Dear Olive, I love your new column. I met you a few months ago but had no idea you did this. My impression of you then and now is a woman positive about life and able to make things better. I admire that. I used to be that way, but lately, I feel discouraged a lot, even depressed, what with the daily news and how distant and rude people have become. I try not to listen all day, but with social media, it seems every hour some awful thing takes place in the world. When I was little, I had [ Read More ]
Dear Olive, My girlfriend just cancelled her marriage at the last minute, and it’s made me nervous about my own situation. I know several girls who married even though they knew there were problems. They all ended up divorced. I don’t want to make that mistake. I’ve dated Paul for three years. We’ve lived together eighteen months and he’s a great guy, but I want to get married. I’m thirty and it’s time. Even though Paul tells me he loves me, he gets weird whenever I mention anything that suggests commitment. If we get flack from friends who want to [ Read More ]
Dear Olive, I’m a guy in my thirties who was successful until now. I’m in sales, make a lot of money doing something I love, I’m still crazy about my wife, and my kids are doing great in school. I’ve also had loyal buddies since my twenties who’ve stuck together and while that’s a source of pride, everything is changing and that’s got me pissed off. The company I’ve been with for seven years went under last month, and I’m out of a job. It’s not easy to find something else that pays as well. What makes things harder is [ Read More ]
May 1, 2014 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Julia Botts (503) 908-7842 [email protected] Lake Oswego, OR – Olive Gallagher, respected ethicist and founder/CEO of Personal Best®, announced today she will begin to write her nationally syndicated column, The Inner Bottom Line®, for OregonLive.com and The Oregonian, Portland Oregon’s highly respected and popular online and print newspaper. Readers will have the opportunity to enjoy the pieces first in the online edition prior to the content being available, as it has been for many years, in the national edition of the examiner.com and on the Personal Best website at www.theinnerbottomline.com. The weekly column, [ Read More ]
I’ve been saying for years that the only word in the English language that should be obliterated is “expectations.” I continue to feel that way, as it’s a word that sets us up for disappointment and implies that the responsibility for us to be happy or satisfied lies elsewhere. However, in this rare, set-aside moment, I’m going to use it – lavishly – while sharing with you an experience a few weeks ago that literally blew my socks off. Over the past two years, since they hit the market, I’ve bought and happily worn a number of NYDJ jeans (Not [ Read More ]
April 1, 2014 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Julia Botts (503) 908-7842 [email protected] Lake Oswego, OR – On April 1, 2014, Olive Gallagher, ethicist, life coach and founder/CEO of Personal Best®, announced the formation of a new group, focused on Stress Management. The group will run for six weeks, be limited to 6 – 8 people, and will examine the harmful impact of stress in our lives, providing insights and tools to simplify choices, clarify values and improve communication and relationship building. “Doing ongoing, private, one-on-one work on The Inner Bottom Line® is invaluable. Private work allows an individual a safe [ Read More ]
I had my own ethical dilemma this week during which I got a good look as well as a healthy reminder about the choices we get when faced with a difficult moment and have the chance to take the higher road. Now we all know that one likes to have their back up against the wall with seemingly no place to go. No one likes to have to reveal, especially to a stranger much less a friend, that they’re lacking in anything – resources, answers, cleverness, courage, etc. And no one enjoys being stripped down, figuratively, in front of others, [ Read More ]
In the past week, at least three clients have said to me, “I’m so ready to start taking things apart and clean out the clutter. It always makes me feel better.” Spring cleaning. http://is.gd/nTZUQA Simplifying. Organizing. Music to my ears. As well as a prompt for the sun to come out and show me the way to those ever-present smudges on the windows that are invisible when it’s raining and gloomy. Now I recognize for some that the mere idea of straightening anything is depressing, even unnecessary. But for a much greater percentage of us, there seems to be an [ Read More ]
March 10, 2014 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Julia Botts (503) 908-7842 [email protected] PERSONAL BEST® CEO OLIVE GALLAGHER RESUMES TEACHING THE INNER BOTTOM LINE Lake Oswego, OR – On March 13, 2014, Olive Gallagher, founder and CEO of Personal Best, will begin teaching classes twice a month on The Inner Bottom Line® for the Lake Oswego Adult Community Center. “Regardless of how many exciting ways I’m given to deliver the ideas and philosophy of The Inner Bottom Line – interviews, seminars, speeches, media appearances, retreats, the column, or even my radio show – returning to the immediate, one-on-one exchange that happens [ Read More ]