This summer, I had the opportunity to visit sunny, palm-treed southern California, where it kisses the blue, blue of the Pacific Ocean. It is a beautiful part of the world. I had the great honor and privilege of presenting my new work -- and still in-process book – Making Peace with Suicide at ... Views: 2570
Parents, by definition, have three primary roles.
Their first duty is to cover the physical basics for their children. Food, a roof over their heads, shoes on their feet -- the rudimentary physical necessities of shelter, sustenance, and clothing. And under this rubric, there would ... Views: 2209
My inner child has run amok. She wants nothing to do with restriction, rules and can’t-have’s. She wants chocolate and French fries and a loaf of toast. She is acting out big-time.
On the outside I still look like the grown-up I am, doing my daily adult thing, but on the inside, ... Views: 2559
Can you remember when you last felt happy, really happy? Would you like to feel steadier in a healthy, mind-body way that does not involve pharmaceuticals? Is straddling a teeter-totter the last time you consciously considered balance in your life?
Today’s topsy-turvy world has us all ... Views: 3857
This is what I call my riff on happiness and self-acceptance. It came out of a maddening conversation with a client who has struggled with finding happiness and feeling as if he is never enough.
How can you be happy if it’s never enough, not ok enough, good enough, successful enough, famous ... Views: 2188
The majority of mental health practices are deeply rooted in the medical model, knee-deep in the latest edition of the DSM to provide diagnostic labels and entrenched with pharmaceutical solutions. And much of this is aided and abetted by the insurance companies who look to quantify and contain ... Views: 2650
I’m in a strange place these days, nothing feels right. My skin is itchy; my allergies have run amok. On top of that, I am irritable and sensitive and there is not enough chocolate in the contiguous united of states to keep me satisfied. I am cranky. And why, you might ask? I have no real ... Views: 2222
Rob Brezny's book Pronia is the Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings "an extensive array of experiments, games, rituals, and meditations you can use to boost your levels of ingenious happiness." His work is fun, outrageous, provocative, earthy, and will up ... Views: 2424
According to Brian Wansink, Ph.D.’s research, we typically make 200+ food choices a day. Wansink, a professor of marketing at Cornell University and author of Why We Eat More Than We Think: Mindless Eating, has devoted his career to researching why we eat and make the food choices we do. He is ... Views: 2185
Generally speaking, I am grateful type. I say, “Thank you, God” with regular frequency. I acknowledge drivers when they let me merge into traffic from an uphill entry ramp and am appreciative of any and all assistance, information, and service. Unexpected beauty in nature ... Views: 1158
Remember Paul Simon’s song, “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”? It’s a catchy tune, right? In fact, can you see me humming? I am loosely, very loosely, borrowing the concept. Instead of talking about ditching your lover, I am going for a gentler, happier thought and want to consider: 50 ways to feed ... Views: 11222
When we pass over, we are welcomed by loved ones. We are also given the opportunity -- in the presence of a guardian angel type -- to review our life. I imagine the the angel says something like, "Let's roll the videotape" and every frame of our life unfolds before us. We each get to see ... Views: 2552
Have you ever heard a story so powerful that it reverberated loudly through your interior landscape? Or it stopped you cold in your tracks and made you think – hard – about your life? I did in 1994, and it’s still with me today.
For weeks and weeks after attending a professional conference ... Views: 10442
There is much research being done around past-life memories and experiences. People undergo past life regressions with trained regression therapists or they have spontaneous memories. Perhaps, they have knowledge or a skill set for which they were not trained or a huge fear without any rational ... Views: 1750
I’m of the Viet Nam and Kent State generation and can remember the feel of singing “All we are saying is give peace a chance.” The swaying bodies, the deep resonance, the fervent belief that if peace were found – because, oh so, certainly, it had been lost – then the world would be right. I was ... Views: 2636
Recently, I have been thinking about prayer and, more specifically, the human aspects of prayer.
I am of the opinion that there is no right or wrong way to pray. I find prayer to be unique and idiosyncratic because prayer is predicated on our very human, one-to-one relationship with the ... Views: 2751
I was at a workshop recently where a spiritual teacher made a statement that has been rattling around my cranium for a number of days. Now, mind you, this is not the first time I have heard this statement, but, perhaps, I had reached the tipping point vis-à-vis this information and could no ... Views: 3380
This is a book that has generated a great deal of conversation. Some love it; some hate it. For over a year, The Shack by Wm. Paul Young has been on The New York Times bestseller list.
Young wrote this book as a Christmas gift for his six children. He also shared a few copies with friends and ... Views: 3203
The dentist, knowing my profession, teased me this morning and asked if people were ready to jump out of buildings.
Yes, it’s scary out there. We, as a nation, are treading unknown territory. We have collectively spent more than we earned. The government is bailing and bailing to the tune of ... Views: 2403
Ever felt like you were falling through space? Everything that held you and tethered you has disappeared and evaporated. You are simply bobbing in the cosmos awaiting your next signal. You look to the right; you look to the left. Up, down, over and around, yet, there is no sign indicating your ... Views: 3549
There is the almost eye-roll and rather superior voice that announces to you, as if you were not aware, that you’re so-o-o-o sensitive. The implication is that this is not a good thing. You are somehow defective
For years, I felt they were right. I was the one feeling all the bumps in the ... Views: 8185
Once upon a time, a woman, let’s call her Shirley, lost her husband to the ravages of cancer. It had been a long and arduous battle. Shirley was completely depleted on every level.
After the funeral service, everyone returned to the house. The coffee pot was plugged in; neighbors brought in ... Views: 4321
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Pay It Forward - by Adele McDowellAdele Ryan McDowell, Ph.D.
Someone wise once said, “If you have much, give your wealth; if you have little, give your heart.” And here is the perfect occasion: Thursday, April 28 is international Pay It Forward Day.
Based on the 2000 movie of the same name, Pay It Forward is the concept of doing a good deed for ... Views: 3859
Like Oprah, I have spent my life dealing with weight and have recently regained once-lost avoirdupois. I hate that. I end up hating myself and then it’s that all-too-familiar battle of up and down, Monday is a new start, last hoorah Sundays and so forth in a addictive cycle that has its roots in ... Views: 3216
This year, the winter solstice is December 20. The word “solstice” is derived from the Latin for “sun standing still.” This solstice, a pagan precursor to Christmas and other seasonal holy days, denotes the return of the light and a decline in the darkness.
And for most of us, that return of ... Views: 1868
Recently, a very dear friend of mine lost three relatives -- her 30 year old nephew, 96 year old uncle, and 62 year old brother, in that order. They died within a mere six weeks of one another. All were named Tom. The causes of death: murder, the complications of old age, and a sudden heart ... Views: 2486
Have you met anyone recently who isn’t tired? It seems to be a national, if not international, pandemic. Most everyone is a bleary-eyed, caffeinated automaton who is putting one cranky foot down after the other. Even the kids with their over-scheduled days and burgeoning back-packs can ... Views: 3170
Have you met anyone recently who isn’t tired? It seems to be a national, if not international, pandemic. Most everyone is a bleary-eyed, caffeinated automaton who is putting one cranky foot down after the other. Even the kids with their over-scheduled days and burgeoning back-packs can ... Views: 3170
In my gym, there are promo pieces that are played over the loud speaker. One such tag line is, “What gets measured gets improved.” The message is designed to encourage the clientele to get body fat levels measured and, ultimately, be inspired – or, more likely, shocked – and, as a result, hire a ... Views: 2789
That’s right. It’s time. This is the moment we have been waiting for; there are no more warm-ups. Practice is over. It is time to suit up and get in the game. Our souls have been preparing for this moment for lifetimes. We have arrived at the tipping point of evolutionary consciousness. We have ... Views: 2345
Or, maybe, Julius Caesar or William Shakespeare or Marie Antoinette? Discussions of past lives are often met with a bit of a smirk. Do you really believe? And the answer is, “Yes, I do.”
I look at past life information in a number of different ways. It serves as a teacher; it explains ... Views: 3696
Years ago, a shaman looked at me and said, “You lost hope. You should never lose hope.”
He was right -- and, boy, did I hate that. I have a long history of unflappable optimism. I’m able to make copious amounts of lemonade. I pride myself on my out-of-the-box thinking. But the shaman ... Views: 3629
Ever have one of those days? You are brimming with newly found motivation and re-aligned resolution. You haven’t even walked out of the door, yet, and the thought of what you are going to accomplish has you filled with button-bursting pride. You are puffed up with purpose. You are ready to ... Views: 4372
OMG! The holidays are here. Are you ready? Good God, I’m not -- even though I swore up and down that I would be all wrapped and carded by Thanksgiving. Well, such is the way of my good intentions when life does life. I am guessing you can relate.
It’s not too late to find help. Here are six ... Views: 2707
Do you know those moments when you are driving in the car and you find yourself knee-deep in reverie? These are moments when, out of nowhere, you find yourself long in thought; it’s as if you have made a U-turn into the underground waters of your psyche.
Maybe it’s the constancy of the ... Views: 3798
“For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.” That’s how it started. Those six words, we are told, are the shortest of Hemingway’s short stories. And those provocative words inspired Smith Magazine writer and editor, Larry Smith to challenge his Smith Magazine web readers to describe their lives in a ... Views: 3835
Are you screaming unmentionables in your head all day long? Do you feel like the character in the movie, Network, bellowing out the window for all the world to hear, “I’m mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore?” Do you fantasize about walking away from your job when you are within ... Views: 5032
Every have one of those seemingly endless stretches of time, when it feels as if all your get-up-and-go has got-up-and-went? You are not sick, per se. You just don’t give a damn anymore. Nothing matters much.
After all of your full-speed-ahead decisions, choices and actions, you feel ... Views: 3531
Every have one of those seemingly endless stretches of time, when it feels as if all your get-up-and-go has got-up-and-went? You are not sick, per se. You just don’t give a damn anymore. Nothing matters much.
After all of your full-speed-ahead decisions, choices and actions, you feel ... Views: 3531
It’s too much. It’s way too much. You just can’t take one more something to remedy, re-organize, or create anew. You have been chugging right along, working to keep pace with everything that has come your way.
There have been moments when you have been breathless. Yet, you have persevered. ... Views: 2346
Every have one of those seemingly endless stretches of time, when it feels as if all your get-up-and-go has got-up-and-went? You are not sick, per se. You just don’t give a damn anymore. Nothing matters much.
After all of your full-speed-ahead decisions, choices and actions, you feel ... Views: 8558
In 2010, I moved, attended one symphony, took two cab rides, read 39.5 books, watched 18 movies, visited seven museums, had a banner year with eight Broadway shows as well as eight train trips, travelled by plane 12 times, spent 38 nights in hotels, witnessed the death of a dear friend, mastered ... Views: 2438
It sounds like the beginning of one of those three person jokes, i.e., the shaman, the mystic and the psychotic walked into a bar. But this isn’t a joke; this is more of a pondering aloud on the line between sanity and insanity, delusion and reason.
What prompted these ponderings was that I ... Views: 7900
Is your world more down than up? Has sideways become your new vertical? Have your health, sanity, relationships, future plans, money, housing and/or employment concerns been in bucking-bronco states of flux? Have global warming, political warring, economic forecasting, ecological nightmares ... Views: 3640
Are you a curious type? Do you ever wonder how someone becomes an intuitive, and what their life has been like?
Allow me to introduce you to Joan Pancoe, a psychic, trance channel, and karmic astrologer in New York City since 1976.
Recently, Joan gifted me a good portion of her afternoon ... Views: 4347
Bad diagnosis? Very bad diagnosis? Are you trying to keep it together for family and friends?
There are days when you are so freakin’ tired and scared out of your socks. You beg and plead with God, “Please let me see my daughter make it through high school.” You hold on to every slimmer of ... Views: 1970
Bad diagnosis? Very bad diagnosis and you are trying to keep it together for family and friends.
There are days you are so freakin’ tired and scared out of your socks. You beg and plead with God, “Please let me see my daughter make it through high school.” You hold on to every slimmer of ... Views: 2101
It is not easy being a lightworker and healer in today’s world. Challenges have been plentiful and hard-hitting and there have been portals of initiation that have moved you to a new platform, a new way of being. It’s as if you have stepped up and into an expanded perspective. ... Views: 1097
The world is changing at break-neck speed as we inch ourselves closer and closer to the planetary shifts of consciousness and being. And, as with any new birth, there will be some pain, contractions, doubt, fear and maybe, even, a bit of panic as we work to bring forth a bouncing new world that ... Views: 2453
My dear pal, Debbie, passed along this birthday ritual. On your birthday, you choose one word to be your focus for the coming year. Once, I chose the word “sparkle” – just the thought of it made me happy. This year, my word arrived unbidden with cat-like stealth and sure-footed certainty. It ... Views: 2502