The Soul Has Different Concerns

"It's important to be heroic, ambitious, productive, efficient, creative, and progressive, but these qualities don't necessarily nurture soul. The soul has different concerns, of equal value: downtime for reflection, conversation, and reverie; beauty that is captivating and pleasuring; relatedness to the environs and to people; and any animal’s rhythm of rest and activity." ~ Thomas A. Moore, Psychologist

6 Ways to Sit Less Every Day

Autumn and winter are times when the weather makes us want to stay in the chair at work or remain on the couch at home. It's easy to add unnecessary pounds that way and to miss out on regular exercise. Here are some nifty tips to help keep us moving this time of year. See them here: Health.com

Treasure your relationships

Relationships are often difficult. Whether it's a friendship, a marriage, a partnership, a dating relationship or parenting, they each one require a lot of effort if they are to be healthy and loving. Here is a brief essay to remind us how to make them work well. See it here: Treasure your relationships

7 Ways to Stop Eating Out of Boredom

Now that cooler weather is here and we find ourselves indoor more it's easy to start snacking around. If you find yourself spending extra time in front of the TV and reaching for chips or other no so healthy snacks, here are some tips to help: Health.com

Everyday Epiphanies

The call for awareness is a need within each one of us. In the midst of our hectic lives we often miss the "everyday epiphanies" that appear before us. In this brief essay we are reminded to stay open to life, to our heart, to beauty and goodness. They are all there each day if we take time to feel and to look. Awestruck Happiness

Life's best moments

"Don't bulldoze over life's best moments. You won't notice the little charms that adorn each day, nor will you ever transform the mundane into the extraordinary. The only way to do that is to take your time." ~ Edward Hallowell, M.D.

The best way to get even

“Let today be the day you stop being haunted by the ghost of yesterday. Holding a grudge & harboring anger/resentment is poison to the soul. Get even with people...but not those who have hurt us, forget them, instead get even with those who have helped us.” ~ from, Life, the Truth, and Being Free, by Steve Maraboli

5 Types of Headaches

Headaches can be more than an uncomfortable nuisance they can also signal other more serious things are going on. Here are 5 types of headaches we commonly experience. Health.com

The Happiness of Flowing Gently

Rushing about, endless tasks, nagging deadlines, never catching up--these are the things that wear us down and suck all of the life out of us. Happiness is what we want. Not shallow living that demands nothing, but real honest to God contentment, peace of mind, consistent feelings of worth and purpose. Some answers to these needs are in this brief essay. See what you think: The Happiness of Flowing Gently

Inner Strength

"A quiet conscience makes one strong." ~ Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

5 Surprising (But Easy) Ways to be Good at Sex

We often forget what a wonderful gift lovemaking is. It's easy to take sex for granted in our hectic, often emotionally shallow, sexually saturated society. But it is an amazing part of healthy living and it should be celebrated. Here are some great tips for having good sex. See it here: 5 Surprising (But Easy) Ways to be Good at Sex

Have you discovered your life purpose?

Have you discovered your life purpose yet?  Your role?  What it is you love and are good at and want to spend your life doing?  Below is a brief but terrific essay on how one person discovered all of this for herself in her mid-fifties.  It's never too late to be who you want to really be and do what you truly love.

http://www.meditationsforwomen.com/artman2/publish/featuredarticle/featuredarticle.shtml

You are, indeed, the greatest force for you.

We often forget that life is filled, every day, with choices. How we choose determines how we live. See more here: You have choice.

When you're having a bad day, a bad month, or a shitty year

This is an important lesson to remember when you're having a bad day, a bad month, or a shitty year.  Things will change: you won't feel this way forever.  And anyway, sometimes the hardest lessons to learn are the ones your soul needs most.  I believe you can't feel real joy unless you've felt heartache.  You can't have a sense of victory unless you know what it means to fail.  You can't know what it's like to feel holy until you know what's it like to feel really fucking evil....This was when I learned...that sometimes you need to let go of everything you're clinging to and start over, whether because you've outgrown it or because it's not working anymore, or because it was wrong for you in the first place. ~ From, If You Have to Cry, Go Outside: And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You, by Kelly Cutrone

Boost Your Mood

Sometimes we all need a little lift in our moods. The stresses of life today can be a bit overwhelming at times even if you are in a healthy marriage or relationship, eat right, exercise, and like your job. Here are some simple tips to help boost our mood when we do get bogged down and begin to feel our spirit sag. See them here: Health.com

The Road goes ever on and on

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began,
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many path and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

From, The Lord of the Rings – The Old Walking Song sung by Bilbo Baggins

Step by Step

Process is what life is really all about. And taking our time to move within it. Here is a brief essay to remind to stay steady in the flow: Step by Step

Stop a Cold in Its Tracks

As the weather changes and the fall season advances we are all prone to getting colds and sinus problems. Here are some easy helpful tips on how to get early relief from the typical cold and help prevent it from becoming something worse. See them here: Health.com

Refuse to fall down

“Refuse to fall down

If you cannot refuse to fall down,

Refuse to stay down.

If you cannot refuse to stay down,

Lift your heart toward heaven,

And like a hungry beggar,

Ask that it be filled.

You may be pushed down.

You may be kept from rising.

But no one can keep you from lifting your heart

Toward heaven

Only you.

It is in the middle of misery

That so much becomes clear.

The one who says, nothing good

Came of this,

Is not yet listening.”

© Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Go get a massage!

Stress continues to be a huge factor in many illnesses today: hypertension, migraine headaches, stomach ulcers, and even cancer. New studies now show that a good massage can effectively reduce stress hormones in all of us. See the article here: Go Get a Massage!: glamour.com

The process and advantages of high levels of energy nearly everyone can achieve.

Here is a fascinating, informative, and helpful article on how to actually relax and enjoy life even in the midst of our daily hassles, frustrations, hurts and obstacles.  It's a long article but well worth your time to read.  Print it out if you don't have time sit through it and read it later when you can concentrate on the message.

http://www.meditationsforwomen.com/articles/Article/The-Rejuvenating-Power-of-Relaxation/402

Dr. Oz got it wrong on apples.

On a recent Dr. Oz episode he shook the apple eating world by stating that high levels of arsenic were found in apple juice imported here from Chile. As this article shows his information was wrong. Keep eating apples and drinking apple juice. It's a wonderful natural health food and drink! See the information here: Sharing Rocks!

I wonder why no one ever told me

As a child
I was told and believed
that  there was a treasure
buried beneath every rainbow.


I believed it so much
I have been unsuccessfully
chasing rainbows
most of my life.


I wonder why
no one ever told me
that the rainbow
and the treasure
were both
within me.


(c) Gerald Jampolsky

Once we connect with people, we stay connected.

Once we connect with people, we stay connected.  It's a quantum physics thing.  Anyone who ever saw your potential, who saw your strengths, who admired your honesty or creativity or determination, believes in you still, is cheering you on and wishing you well. ~ Susan K. Minarik

Be Happy with what you have.

Happiness is often more of a choice than a consequence. Life is just hard, okay? We want it to be so easy and comforting and successful. It can be. But there will always be bumps along the way. Here is a brief essay to remind all of us to simply: Be Happy with what you have.

Teaching Recovery, Rather Than Treating Addiction

I have often wondered if a more personalized, human approach to addiction recovery would be better than shaming people into giving up their addictions. Here is an article on how just that kind of program is having positive results. See it here: Viewpoint: Teaching Recovery