Did you know that closing doors is good for your sanity? I struggle with that. Even in writing this post, I have saved the word file in five stages, so that if the material I cut out in version one seems important later on, I can go to file A and retrieve it. The horror of...

I have battled insomnia off and on for the last three years. At first I tried sleep medication (Lunesta and a few others) but they made me more depressed and anxious, so I have experimented with all kinds of natural remedies, many of them suggestions from fellow friends with sleep problems. Here are a few of them.  ...

We’ve been told since our first pimple arrived to look in the mirror and say, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and today is going to be a GREAT day, despite this mammoth zit on my chin” while plastering a fake grin on our face. Positive psychologists have force-fed us affirmations, telling us that the...

I thought I’d share the following excerpt from Jon Kabat-Zinn’s book Mindfulness for Beginners because it has been very helpful for me lately. I’ll be sharing more quotes and excerpts in the next weeks and months. Feel free to share your favorite passages, as well. It is a big step toward reclaiming our lives when...

“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people,” wrote Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. “It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and is the main obstacle between you and a [crappy] first draft.” Today’s culture encourages perfectionistic behavior — as if it’s synonymous with being...