Alcohol is the one unregulated, accepted drug we have in our society, and I do believe it's being abused. But since drinking is so socially acceptable, and everyone's doing it -- including high-functioning and motivated movers and shakers -- no one's questioning it.

Whatever it is, you have two choices: Live with it and continue to be unhappy or take a good, serious look at yourself in the mirror. The key word here is mirror. We can't see our blemishes until we have a mirror to reflect them back at us.

I may have a bit more apparent emotional bruises and visible laugh lines, but it means I've fully lived -- and fine by me that I'm working on being a super woman not Superwoman. There's a difference -- a big difference.

The goal of this exercise is certainly not to replace social relationships with a reflective surface -- the literally fatal moment of the Narcissus myth -- but rather to motivate you to get off the couch and engage with others more purposefully, meaningfully, and effectively.

My nose became more sophisticated as I learned and experimented with different oils and notes, and now I have a few favorites that call to me depending on how I am feeling on any given day.

Maybe you feel like you are floundering from one thing to another, maybe you feel the pressure of society or your parents or your spouse to just pick a path already and stay on it, even if you hate it.

It is stillness of the mind and body that allow us to step away from our distracted selves and get to know our true selves a little bit better.

At times, life catches up with us and  it becomes easy to forget to find time for moments of self-reflection. But it is important to remember that no human is an island. We can learn a lot about ourselves from the people we surround ourselves with and the relationships we foster.

Loneliness is a choice. You can be surrounded by a web of people and if you are using those people to complete yourself, you will still feel lonely. You have the choice to alter that terrifying feeling inside of you and turn it into an opportunity -- an opportunity to discover who you are, who you want to be and the choices you can make to become the best version of yourself.

The benefits of retreating from our lives, taking the time to pull back, are manifold. Besides relaxation, rest, healing and reconnecting with oneself, the opportunity to go within allows us to gain distance and perspective from the circumstances of our lives.

In the following posts I'll suggest a new synthesis that takes the most basic aspects of brain function to show that the era of higher brain function has arrived, awaiting only how you and I choose to participate.