On a walk with my dog I saw a young girl creating chalk drawings on her driveway. She also had written out a few pearls of wisdom, one of which is the following: “We’ve been given millions of seconds on this earth to use. Did you use one to smile today?” I don’t know her […]
One way to understand why the holidays are so stressful is to take an ACT-based approach to rethinking holiday stress. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, a values-based approach to dealing with mental distress, is the perfect framework for understanding holiday stress because stress often occurs when two or more strongly held values conflict with each other. […]
Time is one thing that busy career professionals have very little of. When fifteen minutes or more opens up, it’s usually to grab a bite, call family or maybe catch up on business communications. Extra time for mindfulness is no doubt a pipe dream. “According to the World Health Organization, one third of your life […]
“Thoughts bring to the thinker something of equal consistency,” states Mary Brown, an energy practitioner. “This is why people become what they fear.” When you worry you draw worrisome issues your way. We all worry. There are so many people who are fraught with worry to the point of holding them back from doing what […]
Sitting in my kitchen listening to the birds chat, I am enjoying the last few quiet moments before my three kids wake up and the daily chaos begins. We are headed south this morning to a food truck festival. The one thing the four of us can agree on is that we like to eat and are willing to try most foods. […]
I will admit I like caffeine. I have a cup (or two) of coffee in the morning and sometimes green tea in the afternoon. I try to do half-caff or just stick to green tea, but I know the power of this afternoon boost when I start feeling sluggish. I also know the damage it […]
The word MIND in “mind-full-ness” is something to think about. Nobody– not even the sharpest knife in the drawer–knows what mind is, how it does what it does or can accurately measure “thought.” Just ask the greatest scholar: “What’s mind?” “What’s thought?” “Where does it live?” “Where are thoughts when you’re not thinking them?” “Is there […]
All of us have experienced the feeling of being overwhelmed at one time or another. And I’m certain we believe from time to time that “balance” is an unattainable oasis. But if we ignore the possibility entirely we are limiting our capacity to function. It’s like saying I can keep on driving on an empty […]
There’s something very freeing in honest transparency. Once you own a mistake, you’re able to let go of the guilt or shame associated with it and begin the process of learning from your mistake and moving beyond it. Of course this isn’t always easy. Especially when your mistake may have hurt others or made you […]
Eighteen years ago I remember what I was thinking when I started meditation: my mind is all over the place and I’ll never get it to stop. There is good news for us thinkers—I found out that the purpose of meditation does not include stopping our mind. We do gently redirect our minds towards our breath […]
