Okay, I can’t absolutely guarantee it, but I can share from recent experience during some seemingly hopeless times a few things that have shored up my faith and hope, and have made me smile through tears.
1. Find a yellow daffodil about to bloom and enjoy a one-minute reverie.
2. Close ... Views: 583
I was recently given a poignant gift at a senior workshop, the type of gift that just keeps on giving like the energizer bunny in the TV commercial. Waving their cheery good byes, the participants rushed to the refreshments; however, one petite soft-spoken woman remained in the room with her ... Views: 656
At a recent retreat with a group of people interested in living freely, unencumbered by past definitions of themselves, a revealing exercise was discovered. When a person said their own name and then said what that name meant to them, self-definitions from childhood were exposed. Usually, if not ... Views: 604
How does it work? Traditionally, it is taught that karma is simply the law of cause and effect, the fruits of past actions and little more is said about its mechanism and workings than that. Subsequently, much misunderstanding and vagueness has arisen and continues to be perpetuated.
It seems ... Views: 528
Thursday is National Day of Prayer, as mandated by Congress. What should President Obama do? Should he follow tradition and sign a ceremonial proclamation? Should he follow President George W. Bush's practice of hosting a formal White House event? Should he ignore it completely?
Whether ... Views: 512
Many people wonder about the basic differences between these two common Infertility treatments and when they’re utilized.
An Intrauterine Insemination (IUI, also known as Artificial insemination) is a procedure where the semen from the ejaculate is washed to place a concentration of the best ... Views: 1441
Question:
What’s the meaning of happiness?
Genpo Roshi :
In my experience there are two types of happiness. The first is conditional, it depends on conditions and circumstances. It is relative happiness. This means that we are happy when the situation is such that we feel good ... Views: 729
Before I get into a description of what vitality is, and then how we can improve and build this in our lives, I want to pique your interest first:
To achieve any goal in your life - weight loss, improved health, lowered blood pressure, ideal cholesterol (ANY-goal) - you must have abundant ... Views: 492
A koan is a kind of question used as a training device in the Buddhist tradition, designed to help the aspirant attain a degree of clarity. I'm sure you've come across these zany questions before ("What's the sound of one hand clapping?" or "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, ... Views: 518
The first step in acknowledging and accessing your worth, value, and sense of fulfillment, is to take an honest personal assessment. Set aside some quiet time where you can have privacy and think. Take your journal, notebook or diary and a pen, and ask yourself the following questions:
... Views: 1146
My house is old. Not old compared to my friend’s house in England that was built in the 1600’s, but old for Los Angeles. My house was built in 1927. Much of the house we have restored and kept just as it was in the 20’s. We have the original built-in ironing board complete with built-in swinging ... Views: 746
During the past months, as my retirement fund has evaporated like summer rain on a hot pavement, I managed to get on someone's list for stock-picking in difficult times.
Today their email suggested that growth areas in the stock market included armaments, bullion, and canned pork; literally, ... Views: 709
Stressed? Yes, most are these days...but what do you do to bring back your sanity?
I tend to choose yoga, quiet time, fresh air, walking, running, and being with friends as my de-stressors, but there is something else that has been showing up on my radar …and that is chanting, singing and the ... Views: 1548
For the first time in history our First Lady has attended a Passover Seder in the White House, as the President honored the Jewish people. For the previous week she electrifyed Europe with her warmth and her fearlessness in showing that she cares. She is adored wherever she goes for one simple ... Views: 627
From Deepak Chopra and Gotham Chopra
We have been close friends with Laura Ling and her family for over a decade. So when we heard almost 3 weeks ago that Laura and her colleague Euna Lee, while reporting on a story on the North Korean-Chinese border, were arrested by North Korean officials, we ... Views: 1218
Have you ever wished you could see into the future for guidance on your next moves? Or have you ever been on the receiving end of that guidance?
If so, you've probably noticed that intuition, hunches, and outright premonitions, (typically vivid dreams forewarning future happenings--especially ... Views: 762
Many years ago, I had an important dream. In it, I was walking on a tightrope, wearing a business suit, carrying a briefcase, and wearing high heels.
As the dream unfolds, I'm watching myself from an enlightened observer's viewpoint; I'm cautiously making my way along the tightrope, every ... Views: 834
“Prosperity is a way of living and thinking, and not just money or things. Poverty is a way of living and thinking, and not just a lack of money or things.” – Eric Butterworth
I must confess, I have been known to buy the occasional lottery ticket. I’ve never won more than a couple dollars, ... Views: 1432
Coffee used to be maligned as stress-inducing and spiking blood pressure. However, recent studies have hailed coffee as a good source of anti-oxidants. It boosts mood, memory, and focus; for most regular coffee drinkers there is no hike in blood pressure. Some researchers claim that coffee ... Views: 756
Making your own crackers, biscuits, foods and treats in a dehydrator may not seem so “Green” but you actually avoid a lot of packaging waste. You also control what goes into or more importantly what does not go into your food. Dehydrators are so easy to use and if you dry your food goodies at ... Views: 1421
Last week, we celebrated the first day of spring by asking our community members how they renew themselves in the spirit of spring. Click here for a round-up of last week’s best articles on spring renewal.
This week, I want to ask our community members: how do you maintain your energy? How do ... Views: 694
It sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? I mean, "emotional intelligence"? Aren't emotion and intellect two very different things? Not anymore, at least according to Dr. Relly Nadler, author of The Leader's Playbook: How to Apply Emotional Intelligence.
Dr. Nadler explains Emotional ... Views: 1076
They’re calling it Gigonomics – the economy of gigs. The fact is, we’re all freelancers now, because the days of working for one company for 30 years and then retiring have gone the way of the 8-track.
Here are three proven steps to create your Plan B:
1. Use AFFORMATIONS.
No, that’s ... Views: 619
A new and cool online group now grants your wishes. Imagine a friend, a peer or a colleague quietly filling out an online form telling this group all about your work and how the members of this group might help -- and this nomination is kept from you.
Now visualize getting a call out of the ... Views: 1112
Here's a quote from US News and World Report:
If you've recently been laid off, you've probably had someone tap you on the shoulder and tell you something like: "Out of crisis comes opportunity," or "When one door closes, another opens." It probably feels a little pat, but the truth is that ... Views: 707
An Open Letter:
With the AIG debacle looming, and bank bail-outs sending cortisol racing through the system of most Americans, the whole issue of loss and disappointment is ‘up’ in pretty big ways. The truth of the matter, however, was brought home this past week with the sudden death of ... Views: 2405
I grew up in the 70's and 80's when parents still told their kids to go outside and play. My friends and I would spend all day in the yard and when we got hot and sweaty enough we'd run to the back patio, open the water spigot on the side of the house and get down on our hands and knees so we ... Views: 985
In my freshman year of high school, one of my closest friends suffered severely from a clinical depression that required both therapy and medication. Not only had she even attempted suicide, she was confronting the repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse by her former stepfather.
It was ... Views: 1129
Perhaps you’ve heard this parable from the East:
While visiting the temple one day, a young seeker approached a Zen master to ask him a profound question, "What is the difference between Heaven and Hell?”
There is none, the master replied.
“Really?” said the seeker incredulously, “I don’t ... Views: 3657
From "Un-edited Q & A Series"
Question:
Hello,
My name is K. C. and I am a journalism student. I am currently writing a piece on holiday chocolate purchases, and have discovered that, despite tight budgets from the economy, chocolate sales have increased this year. I'm wondering if ... Views: 544
My mother is no longer living in a physical body, and that makes mother’s day different than it used to be. While my relationship with my mother was difficult, I still miss her very much. She was not well emotionally most of my life, and so life with mother was complicated. But I still miss ... Views: 1103
Erik Fisher, Ph.D., aka Dr. E…
www.ErikFisher.com
Do you remember the feeling you used to get when you were little and saw a movie about the underdog overcoming the odds, a journey of believing in one’s self, or a movie that involved some magic and wonder? Don’t you still love the feeling ... Views: 552
When I watched the YouTube clip of President Obama with Chancellor Merkel and Holocaust survivor Eli Weisel placing individual roses at the memorial at Buchenwald death camp, I was deeply moved. I felt both sadness at the horrors we as a species are capable of, and encouraged by what we as a ... Views: 1028
I've recently admitted to be having a skeeve peeve. As a mother and massage therapist, I know where where my fingers have been recently and so using them to apply my beauty products off the cuff, have recently made me hesitate.
Just last week I starting rubbing my lip balm pot over my lips ... Views: 947
"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun" ~ Katharine Hepburn
Many of us spend a lot of time thinking about the future. We try to get things right. We set goals for ourselves and work hard to strive for them and we often do reach them.
Consider where you were just one year ago. ... Views: 512
A friend was telling me about a recent trip to Germany, where she was daunted by the strict and varied recycling rules there. Apparently, they have a host of different color-coded bins (brown, blue, yellow, and gray) for sorting waste recyclables. That really puts me to shame, since I have ... Views: 2347
Your entire body consists of 75 to 100 trillion cells. 100 billion of them are brain cells (Spread out, their surface area would cover 4 soccer fields). Your brain snakes out of your skull as your spinal cord (which contains another billion nerve cells) and then it branches out through the rest ... Views: 548
Recently I read about an Australian company that put out an ad seeking new employees, but with a rather uncommon request—the applicants had to be a certain astrology sign. Anyone under the Taurus, Aquarius, Aries, Capricorn, or Leo signs were encouraged to submit resumes because, according to a ... Views: 2096
I loved this photograph I found on a blog called One Million Peace Signs. The commentary asks, “Who’s peacing who?” Reflections of peace in two mirrors, and one of the reflectors is also the photographer!
Peace, my friend, often requires reflection, a luxury for many of us whose lives are too ... Views: 760
Originally published on The Huffington Post.
"I recommend that the Statue of Liberty be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the west coast."
-- Victor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning
Now there's a thought! A statue of Responsibility - perhaps our new President should consider ... Views: 482
I have witnessed people close to death with loved ones by their side, they have not spoken to in years. There appears to be a lot of pain there.
I think bonding is organic. It comes from love, it cannot be forced.
I’m sure we all have had someone we just can’t bond with, and that is okay.
... Views: 1235
Everywhere you turn these days, it seems like more and more products are available in gluten free versions. Indeed, it is one of the fastest growing categories in the health food market.
Many people cannot digest gluten (a protein found in many whole grains and cereals), and at least 2 million ... Views: 2252
What’s the most germ-ridden part of the bathroom? The toilet? Guess again. It’s the sink drain. And ironically, that’s partly due to our use of disinfectants and antimicrobial products. Fear of germs has many overdoing it with germ killers — often without adequate information.
Why Many ... Views: 711
Just the other morning we were going to the gym when we passed a little girl holding hands with her mother. The girl was happily skipping along. It immediately made Deb ask: Why do little girls skip? And why, as young William says, do little boys walk when they can run?
Obviously, it is because ... Views: 792
There’s something about love which stimulates the imagination. We fantasize about romance and sex. When we are in love we walk on air and everything is wonderful, even when in reality we soon discover that it isn’t perfect. Besides, who can compete with our complex imagination? And ... Views: 944
The US public has been kept in the dark about the new White House dog. Until now. Now the word is out along with a photo of first dog: Bo Obama.
As Sasha and Malia Obama, along with dog lovers and animal lovers around the country celebrate the news, former House Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich ... Views: 623
You just went away for the weekend and you came back to find that you gained 5 pounds over the course of 3 days. In your disbelief, you quickly curse the Weight Gods for being so cruel. Sound familiar? This was me last weekend. A little jaunt to Montreal, eating at decadent cafes, packed it on ... Views: 869
Hiring is always hard. The hardest thing to do at a company is the recruiting and hiring. It was really hard when the economy was doing well. Paradoxically, for certain industries (especially those reliant on innovation such as those in the tech space), it's even harder when times are ... Views: 934
Yesterday, for the first time in a long time, I watched the evening news. And I learned something. Their news was of deception, murder, fear, greed, celebrating greed, and people gossiping about other people.
And I learned, yet again, why I don’t watch their news.
Because if I didn’t catch ... Views: 797
What's your reaction to President Obama's recent statements to the Muslim world that "the United States is not, and never will be, at war with Islam" and that "we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation"?
Enough Americans feel bad about the Iraq war that they didn't become upset over ... Views: 753