I received quite a few notes after a recent newsletter article about feeling overwhelmed by the many “rules” about staying healthy, especially healthy eating rules. There are many rules, and there seem to be more each day. It can certainly feel daunting. If you review the “rules” carefully, they don’t…
When my kids were little, I used to get sick several times a year. The kids were getting exposed to colds and other viruses at school and hadn’t built up immunities yet. They would catch the cold and bring it home. We tried to follow good hygiene rules (hand-washing, etc.)…
This is a guest post by Carl Preston, the founder of a self-development site. I look back during my early twenties and I remember the how hectic, stressful, and exhausting my life was. At work, completely snowed under, working 70 hour weeks with little respite, and fun weekends that would…
I was speaking with a business associate I hadn't spoken with for about a year. The last time we spoke she was pregnant and now she is enjoying her baby son (her third child). She and her husband had waited a few years between their second and third children and…
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…
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…
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…
Rather than waiting until the New Year to begin making changes, just start now. Here are some examples: Can't decide whether to join a board of a local not-for-profit, or to serve homeless at a soup kitchen, or to fund raise for the eradication of a disease? Just pick one…
I was reading a wonderful blog post about the way the impermanence of things enhances our appreciation of them—and how instead of lamenting loss, we can realize if we had these things all the time we would begin to take them for granted; their beauty is tied to their impermanence.…