Your chance to bounce higher

No matter who you are, you feel less comfortable financially than you did last year. And particularly if that's the only comfort you knew, you're hurting. The good news is that you also feel less complacent!

When calamity triggers enough adrenaline to incite you, you get a second wind. Necessity is truly the mother of invention.

If you haven't gotten more creative and motivated yet, you can. You will, once you feel that spark of hope and begin to fan it.

Sometimes it takes things getting worse, even when you think they can't. Recognizing that they can inspires gratitude for what you had and still have, as well as compassion for others. When I get sick, I find myself more thankful for my health and more empathetic toward those with chronic problems.

Disaster calls us together. It shifts the focus to what we have in common — and inevitably demonstrates the strength of alliance for mutual benefit.

In our mind's eye, we put ourselves in our brother's shoes. We realize that we share the same habitat, the same economy and the same DNA ... and that roles are simply roles, subject to change. "Be nice to people on your way up because you meet them on your way down," said Jimmy Durante.

Epic changes — in the home, the workplace and the community — may leave you wondering whether you're climbing up or down the ladder. And as stereotypes crumble, you just might find the courage to lose your ego.

"Househusbands of Hollywood," which premieres in August on Fox Reality Channel, presents five high-powered, bread-winning wives and the men behind them. If you're stuck in gender typecasting, stay tuned.

Trying on a partner's role is a great tool for creating more understanding, which leads to acceptance. And acceptance goes a long way toward loving somebody, anybody!

As staff in the office shrinks, you could actually be confused about who's doing what. And if you're confused, you can imagine how confused outsiders are. I recently ran out of people I could call by name before finding somebody who was still employed at the bank.

Many people don't know if they're going to have a job tomorrow ... but they know they're not alone. And standing together, blurring the lines that can divide us, builds community, as well as homes and businesses.

When it seems like things can't get worse, and they do, they just got better. It's when the ball hits bottom that it starts to bounce up again.

"I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom," said Gen. George S. Patton.

We may be unable to defy gravity ... but we can sure enough rebound. The best way to bail somebody else out may be to let him find out what he's made of when he hits the ground.

It's time to discover who we are and start the ascension.

I'm not questioning anybody's innate goodness. If you've read my latest book, or just my column for while, you know that. But I am suggesting that many people have yet to find their goodness.

They don't know that they can climb again, that they didn't just get lucky the first time. Oh, I know, some of them did get lucky; some of them just knew somebody who got lucky! But that doesn't mean they're "bad" or "weak"; it only means they're afraid that they are, which makes them terrified of falling.

If we are to succeed together — and that's the only way to succeed — we can't deny people the opportunity to discover their resiliency. We must help them to find and draw on their individual vigor, as well as the vigor of our union.

We can ALL be comfortable again ... but let's not ever get as "comfortable" as we were ignoring our responsibility to demonstrate our individual goodness, thinking that somebody else could do it for us.