Book Reviews
Prescription for the Disillusioned
Poetry is a life-cherishing force. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry. Yes, indeed. – Mary Oliver In light of “how you respond to stressful times,” the timely wisdom of Rebecca del Rio: […]
Gratitude Goulash
[apropos of the sustenance offered by gratitude in a time of loss and uncertainty, from Gratitude Goulash that figured prominently in the coping with the mis-adventures of two weeks ago [see Thanksgiving Day post: Giving Thanks – for Losses and Lessons] :] TRUE NORTH That other compass you bought in the city is no good […]
The Resilience Workbook
INTRO My Resilience Handbook: Powerful Practices to Bounce Back from Disappointment, Difficulty, even Disaster, will be published by New World Library in September 2018. The Resilience Workbook: Essential Skills to Recover from Stress, Trauma, and Adversity by Glenn Schiraldi, PhD, was released by New Harbinger Publications in November 2017. The two books are different: Dr. Schiraldi’s background […]
Mindfulness – Timely and Timeless
I picked up the TIME special edition on Mindfulness: The New Science of Health and Happiness at my local grocery store last week. 100 uninterrupted pages of practical tips on mindful eating, getting good sleep, talking a break from digital devices, practices for kids, practices at work, and the five-minute meditation below. If the TIME […]
Solving Climate Change – For Real
The problems – and the possibilities – inherent in climate change came into bulls-eye focus for me in one 24-hour period, the first day of September 2017. I live in the moderate Mediterranean climate of the San Francisco Bay Area. That day the temperature outside was 107 degrees and the temperature inside the house was […]
Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative
I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order. – John Burroughs People know from their own experience, intuitively, that being in nature calms the mind and brings ease – and awe – to the soul. In The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and […]
Living Younger, Healthier, Longer
Telomeres are compared to the plastic tabs on the end of your shoelaces that keep your shoelaces from unraveling. Telomeres are protective sheaths of proteins at the ends of your chromosomes that keep your chromosomes from unraveling when they replicate. Maintaining our telomeres protects our chromosomes, allowing them to continue to replicate and be functional […]
Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy
When Sheryl Sandberg’s husband David Goldberg died suddenly of a heart attack at age 48, Sheryl was plunged immediately into devastating loss and grief, widowhood, single parenthood of two young children, and a personal journey of ultimately recovering her hope, her centeredness, her resilience, even recovering a sense of joy and deeper sense of life […]
The Big Disconnect: Tech, Kids, and Families
I can remember being rewarded with a lollipop for behaving myself in the dentist’s chair before scientists discovered the causal link between sugar, plaque, and tooth decay. I can remember when it was so cool to smoke cigarettes, before scientists discovered the causal links between smoking and lung cancer and teeth falling out of our […]
Sure-Fire Practices to Free Yourself from Your Inner Critic
In teaching people resources and practices for recovering resilience, I often teach that there is no more powerful a derailer of that resilience than the shaming of our inner critic, and that there is no more powerful protocol for healing the pain and suffering inflicted by the inner critic than practices of mindfulness and self-compassion. […]