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Serving Queen Anne & Magnolia Since 1919 www.QueenAnneNews.com
JANUARY 22, 2025
VOL. 106, NO. 4
& W QueenAnne&Magnolia news
Where are you playing small?
QueenAnne
hen things don’t go our way, our first instinct is to find external conditions to blame. For example, we might say to ourselves, I can’t advance at work because of the corporate culture, the economy, or my boss’ personality. Erica In doing Browne so we fail Grivas to consider Get Growing a most impactful idea: that we are living within self-imposed limitations. Why is this so important? First, because even if the culture, economy or your boss are factors in your professional success at your current role, those conditions are not under your control. Our self-beliefs are the strongest levers we have in shaping our perspective of the world, and while it may not feel like it much of the time, they are under our control. Second, we tend to have a long-standing blind spot when it comes to self-reflection, so it would be foolish to ignore what influence our self-view may be playing in our life. Our brains feed on past expectations to predict and respond efficiently to future situations. Conditional behavioral training techniques like Pavlov and his dogs use this mechanism to shape behavior. When the bell rings, it’s feeding time. When first training a trick or behavior, a dog may need treats and lots of repetition. Eventually, they need fewer triggers to elicit the behavior. As the behavior becomes reinforced, the trigger or signal can be phased from treats to a word or hand signal. Our bodies are doing this unconsciously all the time. We create protective patterns to avoid pain. If your shoulder is stiff, you might change your posture, leaning to the opposite side. That’s not a problem for a week or so, but over months can cause muscle imbalances and injuries. Playing tennis recently for the first time in a long while, I realized I was hanging back, not running for the ball, just in case I might tweak my tricky knee. It was a casual hitting session, so I just let balls go by me. It made me wonder; what shots am I missing in other areas without realizing it? As our nervous systems seek input from the environment about our safety, our body and brain respond – usually with one of our preset belief or behavior patterns. Some patterns are more obvious, like a positive association with chocolate and warm blankets, or getting tense before a
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Magnolia news
COURTESY STATE OF WASHINGTON
Bob Ferguson
Bob Ferguson sworn in as Washington governor, delivers inaugural address By Carleen Johnson The Center Square
A day after outgoing three-term Gov. Jay Inslee delivered his final State of the State address, Bob Ferguson was sworn in as the state’s 24th governor on Wednesday. Ferguson has served as the state attorney general since 2013 and was a member of the King County Council before that. Following the swearing-in of other statewide executives, Ferguson took the oath of office administered by Washington Supreme Court Chief Justice Debra Stephens. He began his midday speech
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before a joint legislative session in the House of Representatives. Ferguson did not shy away from pointing out where he thought the state government was failing and detailed his plans to address the major challenges facing the Evergreen State. Ferguson, a Democrat, takes the reins as Washington faces a potential operating budget shortfall of between $10 billion and $16 billion over the next four years. He has asked state agencies to find efficiencies worth $4 billion. “Despite these and other challenges, I’m optimistic,” Ferguson said. He noted the state is often
bogged down in bureaucracy when residents and businesses need prompt results. The speech had a bipartisan tone, with Ferguson calling out several Republican lawmakers for legislation they are backing and noting that he would support their bills. “Let us listen to one another, without consideration for party, so that the strongest argument prevails,” Ferguson said. “Let me be specific with examples of how we can work in a bipartisan way.” He mentioned House Bill 1022 sponsored by Rep. April Connors, R-Kennewick. “I am excited to work with you to get your Homes for Heroes legislation to my desk,” the governor said. “Let’s recognize the contributions of police officers, firefighters, behavioral
health professionals and other critical public servants and ensure they can access low-interest loans to purchase their first homes.” Ferguson also mentioned possible support of emergency powers reform to Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia. “Sen. Braun, l hope to work with you to adopt reasonable limits on the governor’s emergency powers,” he said. “We can do that together.” Emergency powers reforms stalled in the last four sessions under Inslee. Ferguson said he supports a law enforcement bill from Sen. Jeff Holy, R-Cheney. “Senator Holy, thank you for your legislation proposing a $100 million grant program to help local law enforcement agencies hire more well-trained officers
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