The Inner Bottom Line ® ..where Choices & Values meet

“Rising From the Ashes”©

May 30th, 2019   •   Comments Off on “Rising From the Ashes”©   

We’re surrounded by flame everywhere, everyday.  We take fire for granted, barely noticing in the moment the amazing tools and conveniences provided for us with the turn of a knob, the switch of a button. We bake a cake, grill burgers, heat our homes, toast marshmallows around a campfire. From the beginning of time, man’s ability and ingenuity to create and harness fire has marked our path of evolution. And as long as that flame can be contained, controlled, all remains well and productive. But when it breaks loose, the potential for catastrophic loss of life and property is boundless [ Read More ]

Starting Over…Again

January 14th, 2016   •   no comments   

Dear Olive, I started to write out my New Year resolutions right after I read one of your earlier column on just this topic and realized I’ve been making the same ones for years. I always start out feeling real jazzed up, ready to lose ten pounds, go to the gym, make quiet time for myself, even cut my hair. But by March it falls apart. I remember something you wrote about “if you start to see yourself coming in the rear view mirror” but I can’t remember the rest. So I’m asking for help. Why does this always happen? What’s [ Read More ]

The Safe Haven of a Small, Elegant Word

July 7th, 2015   •   no comments   

Dignity. A word with few letters. On appearance not very large. But elegant. Succinct. With enormous reach when it’s authentic and honest and organic. Not used often enough in today’s world to describe someone’s character or attitude. And yet, it is a momentous, precious, rare word.  Containing deep value. Representing deeper values. Today, in light of all the events, from the most horrific and tragic to the amazing, astounding, “did-that-really-happen” moments of the past week, it’s emerged as the key word, the most accurate, deeply appropriate and somewhat surprising word in the rulings by the highest court in the land http://is.gd/Y5knbY. [ Read More ]

How To Deal With Rude People

July 7th, 2015   •   no comments   

Dear Olive, I’m so glad we had the chance to meet and discuss this issue. As you know, being on the mortgage side of real estate focused on sales and marketing requires me to call on people I don’t know in the hopes I’ll be able to help them see the value of our services. That can often lead to situations where I am confronted by rude people. I also send out a lot of emails and at times I’m asked to remove people from my list. That can be both surprising and hurtful, too. But when these things happy, [ Read More ]

“Out There On My Own”

May 13th, 2015   •   no comments   

Dear Olive, I like the columns you write, especially the recent one about how hard it is to get rid of stuff when selling a house. I’ve got the reverse problem. I’ve never been married and have been independent since college. I don’t collect stuff. I’ve done without a lot of things my friends take for granted, focused instead on saving my money with one goal in mind: to own my own place. A place just for me, on my own, door shut, away from the noisy world. I admit I missed a lot of fun including trips to Mexico [ Read More ]

“Five Steps to Starting Over in 2015: Step One”

January 6th, 2015   •   no comments   
“Five Steps to Starting Over in 2015: Step One”

With a fresh new year and beginning in front of us, I’m constantly reminded of the remarkable resilience we have to recover, re-form, reinstate and recommit our best intentions and loftiest goals. And I’m also reminded, every year at this time, by so many of my readers, of how the same questions arise, year after year, many of them heartbreaking and touching but oh, so familiar. Whether the resolution is focused on how to lose weight or keep things neater or save more money or get sober, they cover everything, big and small. What all of these wants share is [ Read More ]

“The Miracle 95 Feet in the Air”

July 27th, 2014   •   no comments   
“The Miracle 95 Feet in the Air”

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 ]

“While You’re Spring Cleaning, You Might…”

March 11th, 2014   •   no comments   
“While You’re Spring Cleaning, You Might…”

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 ]

PERSONAL BEST® CEO OLIVE GALLAGHER RESUMES TEACHING THE INNER BOTTOM LINE

March 10th, 2014   •   no comments   

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 ]

The Cover of the Book

December 22nd, 2013   •   no comments   
The Cover of the Book

During this season of gift-giving, we tend to get so caught up in the packaging we sometimes overlook the importance of real value. I found this touching dilemma a sad but accurate reflection of how easy it is for us to get caught up in the fantasy and overlook the truth until it’s unavoidable, often painful. Dear Olive, I’ve just returned from a disappointing, frustrating trip to meet someone I only knew through letters and the phone. We didn’t meet online but were introduced by mutual friends over the phone. Since that first chat, when things seemed to just click, [ Read More ]