Sir Winston Churchill, who battled plenty of demons, once said, "When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened."

Unfortunately, that advice...

"You have to decide... are you a Tigger or an Eeyore?"

That's one of the questions Randy Pausch, famous deceased Carnegie Mellon professor, asked in his presentation "The Last Lecture." It went viral, landing him on Oprah and a host of other afternoon and late-night shows.

I...

It's been 24 years since I used vodka like aspirin -- to numb my pain. In fact, I've been sober 22 years more than I drank, since I quit before I was old enough to buy the stuff. So my brain should be used to ordering Perrier with lime and...

I carry a few different business cards in my purse. Because I never know what conversation I will have with a stranger at any given time.

A month ago I fetched cream for my coffee at a café in South Bend, Ind. Naturally, my family didn't know a soul...

I know what you're thinking: another cheesy, goody-two-shoes blog on how I can keep all those goals I've set going into 2013. If you abhor such articles (like 10 ways to de-clutter your bathroom), then keep on reading. I'm like you -- normal.

1. Bribe yourself.

A so-called parenting expert...

I have stopped describing what depression feels like to the person with no experience of this "black dog," as Winston Churchill called it, or even an occasional bout of melancholy, because my inability to express the physical and mental deterioration, the frustration at trying to articulate my madness, tends to...

George Burns once said: "Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city." So that would explain why the holidays are so stressful. Those dear relatives who live in San Francisco suddenly are lingering in front of your refrigerator in Cincinnati, Ohio and you have to figure...

The weather outside might be frightful but inside it's definitely worse. According to New York psychologist Jay Seitz, 25 percent of people experience some kind of holiday anxiety or depression. That is, one in four people sipping eggnog feel like that stale, bland, unpopular fruitcake that was re-gifted...

The question of whether or not you should start taking antidepressants is complex and difficult to answer. But even fuzzier is the question of when or if you should stop. Last May, NPR ran a piece called "Coming Off Antidepressants Can Be Tricky Business."

Joanne Silberner writes:

Several...

Take a minute and answer this question: Is anyone really normal today?

I mean, even those who claim they are normal may, in fact, be the most neurotic among us, swimming with a nice pair of scuba fins down the river of "Denial." Having my psychiatric file published online and...

In his insightful book, "The Addictive Personality: Understanding the Addictive Process and Compulsive Behavior," author Craig Nakken explains why, even after an addict has given up the bottle or the weed, she will never be done with recovery:

"Addiction is a process of buying into false and empty promises:...

According to Raymond DePaulo, Jr. M.D., Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, African-American populations do not have higher rates of depression in the U.S. However, the statistics may be skewed because African Americans are much less likely to report their symptoms of depression.

The stigma...

According to psychologist Michael Brickey, author of Defy Aging, and many other relationship experts, playful bantering or gentle flirting with someone outside of your marriage is harmless if proper boundaries remain intact. Those boundaries differ with each relationship, of course. What would be considered a violation...

In her classic book, Gift from the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindbergh articulates the process of gathering girlfriends. She writes,

I shall ask into my shell only those friends with whom I can be completely honest. I find I am shedding hypocrisy in human relationships. What a rest that...

Vacations are theoretical concepts that exist today only on paper. That's according to Joe Robinson, work-life balance speaker, trainer and author of "Don't Miss Your Life." His statistics are dire:

Some 25 percent of Americans and 31 percent of low-wage earners get no vacation at all anymore, according...

I don't know of anyone who doesn't have a money problem right now, in this economy. Even the wealthiest of the wealthy are fretting because the fortunes they stashed in bonds and stocks aren't performing with the same gust of the 90s, and, even if you have 5 billion dollars,...

The other day I wrote a post for Blisstree.com on how to stay productive when you are clinically depressed. I mentioned that, at my rock bottom, I had to take a break altogether from writing, as every time I sat down in front of my computer, all I...

The kids are out of school. Your neighbors are whistling on their way to work, greeting you with an enthusiasm peculiar to warm weather. And if you hear one more person ask you about your summer vacation plans, you will throw a U.S. map and atlas at them.

You don't...

"You complete me." You know that line, right ... from Jerry McGuire? It comes right before "You had me at hello" (another puker). The completing-the-other bit nauseates me a tad because we relationship-analyzers (some with the right initials after their names and some self-declared experts who can type)...

It's been a while since I covered the topic of compulsive hoarding, because the last time I did I posted photos of my nut collection and book pile, and the next thing I knew I was being contacted by Discovery Disney to be "fixed" on some hoarding special....