Most of us have ideas about how to improve our nation and the world. And yet we recognize that so many of the political and economic forces at work in the world are beyond our ability to influence. So we watch…and we wait…we hope…and we complain…forgetting that nothing will make the world better than simple […]

Our world is filled with so much noise and so many distractions that we have become uncomfortable with stillness. If things get quiet, we look at our phones. Or if we’re driving down the street, we turn on the radio. We arrive home and turn on the television or keep ourselves continually busy. This is […]

Mother’s Day is just a few days away and I want to take a few moments to write about honoring women, particularly those women closest to us. Here is one of my earliest memories. I was four years old. My mother was working at an ice cream parlor that my parents owned and my father […]

Research tells us that people who have grateful hearts are happier, less depressed, and less stressed than those who are less grateful. They report a greater sense of purpose, more control over their lives, greater self-acceptance, and more optimism. They are more empathetic, more forgiving, less materialistic and have more positive ways of coping with difficulties.

I’ve long been interested in the understanding happiness and so have studied the research over the last several years. Here is what science tells us happiness looks like: The Genetic Component Notice that 50% of our happiness is hard-wired. This has been determined by studies on identical twins. The first of these studies was conducted […]

(This article was written by guest author, Ed Engel. Thanks, Ed.) One of my children gave me a T-shirt with this slogan on the front: “I can only make one person happy; I pick me.” I suppose my child was trying to send a message, not only to me, but perhaps a warning to others […]

In early January I published an article entitled Understanding Depression. Since then, I’ve continued to think about and read the latest science about depression. I realize that I got something wrong and so wanted to publish this post to set the record straight. I said in my article is that “…depression is not a sign […]

Like most people, I love music and frequently find myself humming a tune over and over in the back of my mind. I’ve learned to pay attention to the words of these songs because they have significance to what is going on in my life at the moment. Rarely is the entire song relevant; just a line or two that my subconscious mind is telling me to pay attention to—perhaps a lesson I need to learn.

Do you live, primarily, from a scarcity or abundance mentality? Moment by moment you make this choice. The good news is that you don’t need to wait until you have achieved more, accumulated more wealth, status or power, or until you’ve overcome all your weaknesses to make this decision.

Grace is accepting we don’t have to earn our way to a blessed and rewarding life. We can relax into knowing the gifts and lessons that are meant for us will find us.