I always track the latest health research, the newest recommendations by doctors and experts, the best health books and products. So this year I decided that the most helpful thing I could provide is healthy gifts, that contribute to my loved ones' wellbeing.

So here's my healthy gift list--and I...

A number of indigenous cultures have foretold a time when humanity, our future, and the earth itself were at stake--due to human folly. In a typical fairy tale, folk legend, and in our hopes and dreams, at such a time "a hero" would come forth to save us.

But suppose...

When someone speaks a harsh word, sends us a nasty email, or enacts any form of "power over" behavior, we're wired to fight, flee, or freeze. We do this as individuals; and we also do this as tribes, groups, and nations.

Before we consider this response totally heinous, let's remember...

When your sole surviving parent is in her eighties, you think about thanks in an entirely different way --one day, one holiday, one small blessing at a time. Because you never know whether that person, that familiar face, that ongoing, deepening, shared conversation will be going on over the sweet...

What do you fear most--- the Swine Flu, or the Swine Flu vaccine? Airport terrorists, or airport security searches? Growing old, or the alternative?

If you answered "all of the above," you'll guess why I went to a weekend retreat on fear with Pema Chodron, the noted Buddhist teacher and...

New Yorkers were out in force last Tuesday to protect the purity of their legendary water. A public comment event, held downtown by the state's Department of Environmental Conservation focused on drilling in the Marcellus shale, a vast reservoir of natural gas that developers are seeking to exploit. The event...

With the recent tragedy at Fort Hood, the time has come to face up to two facts: War is Hell -- this we know. War is not conducive to mental health -- this we don't want to realize.

And it may be that if a little war is bad for...

Last week, 60 Minutes reported on David and Susan Axelrod's search for a cure for epilepsy prompted by their two decade plus experience of the ailment, which their adult daughter has suffered since infancy. But while Katie Couric admiringly covered the researchers seeking to find "the Cure," ie. new anti-convulsive...

In following the vaccine debate, I've observed what seem like two completely different versions of reality. For those perplexed by this, here's a brief guide to a basic issue underlying this long-standing controversy: biological individuality. If properly understood, it can create the ground for reconciliation.

Have you ever noticed...

As it tops bestsellers' lists, Dan Brown's new book, The Lost Symbol, catapulted into the mainstream the frontier science he calls "Noetics," an area of active research for over twenty-five years, which he characterizes as humanity's best hope. Leading Noetic scientists report a concurrent boost in book sales and website...

In the aftermath of Mackenzie Phillip's shocking revelations of long term incest with her father, "Papa" John Phillips of the sixties' singing group, the Mamas and the Papas, some people are wondering why the actress allowed the incest to continue for ten years-- into her twenties.

The assumption is...

I've always had trouble picturing the decline of Rome. Why would the Roman people get distracted by a mean-spirited and meaningless circus? At what stage of a civilization do cheap thrills become the best option?

Unfortunately, nowadays, I don't have to crack a history book to get that lesson....

Dr. Andrew Weil's new book, "Why Our Health Matters" is a must read for anyone wondering why health care reform is in gridlock or what to do about it. In this book, Weil offers solid, original, clear-minded, and impeccably caring solutions for our health care conundrum.

"I am sure...

Watching the traveling funeral cortege of Senator Edward Kennedy inevitably triggered memories of the funeral of John F. Kennedy-- the most tragic funeral of my time. The assassination broke America's heart. Its now iconic images mirrored our shared grief. If those images could speak they would remind us that we...

Studies show that over half of all Americans are interested in promoting wellness and preventing disease. But some people are terrified that the food Nazis will come running after them and force feed them spinach.

In a series of upcoming blogs I'll be speaking with thought leaders in integrative...

Would you buy a financial advice book from Enron executives about saving pennies for your retirement? No? Then what about former FDA Chief Dr. David Kessler's new self-help book on how people should "just say no" to neurologically seductive foods created by food industry scientists?

A former FDA chief advises...

"When you're in the executive offices... you don't think about individual people. You think about the numbers and whether or not you're going to meet Wall Street's expectations... That enables you to stay there, if you don't really think that you're talking about and dealing with real human beings, "...

Some people I know are exquisitely sensitive. Every hurt, harm, or horror imprints their impressionable soul(s). Meanwhile others laugh it off, tough it out, shut down, deny, or resolutely move on. How marvelous are the varieties of human resilience.

When I was a kid, I recall seeing a Jules...

Would you buy a financial advice book from Enron executives about saving pennies for your retirement? No? Then what about former FDA Chief Dr. David Kessler's new self-help book on how people should "just say no" to neurologically seductive foods created by food industry scientists?

A former FDA chief advises...

The nation looks on in horror at the interminable orgy of true confessions from Governor Sanford -- voluntarily decimating his political career by bogarting a spotlight rightfully passed to recently departed celebrities. Any psychologically aware person must ask: Why?

Were the constraints of being in a suffocatingly correct marriage so...