The other day I came across an article which, if you get passed the title, has some wonderful advice. It talks about the 5×5 rule – “If it’s not going to matter in 5 years, don’t spend more than 5 minutes upset about it.” What a great tool to help reign in the negativity of […]
This past year or so, I have been in a challenging situation with another person. In retrospect, I think we were both hurt and did not confront each other so our tension just increased and increased. I knew I would see this person over Thanksgiving and dreaded it. I expected to be attacked or shunned. […]
One of the films I saw at the Cabo San Lucas International Film Festival was I, Tonya. After the Golden Globes where Allison Janney rightfully deserved an award for her portrayal of Tonya’s mother, a lot of people were upset that a movie “promoted” someone who did something bad. Interesting how this did not happen […]
A few months ago, I wrote a post about handling life’s top stressors which included a link to determine one’s personal stress level. To date, this unscientific survey has uncovered that almost 20% of respondents are experiencing high levels of stressful events. The remaining respondents are fairly split between medium and low amounts of stressors. […]
By now you have probably read many articles on making the most of the new year. The process outlined is usually very methodical. Something like: Review your accomplishments and challenges from the previous year. What can you learn? What do you need to improve? Now erase the previous year and start this year with a […]
Tis the season to make resolutions . . . and to feel heartbroken when a week – or day – later we already broke them. Why is this? Sometimes we set too high and unreachable goals, and should have broken them down into more achievable mini goals that will lead us to our big goal. […]
Talking with friends the other night, the topic of ayahuasca came up. Ayahuasca is a medicinal cactus used by shaman in South America to aid emotional, spiritual, and physical healing. I was the only one who had a personal experience with ayahuasca, so when I returned home I pulled the passage from my book about […]
I discovered a quote the other day by J. Krishnamurti about his “secret” to well-being. “You see, I don’t mind what happens.” What power is there in that simple statement! How much of our pain, anxiety, heartbreak, and stress are the result of putting meaning in what is happening? I often speak about this concept in […]
As we prepare to close out one year and move into another, many of us look back with disappointment. We could have done this or that better. We didn’t take advantage of an opportunity that arose. We didn’t act our best in a certain relationship. We beat ourselves us and make a resolution to be […]
As for many of you, 2017 has been a challenging year for me. Through these challenging experiences, I learned about how meaning and expectations affect stress. Much of the stress I experienced was increased because I put meaning into results I could not affect. If an expected outcome didn’t happen, I was devastated. I believed […]