The Rewire Me team is really getting into our Stress Less theme for the month of August. During one of our recent editorial meetings, we started talking about how we stay productive and deal with stress. Some of the ideas were so good I’d like to share them with you: Always have a plan. Map out each day’s schedule the…
We all know stress can be harmful, but to a trauma survivor it can be excruciating, even life-threatening. Not everyone who lives through an extreme emotional trauma develops post-traumatic stress disorder, but millions do. An estimated 8% of the U.S. population—about 24.4 million people—have PTSD at any given time. PTSD is difficult to diagnose, in large part because its symptoms…
I always think of summer as a time to relax and unwind, maybe not have back-to-back meetings every day of every week. Spend fewer hours in the office and more by the beach, perhaps watching the waves crash against the sandy shore. Then (in no particular order): RING! (phone), BUZZ! (BlackBerry), MOM! (kids). Right. Time to wake up and smell…
I have an outdoorsy husband and two children between the ages of 9 and 12. I want to be as cool as possible, of course, so I try to engage in lots of outdoor sports with them. But I come from the concrete jungle of Manhattan and, although I love spending time in nature, I wouldn’t consider myself the daring…
Brené Brown, an academic researcher, was going to spend a year “deconstructing” shame, fear, and vulnerability. It turned into six years and a life-changing revelation. She interviewed thousands of people and found they could be divided into those with a sense of love and belonging and those who wished they felt that sense. The former group held certain surprising things…
I met Steve some seven years ago when I hired his company to do some work in my home. There was an instant connection. We seemed to relate to life in the same way and at times would find ourselves deep in conversation about the true meaning of life. When you spend a lot of time at someone’s home, you…
As a child I was never fond of classical music or opera, though my father used to blare opera music throughout our home. He would sit on the floor with my sister beside him, singing and explaining what the arias were all about. I had no patience for it. In my early 20s a cousin took me to see Turandot,…
I happen to love the number four. It encompasses the beautiful array of seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall. And the elements: Water (what we’re mostly made up of), Air (the breath that keeps us alive), Fire (our spirit, our passion), and Earth (the ground beneath us, what grounds us to our true selves). And of course, there are the four…