In my late 20s, my best friend's dad died. I knew him, for I had spent a lot of time with their family. I spoke at the funeral and I sat with the family after the formal ceremonies were over. The question they kept asking their pastor was "Why?" "Why...

People operate in half-truths. Being polite often means not communicating how we really feel. We swallow the truth to keep our jobs, our friends and to maintain the peace in the family. It's likely better that way, but when it comes to figuring out next career and life moves, half-truths...

As a mother, there is nothing more soul-wrenching than having one of your kids hurting in any way. You want to jump in, patch it up, make it all better, but sometimes you can't. Other times, you don't have to.

I got a call yesterday that my youngest (12) was...

I am not an expert in teenage psychology or parenting. I am in thick of my first child being a teenager, so goodness knows that I am making lots of mistakes. I am aware that learning from those mistakes may or may not serve the next two coming up to...

I'm coming off of a Mexican spa vacation and celebrating my 50th birthday by performing my one-woman show in New York City. This year also includes my husband's 50th birthday and our 20th wedding anniversary. The teenager will get his permit this summer, the tweens are in their...

It's still January. How are your goals doing? It's estimated that 45 percent of people have already given up on any kind of new behavior set at the new year. That's okay -- maybe you don't need goals anymore. Maybe your soul has evolved past them.

Goals are like training...

Hannukah, Christmas and Kwanzaa all have a focus on lights or candles this time of year. The lights symbolize different things in each tradition, and in Judaism in particular, the Hannukah lights represent the eight days that the oil burned in the temple when there was only enough oil for...

If you're like most of us in the US, you did not win the record-breaking Powerball Jackpot last month. The two people who did, have no time to read anything other than the terms of their new fortunes, so it's just you and me here.

For a minute,...

As we approach Thanksgiving, in a post-election, post-hurricane time when our feelings probably outweigh our ability to express them, I thought it might be helpful to explore some ways to say thanks and experience feeling grateful.

Giddy, ecstatic, humbled, moved, awed -- grateful. However the emotion registers for you,...

Mother Nature has done it again. She slapped us upside the head to knock some sense into us. There is devastation for many. Nothing makes sense for them yet, but for most of us, we've been slapped into awareness.

What is it going to take for us to learn that...

Peace is not a new pursuit. Whether it's personal peace of mind or a more global peace between nations, we are a species with a long history of wishing for it. We've done more than wish, certainly. We've tried, we really have. Every generation tries and there are, all too...

"Know when to hold 'em, Know when to fold 'em" are lyrics from a famous Kenny Rogers song, and they apply to life in so many ways. When do you give up? When do you throw up your hands and let things take their course despite being unhappy with the...

Everyone has a unique gift -- something that is just undeniably "you" and is precisely useful to those around you. It's much more than a skill -- it is an ingrained strength fueled by your deepest passions, and nurtured by an unwavering sense of purpose. Most people never find their...

I've battled depression for most of my adult life. I don't discuss it much but when I do, like now, it's to encourage someone suffering from depression. The response is usually one of surprise, like "You seem so energetic and positive!"

"That's my nature," I respond. "And I have...

Death is not a popular topic, but it has been top of mind this week. No one close to me passed away. In fact, death entered my consciousness through friends and acquaintances. It's the destination we don't want to program into our GPS but that will always linger in the...

If we believe we are here to improve the journey of our soul, we are charged with making the best choices to perpetually evolve to a higher good. We study, we go to therapy, we develop a spiritual practice and we try to do the right thing. The unfortunate part...

According to a study by Harris Interactive, an Internet-based market research firm, 57 percent of Americans ended 2011 with unused vacation time, failing to take, on average, 11 of their allotted days off -- or 70 percent of what they'd rightfully earned.

Is it because we are such...

Free falling -- the exhilaration of flying and not really being sure of how safely you'll land. Isn't that why we go on scary rides at amusement parks, drive a little too fast and even fall in love? For some, taking risks is a way of life and for others...

For a lot of people it has been, in one way or another, a time of loss.

So many have lost their savings, their jobs, some, their homes, and many have lost the image of who they thought they were. Loss, perceived or real, may lead to