Civility suffers in a fast-moving, perpetually preoccupied and self-centered society. In fact, civility cannot exist alongside narcissism: the two are mutually exclusive. And ours is a painfully, often obscenely narcissistic culture.

It’s counter-intuitive to take a blow without doing something, anything, to defend oneself. When your marriage is a mess or your body betrays you or you’re on a financial cliff edge, the tendency is to become two years old again and have a hissy fit.

Everything is meaningful. Important things are being offered all the time — if we but pay attention. 

Death gifts us with these reminders: Appreciate freely. Love fiercely. Eat life in big bites. Don’t wait until the last, good day to embrace your beautiful, fleeting life.

Embracing our wilder, fiercer natures might be messy and feel a bit scary, but it also makes for a richer, sexier, fuller life.

Envy is a miserable emotion. It sucks us out of our lives depositing us in a bleak terrain where we are so focused on what we don’t have that we forget about all that we do.

A little education about the heart and the origins of Valentine’s Day: an alternative, if you will, to the commercial sentimentality foisted upon us by Madison Avenue.

On the nature of disease, its meanings, and our role in creating it.

Our lives are so much more than what we can see when the sun is shining. The dark times open us to a greater revelation. The darkness opens a dialogue with soul.

It is far too easy to become wrapped up in what is “wrong” in our lives, far too easy to slip into self-pity and to forget that this moment is but a point on an infinite trajectory.

The real suffering of life—the unavoidable agonies—are not problems to be solved but experiences to be faced and felt.

The eight, best pieces of advice—ever.

You’ve heard someone say it. Heck, maybe you say it. “I’m spiritual but not religious.” But what the heck does that really mean?

The opportunity to come into our fullness is the sacred gift contained in midlife. Who are you? Why are you here? What needs to be done? And what will remain when your castle returns to the sea?

A somewhat amusing foray into the land of adrenal fatigue.

You don’t have to be introspective or make any changes in order to feel better; there is an alternative. In my twenty-some years of practice and study, I have learned some valuable techniques for handling difficulties without delving into the depths.

Saying yes might be exhausting sometimes, and it will certainly take you out of your comfort zone, but it will absolutely make your world much bigger

Every new author has two fantasies when they publish their first book. The first fantasy is that it will be a runaway best-seller.

Reading through my collegiate musings reminded me of some interesting things: namely, seeing how really very little has changed.

When we entered the year of the Black Water Snake. I knew it was going to be a wild ride: a year whose symbolic energy is turmoil and transformation ain’t going to be easy.