My sweet niece is getting married. She lives in a different state than most of her family, and consequently feels the wedding plans are a bit one-sided. She is desperate to be surrounded by her own family. I readily agreed to throw a bridal shower for this fun-loving, VERY Yellow niece in her hometown. This is how it all started: Talk about clueless. I win the prize for being clueless. And I have no excuse. I work for Color Code. Lets break down this innocent little message: I was hoping to have a little shower at your house.

How a Red reads this: I would li

I bought a Fitbit®. For those of you who have been say, on the moon, a Fitbit® is a small device that when tucked into your pocket, counts the steps you walk in the course of a day—all 24 hours of it. This latest craze recommends that you walk 10,000 steps in those 24 hours. Easy right? Ha! Being a Red, it is important for me to be challenged and I thought this handy little piece of technology would do exactly that. Ha! again. I have owned said product since February 18th and have yet to walk 10,000 steps in a day. The closest I have come is 8,044 steps and that is the day I had to visit the Apple Store’s Genius Bar and ended

St. Patrick’s day is celebrated on March 17th throughout the world. Throughout the celebration, you will most likely see a someone wearing t-shirt that exclaiming “Kiss me, I’m Irish” no matter whether the wearer is Irish or not. On March 17th, there’s a bit o' the Irish in all of us. Another saying you’ll find oft repeated  “The Luck of the Irish”. The origin of the saying is an old one. It could actually mean good luck or bad. Some believe that the Irish are inherently lucky while others believe that the Irish people have suffered great hardship throughout history and the term is one of irony. So, when talking about luck,

4 Building Blocks for Charactered Children The family is gathered for the holidays. You have gone out of your way to search out the perfect gift. You may have spent more than planned, but you believe it will be worth it when you see the light in the child’s eye. Then, everything implodes. The child opens the gift and says, “Is that ALL?” or “I didn’t want this!” or “You got me clothes?!” You are torn between embarrassment and anger. You want to take the gift back from him, but fear you’ll look as immature as the child. Sadly, many of us are raising our children in a “is that all?” society. We

“Everybody likes a compliment.” -Abraham Lincoln Everybody does like a compliment when it is heartfelt and sincere. Nothing gives us greater validation and self-assurance than the recognition provided by someone we respect. According to Phycologytoday.com’s article The Art of the Compliment, “Focusing on and noticing the good qualities in the world around us gives our moods a boost all by itself. Plus, it is a kind of cognitive training, a training of attention. In addition, compliments amplify positivity; they not only deliver positive effects to others, those effects bounce back on us, ramping up the positive atmo

You know what you did was wrong…you hurt someone and you feel guilt over it. Now it’s time to rebuild the relationship you jeopardized. What can you say to make the wronged party accept your apology? Saying you’re sorry is more difficult for some than others, but it is important that what you say is sincere and heartfelt. An empty apology is often worse than none at all, creating more pressure on your relationship. The first step is to own your wrongdoing. Take responsibility. Do not say things like, “I lost my temper because you…” or “I’m sorry I called you that name, but you make me so angry sometimes.” Blaming

I’ve raised them the same, but they are soooo different. I can’t believe they came from the same family! We hear that all the time. The truth is, your children are very different−innately. And as someone with her own unique driving core motive (DCM), you respond differently to each of those little personalities. A Red parent may have difficulty with a Blue child’s intense emotion. A Yellow parent can’t understand why her White child isn’t outgoing. The chart below shows us how some colors are complementary to one another while others are non-complementary. So, as a parent, you may love your children with all your he

On September 11, 2001 the world watched as the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed. On the same day, my own little piece of the world was collapsing. My mother was diagnosed with stage-four cancer and she was in the process of dying. Her life ended on September 20, and it felt as though mine would too. I was devastated, and privately mourned her well. I didn’t show anyone else the depth of my grief, but instead remained stoic. My lack of visible emotion was misinterpreted as at best, denial, and at worst, downright indifference. At some point in our lives, we all have to face the death of a loved-one, close friend, or even a

Last month we discussed how to celebrate Mother’s Day based on each driving core motive. This month, we’ll tackle Father's Day. This will be a bit more complex, because we have to allow for what I call the “man filter”. What is the “man filter?” It is the socialital imposed filter that says, “boys don’t cry”, or “tough it out”, or “real men don’t eat quiche.” You know what I mean. They have learned the need to be strong and unemotional, regardless of their Color Code driving core motive. I know, I know…we all have filters—including women. But, for this article, we will include this particular filter

My dear Blue father strongly dislikes the fact that, here at the Color Code, we refer to the Blue and Red personalities as “heavyweights” and the Yellow and White personalities as “lightweights”. Perhaps there is a negative connotation associated with one or both of those words for him—or he just never liked boxing… Regardless of why, in honor of Father’s Day, this article will attempt to give my father—and anyone else who may benefit by it—another, perhaps more palatable and “Shakespearean” if you will humor me, way of viewing this aspect of our different personalities. To Seek Control or Avoid Control—Tha

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