were to gauge the current tone of society, we would say the dominant emotions are fear, apathy, and dread. This is not a judgement on those emotions or on you if you're feeling this way... this is a statement of fact that one day this will be all over and those emotions do not serve you in fulfilling your values, dreams or goals. With all that being said, here are some of the things we found helpful to keep our days as productive and normal as possible during these crazy times. What we covered

• Plan to succeed. The day starts a strong mental focus followed by reviewing goals and tasks that need accomplishing. Despair and apathy loom with the cure for those two emotions being clarity and action. Creating a plan and a direction for yourself and your family is vital, especially right now.
• Your kid's schedule. We all know that consistency and frequency are vital for kids. Dr. K's son Ari meets with his class at 9:45 and 2:15 Monday to Friday with an assignment to do after class, and a call scheduled with his friends to follow. Having a routine has calmed his mind and made him a happier child.
• Stick to a rhythm. Monday - Friday, we wake up at the same time, enact the same routine... exercise, go to work, etc. It's been great at keeping us productive, happier, and ensuring we keep moving towards our goals and dreams even during this stressful time.

Wednesday, February 26th, was Pink shirt day in Canada. If you're not familiar with what this represents, as the story goes... In 2007 two high school students in Nova Scotia witnessed other classmates bullying a grade 9 for wearing a pink shirt. In response to this, the two who witnessed the bullying, went to a nearby discount store and purchased fifty pink shirts to distribute to their friends in order to take a stand with the child being bullied. As it turns out, the next day, so many other children got behind this idea that literally, most of the school came dressed in head to toe pink standing in solidarity with the bullied child. An amazing story and touching story, yes... but, what about the underlying issues surrounding bullying? To truly overcome a challenge, you must understand the causes, the proper course of action, and the result. As far as we can tell, and from our own personal experience, bullying comes in many forms - of course, the easiest and most popular example is a child taunting or terrorizing another child, usually for some arbitrary reason. But what about other kinds of bullying in our culture? Could it be considered bullying when a parent humiliates or threatens to hit their child? Is it bullying when you are endlessly humiliated or mocked when you have a different opinion than someone online? Is retaliation OK? Does it make you a bad person? As you can easily see, not simple questions to answer, yet necessary (and rarely discussed) when "awareness" is brought to a subject. What we covered

• The definition of bullying and how it applies to all aspects of modern life.
• How, we believe, to start putting an end to bullying.
• The correct use of force in this situation.