We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.    The Dalai Lama I saw an explosive interaction between a customer and a cashier recently that got me thinking about anger.  It quickly escalated as they shouted about the other being disrespectful.   Neither one of them were able to...Read More

I think the way I want to think. I live the way I want to live. – Sidney Poitier Work-life balance comes up a lot. I try not to use the term because it is both delusional and blamey. We all want the self-regulation and energy to do all the things that matter to us....Read More

Like a pebble dropped into a pond, circles radiate outward from the center of the situation. Which circle are you in? Recently, I witnessed a troubling conversation.  A friend just had cancer surgery and an acquaintance asked how she was and then launched into a rant about how her father also had a similar cancer. ...Read More

It’s a relationship one has with their resources (Cavanaugh, 2021).   Sure, our internal characteristics help us access those outside resources.  But one can be as adaptable, gritty, and optimistic as humanly possible yet if we don’t have resources, failure or breakage ensues.  Picture an emergency department deluged with patients, ambulances arriving continuously.  There is a...Read More

“There’s a way to do it better – find it.”  Thomas Edison There is a parable used to help addicts but it has wide applicability to everyone.  It goes like this- a boat full of joyful people launches from the dock.  They notice a woman running down the banks of the river trying to catch...Read More

The best thing one can do when it is raining is let it rain. ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow “Parent the Child you Have” is a slogan used in parenting but has application for all aspects of life.  To accept what is, not what we hoped for.   Our distress gets turned up when We want what we...Read More

I’m never more courageous than when I’m embracing imperfection, embracing vulnerabilities, and setting boundaries with the people in my life.                                              Brené Brown I was first introduced to the idea that we can “create...Read More

I am delighted to announce after a very long time, a book I wrote is now published! Choosing Wellness: Unconventional  Wisdom for the Overwhelmed, the Discouraged, the Addicted , the Fearful, or the Stuck. It is a series of essays on how, for the most part, we have so much choice– we have so much...Read More

“Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.” — Rainer Maria Rilke The pandemic has taken many of us to our raggedy edge. I’ve spoken with and listened to thousands of people across this country  over the last 14 months and here are some practices I’ve learned or...Read More

Self-control is the chief element in self-respect, and self-respect is the chief element in courage.  Thucydides 460 B.C-395 B.C. Much has been said about fake optimism and that stupid yellow smiley face a year into this pandemic. It is not healthy for us to deny what’s really true for us and stuffing feelings is the...Read More