I call the two months between Halloween and New Years the “eating season.” No matter where you turn, there’s a bowl of your favorite candy on someone’s desk, decadent holiday treats at your doorstep, and invitations to parties. The holidays are packed with stress, and we all know the easiest, safest, most affordable place to...
George Burns once said: “Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family… in another city.” So that would explain why the holidays are so stressful. Those dear relatives who live in San Francisco suddenly are lingering in front of your refrigerator in Cincinnati, Ohio and you have to figure out a socially acceptable way...
Musician and songwriter Willie Nelson once said, “When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” Study after study on gratitude shows how simple exercises of appreciation build emotional resilience, improve our relationships, and promote our well-being. Gratitude researchers like Martin Seligman, PhD, director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia; Robert...
I think most people cringe at the thought of “falling back,” or turning our clocks back an hour to signal the end of Daylight Saving Time and the beginning of Standard Time, or Winter Time, as it’s sometimes called. Technically there isn’t less sunlight — it’s just rearranged. But it feels like there’s less because it’s dark when we...
I am a writer and chaplain trying to live a simple life in Annapolis, Maryland.