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Sometimes (okay, maybe all the time) your harshest critic is yourself. My sister, worn down by negative self-talk, will respond by saying “I’m okay” to herself. Sometimes she’ll [...]

Some people consider this the worst word: Should. “Shoulds are the inflexible, authoritarian, joyless rules for thinking, feeling, and behaving,” says therapist Michael Schreiner. Shoulds [...]

Do you uselessly worry? Maybe it’s worrying about: What someone thinks about you… Whether your house is too messy… How you look… Whether your pets are safe at home… If you have a brain amoeba… [...]

Have you ever been captivated by something magically life-changing? A teaching, healing, or new perspective that felt eye-opening, exciting, and hopeful… Maybe you felt that meditation or [...]

“One of the great challenges of life is to learn to be alone peaceably, at home in oneself.” This was from meditation teacher Stephen Batchelor’s OnBeing podcast. I listened to it as I returned [...]

In a meadow beside the Clackamas River, I stepped into a huge circle of red rose petals. I wasn’t alone. Entering the circle with me were 70 others, including the parents of Hunter, the [...]

If you wake up in mental overload—and it happens to be the same day your sister is leaving after a long visit—the problems in your mind might not be the problem. I know because this happened to [...]

Do you ever walk to the kitchen and forget what you wanted? That’s how your mind works. When I wrote my books on brain fitness, I learned that the cognitive cortex is entwined with your [...]

We’re driving again! During the last 14 pandemic* months, I put all of a thousand miles on my car. And there was no traffic when I did. But now I’m out buying garden stuff, visiting people, [...]

I remember the details: I was about to turn off the light in bed when my daughter called. Her voice was breathless, beyond distraught to say, “I think he’s going to win.” Beyond my own panic was [...]