I was terrified of running when I was a kid. I’m talkin’ somebody-grab-this-girl-a-paper-bag-to-breathe-into scared. My mom is asthmatic. I’m not, but when I ran and felt my breathing quicken, I associated that with my mom’s health condition. Anxiety would take over, my throat would constrict, and just as if I had asthma, I’d lose the ability to breathe. During graduate…
I was really taken with Karla McLaren’s latest book, The Art of Empathy: A Complete Guide to Life’s Most Essential Skill (Sounds True), in which she explores the varieties of empathy in our lives. After I’d finished reading (and copiously underlining) I had a few questions, and Karla was kind enough to answer them. AP: You call yourself an “empath,” which…
How to Break the Anger Habit & Be a Whole Lot Happier by Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman
I started making vision boards eight years ago, and I find them a great help in staying focused on what’s important to me. If I get sidetracked or wrapped up in stress, I can just glance at my vision board and I’m reminded of what really matters in my life. A vision board is a piece of poster board with…
Calling me a hopeless romantic is an understatement. Perhaps because I’m a writer, I spend a lot of time in my imagination. And like most women, I’ve done my fair share of fantasizing about how I’ll meet my Prince Charming. Some of my friends dream of locking eyes over a coffee at Starbucks. For others, their hat blows off into…
On January 15, 1929, in the bedroom his parents shared in his grandparents’ house on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, Michael Luther King Jr. was born. No, Michael is not a typo. It wasn’t until 1934, upon his return from a globe-spanning journey that had taken him from Paris and Rome to Cairo, Jerusalem, and Berlin, where he was a delegate…
Over dinner my friend Jane makes an offhand comment: “I couldn’t stand my husband when I first met him.” Immediately, I’m intrigued. They’ve been married eight years and she’s head over heels in love with him. She continues, “He was the most obnoxious, pompous know-it-all I’d ever met.” “What finally changed your mind?” I ask, expecting some big gesture on…
