….what else matters besides being kind to ourselves and kind to others? As we mourn the violent murder of George Floyd and so many other innocent people of color, amidst a pandemic that is hitting black and brown communities hardest, we descend into an economic depression. Rage naturally erupts from these wretched injustices and lack...Read More

Our Life is What our Thoughts Make It Marcus Aurelius, 121AD- 180AD   I recently began practicing stoicism—not to become an emotionless person, but to minimize negative emotions.  Its antifragile or toughness-training.  Even though the Stoics wrote their philosophy over 2,000 years ago–their wisdom is so relevant to our modern life.  Who among us does...Read More

One day you finally knew what you had to do… and began. -Mary Oliver The metaphor of a frog* dropped in boiling water will jump out, but if heated very gradually will be boiled to death, applies to our health too. The gradual degradation hardly gets noticed until one day, we are confronted with the...Read More

When my sister was in the throes of addiction, I did everything I could to try to fix her, make her different. No matter what I did, the outcome was the same: chaos and heartbreak. A client spent hours leading a search for a new director. A well-qualified candidate was selected, but the boss said...Read More

He who sows hurry reaps indigestion. Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish philosopher 1850-1894 An interesting study at the Princeton Theological Seminary tells a troubling story about how well-intentioned humans can behave when we are in a rush. The students were given a lecture on the parable of The Good Samaritan, and then were told they had...Read More

When I was growing up, I was one of six kids and my father owned a toy store in Hackensack, New Jersey. What I learned as a teenager, was that his leftover inventory became our Christmas presents. While I slept, the delivery truck from his store would back up the driveway late Christmas Eve. What...Read More

One Person’s Experience with Integrity Comfortable shoes and the freedom to leave are the two most important things in life. –Shell Silverstein A colleague of mine accepted a senior clinical position at a large research hospital She quickly saw that the culture was focused on conducting research, with attention to patients as a secondary priority....Read More

Our habits of mind can play incredible tricks on us. One of the first things I learned to do as a nurse was to accurately name things… once we have the accurate assessment, then the right remedy can follow. This simple principle can help us self-regulate, get unstuck and acknowledge and remedy unspecified stress or...Read More

You cannot step into the same river twice. Heraclitus [Philosopher 544 BC – 483 BC] Parenting teenagers forces us to operate in unknown territory. I have found it to be complex and ever changing. It is not intuitive and what works in one situation or kid, doesn’t work in another. Parenting forces us to be...Read More

Instead of heading for a big mental breakdown, I decided to have a small breakdown every Tuesday evening. ― Graham Parke, author Symptoms can be an astonishing way for our bodies to get our full attention and bypass our minds.  Projectile vomiting announces food poisoning, severe abdominal pain can proclaim appendicitis.  Other signs are less...Read More