Health

While there are many important elements involved in the limbic system, for the sake of simplicity, we’re going to focus on four key players: the hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus and the cingulated cortex.

Few of us have been taught how to sit with our thoughts and feelings. As a result we are vulnerable to getting hooked and triggered. Awareness, attention and curiosity allow us to take control of our thinking and respond by choice instead of reactive habit.…

Stand strong. Surround yourself with people who accept you fiercely while compassionately challenging your edge. Likewise, be a person who honors fear while lovingly encouraging beyond it.

What is play? A classic definition is to engage in recreation or amusement that relaxes or refreshes the body and mind. With one small caveat, it must come from the heart. We need play because life is serious. It helps create balance and is different…

As a therapist, one of my favorite roles is to remind people of their largeness – which I define as living a Self-led life. When describing the qualities of Self, it’s not unusual for clients to look at me quizzically. Recently someone asked “What if my “self” wants to run off to the Bahamas and drink pina coladas all day?” I smiled even though I suspected that hidden within this comical question was a fear that she had no authentic Self.

Now here’s the part you may not know. Grains, carbohydrates and sugar create a three-alarm fire in the body. Yep, even “healthy whole grains.”

Up until this moment, I viewed sugar as my lover and nemesis, torturer and savior but never my teacher. Yet here I am learning more about myself and health than all my cumulative years of study.

One of my favorite childhood cartoons was a propaganda piece that taught kids how to make healthy food choices. A squatty, smart aleck named Ol’ Timer proselytized “you are what you eat from head down to your feet!” The tune was catchy and I’d find…

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. – Viktor Frankl Buddhism is considered by many to be a religion or a spiritual practice. Yet in its…

There is no magic pill for health. There is knowledge and there is action. As Yoda says, “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” Of course, this is easier said than done when it comes to implementing healthy habits. It all begins with being kind…