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 [...]
Be Courageous: All Meaningful Paths Begin with a Single Step
The path to peace begins with unrest. The path to wisdom begins with unknowing. The path to love begins with loneliness. The path to a new life begins with the old. If we want to get to where we are going, we must first compassionately accept where we are. Then take one brave step forward [...]
Be Different: Because in being different, we are all the same
During the month of December, I’ll be participating in a project called Reverb 10. Reverb 10 is “an open online initiative that encourages participants to reflect on this year and manifest what’s next. It’s an opportunity to retreat and consider the reverberations of your year past, and those that you’d like to create in the year ahead.” Each day [...]
How To Be Devoted: Wishing won’t make it easier. Practice will.
I wish . . . I wish I could play the cello. I wish I could do calligraphy. I wish I could rock climb. I wish I could grow an organic garden. I wish I could speak a foreign language. I wish . . . I wish . . . I wish . . . [...]
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 Unburdened: Stop wrestling with your negative thoughts!
Yesterday on Facebook, I posted a simple proposal: “Name one thing you can let go of today to lighten your load.” I expected to get concrete answers: meetings, errands, appointments, household clutter, or chores. What I got back surprised me. Most of the answers were not about concrete objects or time-sensitive work, but about habitual thoughts, [...]
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 Happy: Forget your troubles? Easier sung than done!
Remember the Judy Garland song that goes, “Forget your troubles! C’mon get happy!”? It’s a great tune if you want to get up and dance. But as advice goes, it’s pretty lousy. First of all, it’s scarce on details. Forget your troubles? How does one even begin to do such a thing? Our troubles [...]
How To Be Relaxed: Don’t give in to “Prepositional Panic”
I suffer intermittently from a widely suffered yet rarely diagnosed syndrome. It’s called Prepositional Panic. I thought I might describe the symptoms to you so that in case you suffer from the same ailment, you might seek treatment for your symptoms. Those who suffer from Prepositional Panic might find that they suffer from a [...]
How To Be Understanding: Comforting your consuming emotions
We all have the experience with being afflicted by the ravages of consuming emotions: Guilt. Envy. Bitterness. Worry. Despair. These are the emotions that feed on the goodness of our hearts, bit by bit taking from the heart’s abundant energy. These emotions eat away at us, but they are never satisfied. Never nourished. Whatever energy [...]