Be Happy: Just because your teen is unhappy, doesn’t mean you have to be!
I live in a home with two teens and two preteens. In the South, where I live, people tend to respond to this fact by saying, “Oh, bless your heart.” Yes, bless my heart. Bless it with happiness and strength. For, if there is a theme for our lives right now it is this: Moods [...]
Top Ten Videos that Will Make You Cry (In a Good Way!)
NOTE: Scroll on down if you just want to see the “TOP TEN Videos that Will Make You Cry”! I am a big believer in the healing power of tears. I believe this because I am a cryer. I cry at weddings. Graduations. Bar Mitzvahs. Movies. Poetry. Prayers. And yes, even commercials. I cry every [...]
Be Joyful: A Missing Diamond is Cause for Celebration
I was at a meeting in a local coffee shop when I saw it. Or rather, when I didn’t see it. The diamond from my engagement ring. The symbol of undying love and commitment that I have been wearing every day for nearly two decades. Gone. At first I thought maybe my middle-aged eyes were [...]
Be Caring: Care for your heart. It is a home for multitudes
i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart) i am never without it (anywhere i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling) . . . - e.e. cummings I am large. I contain multitudes. - Walt Whitman We carry those we [...]
How To Be Compassionate: You really have nothing better to do . . .
My clock-radio is always set to wake me to the morning news. Sometimes I question the wisdom of this decision. Most of the stories that are broadcast in the morning are not especially uplifting or motivating. I often think that a tooth-rattling alarm might be more pleasant to wake to. This morning’s news was especially [...]
How to Be Courageous: Is love really a battlefield?
Back in 1983, Pat Benetar released the song “Love is a Battlefield”. Well, some three decades later, it continues to strike a chord in many people. It has been covered by singers like Cher, Carrie Underwood, Selena Gomez, Shakira, and Mary J. Blige. And if you search for the words “love is a battlefield” on [...]
How To Be Reconciled: Finding common ground
My husband and I are soul mates. We’re best friends. And from time to time, we fight. Because we’re human. And because sometimes we just feel like we’re right and the other person’s blatantly wrong and unconscionably inconsiderate. I’m sure you know the feeling. In one of our recent arguments, I found myself trying to [...]
How To Be Celebratory: The release of our new video, “Sticky Notes”
I saw this video in my head long before it made it’s premier on YouTube. The actors. The expressions. The movements. I knew just how it would unfold. Just how it would be paced. I wanted to make a short film that would illustrate what it means to have a “To Be List.” And with [...]
How To Be Loving: A Mother’s Message of Love
Today is Mother’s Day. My mother passed away thirteen years ago, in September of 1996. She had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about eighteen months before. After surgery and treatment, she went into remission for over a year. In that time that she was in remission, I became pregnant with our first child. Her first [...]
How To Be Loving: Treat everything you touch as you would a beloved child
The other day I was telling my teenage daughter how odd it is (if you think about it — which I do) that if you are having trouble with some object — let’s say a cell phone that loses it’s signal — it’s considered completely normal, perfectly reasonable behavior to curse that object and [...]