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February Events: Free and All Welcome!

Posted on January 18, 2019 by Kim Thompson Posted in BEST Updates, Brain Injury Awareness, Caregiver Matters, Community News, Education, Our BEST Stories, Special Events, Travel Adventures Leave a comment

 

Arts and Crafts Holidays Our BEST Space veterans

Superheroes Shop Here!

Posted on January 17, 2019 by Kim Thompson Posted in BEST Updates, Community News, Our BEST Stories, Travel Adventures Leave a comment

Want to be a superhero? Then visit us at the Superhero Shoppe for all your superhero and gift needs! Here are all the details:

Who: All Superheroes and their friends!

What: A shoppe that offers fun and unique superhero gifts, accessories and more. Proceeds from the Superhero Shoppe support the superheroes of the brain injury community and the superhero programs, services and resources offered at Our BEST Space. The Superhero Shoppe also proudly features the work of paper artist, Diane Rasch of Heartfelt Tidbits of Creativity.

When:  Superhero Shoppe hours are Wednesdays from 12pm to 6 pm and Thursdays 10 am to 4 pm.

Where: 2607 Bridgeport Way W. Suite #1H, University Place, Washington. Click here for driving directions.

Why: To share superhero support and fun to the entire community (and to the world!).

More Superhero Shoppe info: Watch this space for our new online Superhero Shoppe coming soon on the BEST website! With our new and upcoming online shoppe, you can shop 24 X 7 from the convenience of home!

BEST will be adding new items regularly to the shoppe. Please visit the BEST blog for the latest inventory announcements and updates.

To note: As a volunteer organization, hours may vary. For more information, please contact us at 877-719-2378 or admin@brainenergysupportteam.org. The Superhero Shoppe accepts cash, credit card or personal check (with valid ID and from a local bank only). We do not accept bills $50 and higher.

Superhero Superhero Shoppe Superheroes

Get Creative EVERY Wednesday at Our BEST Space!

Posted on January 16, 2019 by Kim Thompson Posted in BEST Updates, Community News, Education, Special Events, Travel Adventures Leave a comment

Arts Crafts Creative Time Diane Rasch Our BEST Space

What’s Happening at Our BEST Space!

Posted on January 15, 2019 by Kim Thompson Posted in BEST Updates, Brain Injury Awareness, Caregiver Matters, Community News, Education, Our BEST Stories, Project Peer, Special Events, Training Workshops, Travel Adventures Leave a comment

Our BEST Space

BEST Monday Motivation: January 14, 2019

Posted on January 14, 2019 by Kim Thompson Posted in Quote Of The Week Leave a comment

Sometimes, having lots of resolutions and goals to kick off the new year can be challenging. What if we simplified it? What do you think of this? 💖😉

Monday Motivation

Save the date: Valentine Gratitude Party February 10, 2019

Posted on January 11, 2019 by Kim Thompson Posted in BEST Updates, Community News, Special Events, Travel Adventures Leave a comment

Arts Crafts Diane Rasch HeadStrong Heartfelt Tidbits of Creativity Holidays Superheroes Valentine's Gratitude Party

Be Excellent

Posted on January 10, 2019 by Kim Thompson Posted in Our BEST Stories Leave a comment

(Editor’s Note: Enjoy writer Isaac Peterson’s best advice to kick off the new year in this must-read article. Here’s to excellence! Thank you, Isaac! KT)

So, we can finally put 2018 is behind us, and we can now only view it in the rear view mirror. I say finally not because it was a bad year, but because it just seemed like it would never end.

How’s everybody doing with their New Year’s resolutions? I’m doing great on that score since I don’t really make resolutions. But there is one deal I made with myself: to be excellent; not a resolution, but a promise and a commitment.

I use excellent instead of perfect for one reason: perfection is a place that is pretty much impossible to reach. I’ve been called both a perfect gentleman and a perfect idiot, but those are just figures of speech.  I do try to be an excellent gentleman when I can, though, an idiot, not so much.

Excellence is attainable; one of the ways to get there, in my mind, is to always try my best–that way I can’t help but get better all the time. If something is worth doing, why not be excellent at it?

I don’t usually start out being excellent, but I do try hard to get there.

There is no shame in not being perfect, but being excellent is something to definitely be proud of. If you don’t achieve a goal you’ve set, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed, it just means you need to keep working on it or that you need to set a more realistic, attainable goal. I know traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors have plenty of goals–chief among them is to get past having a TBI. That may or may not be realistic since lots of brain injury survivors have the injury for years or decades, and there’s not much that can be done about that.

However dealing with life with a determination to make the best of it, is indeed possible.

If you can do that, it will set you apart from a lot of survivors who choose to wallow in self pity and stay stuck. But if you decide to constantly identify areas where you can improve, it won’t make you perfect, but it will make you an excellent role model for others and your quality of life can improve incrementally.

That would be most excellent, wouldn’t it?  Just not giving up and giving in will make you an excellent role model.

Learn from your setbacks and use what you learned from it. Keep doing that and you will be excellent by just making the conscious effort and not giving up.

So what does excellence mean? The team that loses the Superbowl aren’t losers. I mean, there are 32 teams and they came in number two out of 32 teams for the season. They weren’t perfect: they didn’t win, but they are excellent.  If you look at it that way, you can be excellent at things you do too: you don’t have to be the best but you can be excellent.

There is no shame in losing the 100 meter dash in the Olympics; it doesn’t mean someone is a loser.  If they weren’t excellent they wouldn’t have made it onto the Olympic team.

On a personal level, when I was in junior high school I came in second in a regional spelling contest. I misspelled a word or two, but I was still an excellent speller. Other people thought so and still think so–I still get asked how to spell words by other people.

Myself, I always try to be as excellent at writing as I can. Unfortunately that’s an area that I’m not able to judge. We can be our own harshest critic; it’s difficult to see ourselves as we are or the way the world sees us. When we get feedback we don’t want to hear, though, we have a perfect opportunity to be excellent. Someone just gave us an area where maybe we could work on to get better.

One way to know when you reach excellence is when others notice, and when they notice, they will tell you. What you need to do then is work on staying excellent, and not beat yourself up for not being perfect. Why waste your time and energy on something you likely not ever be able to, no matter how hard you try?

I hope you will try to be excellent at life. If you have a TBI, the deficiencies you suddenly have shouldn’t keep you from excellence in anything you choose to do. You’ve already come a long way; there are people who don’t survive the experience, but you did. In that way, you are already excellent.

Now just live your life the best way you are able, and you will be excellent at life.

One more thing: you are already excellent at something else–since everyone is a unique individual that means you can already do something no one else can, and that’s being yourself. You already excel at that. If you’re like me, you can always be better at something, always find areas you need to work on, but still be an excellent you.

Let’s all go out there and be excellent. What do you say?

Isaac Peterson performing. (courtesy photo).

Isaac Peterson grew up on an Air Force base near  Cheyenne, Wyoming. After graduating from the University of Wyoming, he embarked on a career as an award-winning investigative journalist and as a semi-professional musician in the Twin Cities, the place he called home on and off for 35 years. He also doesn’t mind it at all if someone offers to pick up his restaurant tab. Peterson also welcomes reader comments. Email him at isaac3rd@gmail.com.

Be Excellent empowerment Excellence Isaac Peterson

Kick off the New Year with Creative Time!

Posted on January 8, 2019 by Kim Thompson Posted in BEST Updates, Community News, Special Events Leave a comment

Creative Time Diane Rasch Heartfelt Tidbits of Creativity Our BEST Space

BEST Monday Motivation: January 7, 2019

Posted on January 7, 2019 by Kim Thompson Posted in Quote Of The Week Leave a comment

In the month of resolutions, changes, and new starts, here’s an important reminder. 😉💖

empowerment Monday Motivation self-care

Who are the Next BEST Superheroes for 2019?

Posted on January 4, 2019 by Kim Thompson Posted in BEST Updates, Brain Injury Awareness, Caregiver Matters, Our BEST Stories, Second Life, Special Events Leave a comment

There are superheroes among us and we want to hear about them!

Do you know a survivor, caregiver or community supporter who is putting the power in personal empowerment? Soaring to new heights? Doing cool things?  Bringing superhero-size support to the brain injury community?

BEST is now accepting nominations for 2019!

Nominate your superhero for the BEST Superhero of the Month for some superhero team recognition.

Click here to get started today!

BEST Superhero of the Month
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And the love continues. 💖 #TBITalk #MondayMotivation #quoteoftheweek #communitylove #love #sendinglove https://t.co/ZdscnIZhlU

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RT @MyPowertalk: Never let others plant stress and fear in your mind. Where attention goes energy flows. You are the designer of your lif…

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