Deborah Schoeberlein

You'd think you're in England here at the High Prairie Horse Show in Parker, Colorado. I mean, the raincoats, mud-splattered boots and low hanging slate-grey skies look awfully British to me.

But the accents here are all-American, the horses like listening to Country-Western radio in the barns and the...

When life rolls like waves, the mind can surf or sink. If you don't believe me, all you've got to do is go knee-deep in the ocean and see what happens. But, if you lack a handy beach, read on:

So there I was, wet to the knees. With my...

According to the calendar, we're supposed to be past April's showers and into the sunny month of May. At least that's the conventional wisdom regarding the weather, but not perhaps for the seasons of the heart. When it comes to our emotions, relationships and deepest desires, storms can break out...

You know how it goes: If you're searching for personal meaning -- in a fortune cookie, horoscope or even a HuffPost bog -- you're going to find it. The temptation is almost irresistible and the outcomes, well, they depend on whether you know when you are searching and what it...

According to my grandma, "A good romantic relationship takes effort, not work." How's that for a pearl of wisdom with terrifying implications?

The thing is, my grandma was right. Effort is a necessary part of nurturing a joyful relationship. Work, on the other hand, is not.

I mean, who...

Okay, so I've been looking at things all wrong and maybe you have too. Remember that metaphor of being a ship on the sea? You know, the single person in the small boat floating on that vast blue ocean? Still safe, but very vulnerable?

It's a conventional image of...

On Christmas morning, the stockings wait: full of messages and meaning. These were the gifts of our season:

Pomegranates: As with Persephone in the realm of Hades, for abundance joined with the recognition that all seasons change. And with, come times of light and dark, plentitude and scarcity, ease and...

It's all in the eyes. My eyes, and those gazing down from the image of Christ painted here, on this ceiling, nearly a millennium ago. No, that's not quite right. It's really what's happening between our eyes, and beyond.

Imagine a crypt beneath a cathedral, a space first created in...

Fall again, and school just started. Up here in the Rocky Mountains, the kids go into the wilderness for outdoor education. It's a mark of coming of age, and an opportunity for stepping into the timelessness of nature. At some point in the next week, my son will spend 24...

Summer heat, traveling and ice cream are among the greatest of equalizers, breaking down cold winter barriers among us and transcending time.

Today, on summer holiday in Europe, we climbed very high to the baking roof of an ancient building. A church, yet also the peak of the world as...

What with all the talk of Rapture and "going up," I'm put in mind of the hellish experiences here on Earth, experiences for which there is no risk of "going down" further, only the fear that somehow there will be no reprieve from the depths. I had a glimpse of...

Utter desolation on a child's face, an indication of deep harm inflicted on a young body, heart and mind.

There is little worse for a child than sexual and/or physical abuse. It's hard also for those who would willingly take on the child's history and pain if somehow doing...

A decade ago, we woke to live images of the Trade Centers collapsing and humans dying. Today, the morning news brought images of an unstoppable wall of water crossing Japan.

Then, as now, live footage documents destruction. No...

There I was, reading my e-mails, when an innocuous looking item transformed into a monster -- gushing and spewing vitriol and clearly, so clearly, lashing out in pain.

I'm talking about a particularly nasty note that appeared yesterday. It came from a former colleague (let's call this person "A"),...

There are two reasons to be nice to others: it's good for them, and it's good for you. It really doesn't matter which reason grabs you more. Either way, what matters is your behavior -- and not just to others, but more importantly for you.

Life simply goes easier...

There we were, delving exuberantly into that luscious box of Belgian chocolates when someone brought up the topic of mindfulness.

Here's the exchange that followed:

As one colleague savored her first and reached for the second delectable bite, another colleague teased, "Slow down, eat mindfully!"

The retort: "What's...

Thieves steal something even more valuable than money or goods. They also steal trust.

It's a double blow, to lose your hard-earned cash or property and to have such valuables taken by someone you know. Both aspects of the crime are rotten. The challenge, as the victim, is handling both...

Yes, you.

The term "public health" means exactly what the two words say. Public health is about the health of the public at large. And the public at large refers to "us" more than "you" or "me."

Sure, individuals make up community. But, sometimes, in our intensely individualistic society,...

Pressed for time? Always. But what does that really mean, and how can we experience the inexorable movement of time without a sense of relentless pressure and stress? One effective approach is to pause and take a conscious breath.

Schools compress time. Seriously. If you work in education, you know...

In some places, it's too noisy to hear. Doesn't matter whether you're trying to listen to someone else, or pay attention to your own thoughts ... the intense audio stimulation is overwhelming.

There are also places where noise is warranted, as celebration or outrage, or an expression of infinite...