The other day I read a beautiful post that was a tribute to a dearly departed pet. It was so touching and zinged me right where there’s a sore spot from missing my beloved dog, Biscuit, who died six years ago. I had to walk away for about 30 minutes before I could write a … More Writing From The Heart
The other day I was working at my desk when I felt like pressure tipped the scales and slid into anxiety. I had a client project that wasn’t going well, something that I tried to do for a friend didn’t turn out as I hoped, the holiday bills were adding up and I had strange … More Climbing Out Of My Gunk
Have you thought about the effectiveness of lists in writing? Take a moment and think of the famous lists that come to mind like My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music or the Ten Commandments from the Bible. Even when we can’t name them all, I bet we can name a few or most. … More Give Me a List
The other day a friend was telling me how his dad, who was a professor in the business school at the University of Washington, wrote books. He’d shut himself in his home office and for two months would just sit there with a note pad nearby. Sometimes he’d watch a game or organize stacks of … More When I Write
The paradigms, world views and ideas which we inhabit shape how we perceive and interact with the world. They impact our ideals, relationships, and values. That is, who we are and who we aspire to be. It is the task of philosophy to step back and critically examine the dominant frames and driving forces that … More East Versus West: A Look at Two Minds
You all know about the half empty or half full glass of water. By saying how you see it, you will understand if you are an optimist or not. And if you would like another perspective on a half empty or half full glass, you can read Wynne’s post The Glass Is Refillable. But what … More A Glass Full of Water
I was traveling last week, something I haven’t done without my kids in 7 years. I’d perfectly engineered the school drop-off and transfer to the nanny, filled the fridge with food, done all the laundry, and even unloaded the dishwasher. I thought I had everything well in-hand. But then I got to the airport and … More The Glass Is Refillable
Intuition has always been a fascinating subject of study. It is generally associated with genius, because the greatest scientific discoveries happened thanks to moments of intuition. Einstein wrote: Intuition is a sacred gift of which reason is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and forgets the gift. In addition, … More The Power of Intuition
A couple of weeks ago, I took both my kids to the doctor’s office. When it came time for the flu shots, the tech asked me to pick which child should go first. I picked my 3-year-old son. He reacted with an “ouch” and then was on to the next thing. My 7-year-old daughter went … More Do You Listen To Your Pain?
The practice of meditation may at first seem counterintuitive or foreign to the Western mind. With the abundance of digital technologies and entertainment options available to us, why would anyone abandon these luxuries to sit alone in silence. Surely there are more productive ways one ought to spend their limited time here on earth. Yet … More The Science of Mindfulness
The other night my seven-year-old was being short-tempered with her younger brother and snippy with me. I asked her not to take out her mood on others and she replied “I don’t know what to do with the meanness!” Huh. Isn’t that a great question? I was raised in a household that believed “If you … More What To Do With Our Inner Meanness
Recently, a friend sent me a printout of a sermon that my dad, who was a Presbyterian pastor, gave on parenting 36 years ago. She had a printed copy and kept it filed away. Now that her kids are long grown, she sent it to me. In it, my dad gives a quick synopsis of … More Good Mood of the Soul
My 6-year-old daughter mentioned that her uncle (my brother) told her about someone who could hold his breath underwater for 22 minutes. Thinking her young sense of time must be off, I checked in with my brother. Turns out she was right – 22 minutes. Breathing is an autonomic system function. We don’t have to … More Breathe, Just Breathe
The etymology of “atelophobia” comes from the Greek atelophobia, a word composed of atelés (meaning imperfect, incomplete) and phóbos (or fear, phobia) and it means fear of imperfection. A large number of people suffer from atelophobia, a constant feeling of imperfection and inadequacy. Discontent with one’s own aesthetic appearance, search for a perfection that does … More Fear of Imperfection, AKA Atelophobia
This last weekend, I was out listening to live music for the first time in two years and suddenly the people, the place and the context overran me with a sublime feeling of community. I was with my brother and his wife and because the lead singer of the blue grass group we were listening … More Community
Much of our suffering and psychological problems we face are due to the fact that we are using ancient cognitive machinery to deal with the complexities of the modern world. Humans evolved though a process called natural selection in which genes that were best suited for their respective environments were passed on to the next … More Mindfulness and Evolutionary Psychology: A Primer
At a meditation retreat I attended a few years ago, the leader off-handedly told a story about a moment when she was doing a large group meditation practice with the renowned meditation teacher Jack Kornfield. The six of us sitting around laughed politely at her description of 500 people doing a slow walking meditation practice … More The Best Kept Secrets are Boring
After I wrote that post on Vulnerability last week, I had lunch with my friend Doug. He was the person I mentioned in the post as the friend who’d asked about the blog and then not responded when I shared it with him. Turns out that he’d both read and liked the writing very much … More Backpacks
Please note this is a partnered post and may contain affiliate links. Maintaining great mental health in the modern day is becoming more and more difficult. There are so many things that can cause extreme stress and anxiety, and it’s far too easy to get swept into the tide of chaos and confusion. Thankfully, it’s … More Maintaining The Best Mental Health: A Simple Guide
The value of silence … More The Importance of Silence