When I was in high school, I took a psychology class. It was one of the few high school classes I enjoyed. The teacher, Mr. Mascari, taught us a relaxation technique I went on to use for many years. I would close my eyes and imagine the sun shining on…
My friend Kevin was telling me of his weight loss struggles. He realized he kept procrastinating about working on the weight loss because there are about 10 habits he wanted to focus on to make it happen. He realized he was overwhelming himself by thinking about the 10 habits, and…
Over the last two weeks I shared some background, and then some highlights from a wonderful book, Zen Habits: Mastering the Art of Change by Leo Babauta. As Leo explains, quitting a bad habit is harder than starting a good one because you have the urge to continue the bad habit. Here…
I just finished reading a wonderful book, Zen Habits: Mastering the Art of Change by Leo Babauta. Last week I introduced the book and shared some background, and this week I’ll share some of the highlights from Leo’s book, which I highly recommend. Mindfulness. Leo learned to watch his mind. He…
I just finished reading a wonderful book, Zen Habits: Mastering the Art of Change, by Leo Babauta. Leo has written, in many ways, what I have envisioned as a possible follow-up to Six Simple Rules for a Better Life. I wanted Six Simple Rules for a Better Life not to be another one…
Judging by the comment cards, one of the most popular takeaways from my speeches is the concept of eating the big frog first as a way to conquer procrastination. I thought about it again when a couple of my family members returned to New York from Australia. I’ll explain that…
This is a guest post by Fay Wein. Fay is a communication specialist. Naturally a hoarder since childhood, getting my home and my life organized were not a cinch for me. Although still far from perfect, I’ve managed to bring some semblance of order to my life with some useful…
A few weeks ago, I woke up and my left hand hurt, specifically the lower half of my thumb down to where it met my wrist. After two weeks of trying to avoid using my thumb in certain ways, it was better, but not all the way, so I went…
After receiving quite a bit of positive feedback on a recent newsletter piece, I am publishing it here... At an end-of-year yoga class, the instructor asked us to form an intention for the coming year. I decided to focus on respond vs. react. Responding instead of reacting is something I…
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about some catchphrases I like. As I said, I don’t use many, but the ones I use I use a lot. That day I wrote about how “This Too Shall Pass” helps me. Shortly after, a friend sent me this insightful, helpful note: I…
I like catchphrases. I don’t use many, but the ones I use I use a lot. In Six Simple Rules for a Better Life, I wrote about a few. Two examples: Mind Over Mattress, which helped me to get out of bed when I was getting into the routine of…
I recently took an exercise class called, “Let’s Have a Ball.” For 50 minutes we did numerous exercises, every one of which made use of a large exercise ball. We did exercises for the arms, the legs, the chest, and more. I wanted to share this with you because I…