Margaret Dawson’s Blog
Shining Your True Light!
This blog is my passion project around empowering you to be true to yourself by rediscovering and shining your light! I use my own life, experiences, and learnings in hopes that my stories will help others. My ultimate goal is to finish writing a teaching memoir book that brings it all together. However, for now, I am focused on this blog and writing here.
Through my speaking, coaching, and writing on this topic, I’ve learned that this struggle to be true to ourselves is a human phenomenon that nearly everyone faces at one time in their lives. Discovering and shining our true light is a universal theme.
Therefore, this blog and site is more than just my place to write and hopefully empower others around this topic. Margaret Dawson Blog is a community, a safe place, and a platform for everyone to discuss how to discover and shine their light on the world. We will also discuss related topics that are near and dear to my heart and my work, like friendship, parenting, life’s challenges, and keeping our sense of humor. You will also see content related to my decades of working in the technology industry, both from a women’s perspective and an overall tech perspective.
We want to hear your stories, too. Do you have something to share from your journey in rediscovering your light that can help others? Is there a passion project or issue you want everyone to learn about? If you have a story to share or you would like to be a guest blogger, please contact us.
Choosing Joy in a Sometimes Joyless World
Have you ever felt numb, like you’re surviving but not thriving? If yes, then let’s take this journey together from darkness to light, from sadness to joy. I share 6 happiness habits I am using to respark my happiness. I am choosing joy every day.
6 Tips for Using Self Love Affirmations
What are the benefits of self love affirmations and why do we need them? In this post, I continue the discussion of my continuous journey to validate myself and stay grounded in a healthy self through self-affirming mantras. I also provide 6 tips for creating and using affirmations.
Coping with a family member’s mental illness or addiction
I previously wrote about our family’s experience with mental illness and addiction. Through this, I realized there are many of us coping with a family member’s mental illness or addiction. I share seven strategies that help me, and I hope they help you or someone you know.
Leadership Development Goals: Focusing on the How
The new year brings fresh ideas and time to set our personal resolutions and our professional leadership development goals. Margaret shares her personal development plan for this year, which focuses more on the HOW and her behaviors rather than the what or her competence.
Defining Civility in Today’s World
What is civility and how do we achieve it in today’s world? Join civility expert, author, and consultant Diana Damron as she defines civility and how to achieve it. She provides actions we can take now to unleash civility in our lives, homes, workplace, and even in politics.
Gluten Free Cardamom Coffee Cake Recipe
Margaret loves adapting her favorite recipes to gluten free versions. This is her adaptation of the rich, savory Cardamom Coffee Cake recipe from the original Moosewood Cookbook. This gluten free version is just as rich and addicting – and only gluten free not fat free!
Overcoming the Addiction and Mental Health Stigma
I share a story of our own experience with addiction and mental health, and how we learned first hand the strong mental health stigma that permeates our country and the world. I hope our story, and how we continue to work together as a family, will give you hope and support.
Compassionate Capitalism Isn’t an Oxymoron
Capitalism and socialism are seen as opposite sides of a spectrum. However, what if we all practiced compassionate capitalism where financial success and social good are both achieved. Margaret discusses what it takes to do this.
Work Life Balance Tips for Parents
Every working mother, and father, struggles with balancing a job and family. Over the years, Margaret established a set of guidelines as she continues to seek balance amid an imbalanced life. Here’s her story and 8 guidelines for achieving work life balance.
7 Life Lessons I Learned From My Dog
When we brought home a rescue dog from the local shelter, we thought we were saving him. But in fact, this beautiful Plott Hound has taught us so much about life and love. I share seven life lessons I’ve learned from my dog about joy, trust, energy, and being present in the moment.
Racism through the Eyes of a Child
Margaret looks at racism through the eyes of a child and a mother, sharing memories and experiences from the innocence of her childhood. Throughout, she asks questions and tries to understand why we are still dealing with racism and what we can do about it.
Crisis Leadership Tips Amid Covid19: Six Strategies
Crisis leadership is a skill all leaders need, but during this global pandemic, the ability to build trust, human connection, and employee morale is more important than ever. Leaning on her research and experience, Margaret outlines six crisis leadership tips.
Margaret’s Favorite Filipino Recipe: Chicken Adobo
I love many foods and flavors, but one of my all time favorites is Philippine cuisine. Many years ago, I started experimenting with Philippine Adobo – a classic Filippino dish. Here is my Chicken Adobo Recipe – a slight variation on the original version and, as always, gluten free.
Feeling Worthless: Learning to Change Our Inner Critic
Many of us have times where we feel worthless or not good enough. We have let external input and our own inner critic become our self-identity. Through intentional affirmation, we can change that voice and our self-image to be one of good enough, worthy and powerful.
Finding my self-identity through death and discovery
This is a story of finding your self-identity. Guest blogger Angela Misner brings us on her journey that begins with childhood fear and loneliness and travels to where she redefines family, rediscovers her heritage, and learns who she is and where she belongs.
Drinking Alcohol: My search to understand this addiction
I have always had a love hate relationship with alcohol. In spite of my father being an alcoholic and witnessing the damage alcohol can do, I never stopped drinking alcohol. But now, I am questioning why I drink as I learn more about the addiction of this drug.
Margi’s Paleo Blueberry Muffin Recipe
I love experimenting with gluten free recipes, especially when I end up with a yummy, healthy result like this. These paleo blueberry muffins are gluten free, low fat, high in fiber and protein, and delicious. If done right, they are moist and melt in your mouth, especially with butter on top.
Another New Year’s Resolution to Get Back in Shape
It happens to all of us. We stop eating healthy or exercising or taking care of yourself. While not officially a new year’s resolution, I did get back on track this January. But before I stepped back on the treadmill, I had to change the voice in my head.
Sexism: Just Another Day as a Woman In Tech
Sexism is one of those charged words. However, for most women in technology, it is sometimes a daily battle or at least a constant undercurrent. Even so, a recent experience of blatant sexism shocked me to the point I had to share.
Giving Thanks for Our Family’s Pre-holiday Thanksgiving Tradition
Our family has a Thanksgiving tradition of holding our celebration the weekend before the actual holiday. This allows most of our children to travel during a time that is both easier and cheaper. And it provides us all a chance to relax, enjoy, and give blessings.
Margi’s Gluten Free Carrot Orange Muffins
I love to bake, and since being diagnosed with Celiac disease, I enjoy creating or adapting recipes to follow a gluten-free or paleo diet. This is a family favorite, which my team also devours. The recipe is a wonderful blend of flours, flaxseed, mandarin oranges, and carrots. They’re low in sugar and high in fiber.
Politics and Genetics: More Connected Than You Think
People believe their political beliefs are mostly due to their environment. But research on Nature versus Nature suggests genes play a much larger role in how you vote. Guest author David Boyle explores the science behind Politics and Genetics.
Why We All Need Adult Summer Camp
When we are children, summer camp is a wonderful adventure away from home. Maybe adults need camp, too. Margaret shares her adventures and community building at a special adult summer camp in the Canadian countryside with other geeks, life learners, and world travelers.
Learning to Love Yourself: Amo, Amas, Amat
Dexter’s story of growing up an outcast in school and his own home teaches us all something about finding your voice, building self-esteem, and learning to love yourself. Written by Dexter Van Zile, a classmate of Margaret’s at the University of Puget Sound.
Finding Light Amid My Personal Darkness
We all experience times of darkness. But to rediscover and shine your light doesn’t just happen. It takes intentional thoughts, actions, and words, as well as forgiveness. Margaret shares a story of finding light and learning to shine it again after a dark period.
The Lost Children of Impoverished America
When I moved to the Washington Coast two years ago, I discovered a hidden face of impoverished America. Children of poor, disenfranchised small-town and Native American families. I tell the stories of two such children and offer some ideas of how to help.
Breaking the Myth of the Evil Stepmother
This is a story of two women. Mothers and stepmothers. Navigating life and parenting together, and finding a path to friendship. Unlike fairytales that depict stepmothers as evil and wicked, this story shows how stepmothers are loving moms and supportive women.
Facebook Ads Manager Nearly Tore Us Apart
Sometimes we forget to slow down and understand a situation, resulting in miscommunication and bad behavior. This is exactly what happened to the Snort Out Loud team in the aftermath of a major Facebook user experience update. Friendship won in the end.
Memories of Teenage Loneliness & Bullying
Teenage Loneliness and bullying is much too frequent, and many of us have memories of our own painful teenage years. After seeing the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen, Margaret explores her own teenage angst years and what we can do to help ourselves and others.
The Power of Providing Intentional Support
As we continue exploring our theme of Women Empowering Women, we discuss how and why we should provide intentional support of each other. Here’s a story of a group of women who found a simple way to show intentional support, and other ideas of what we can do.
My Lifelong Love Affair with the Expressive F-word
The f-word has received a bad rap for too long. Research now suggests that people who swear might be happier, healthier, smarter and more trustworthy. Here’s a story and lessons from my lifelong love affair with the F-bomb, and what science has to say about it.
How to Survive Summer Travel Season
It’s summer and time to relax and be happy. But traveling, whether by plane, train, boat, or automobile, seems to only result in stress and aggravation. Here are seven helpful survival tips for both frequent flyers and travel novices to help you be prepared and stay calm this summer travel season.
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About Margaret
Margaret Dawson is a builder, a change agent, and a coach. She is a frequent public speaker and author on technology trends, women in tech, digital marketing, women supporting women and living intentionally. Read more about Margaret.