When I was a teen growing up outside New York City, my mom was a big country and western fan. I remember the collective groans from my brother, Bret, and me as she ferried us and our friends to after-school activities to the honky-tonk sounds of what I heard as hillbilly twang. One of my mom’s favorite songs was about…
What does the concept of “home” really mean to us? Does it mainly refer to a place that gives us a feeling of utmost security in our surroundings? And, whatever it might mean, as we age, is it possible to transfer our sense of home to another spot on the map? In my mother’s case, circumstances are forcing her to…
In my childhood, I spent many afternoons at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. My father loved the exhibition pavilions there, and to keep me occupied and not bored when I was too small to understand intellectually what I was viewing, my parents gave me a sketchpad and crayons or colored pencils and I would sit and draw. At…
You want something—maybe it’s a car, a job, a dream vacation, the end of an illness, the start of a relationship, Whatever it is, you set your sights on it and then…as the Stones so eloquently said, “You can’t always get what you want.” But will you be satisfied to only get what you need? In a life where free…
March blew out with surrender. There was that day I drove home from the beach, drinking as usual. But then, a moment of clarity. Noticing how fast “just one” became six at 60 mph, I saw myself as I was: an alcoholic. Funny, after 35 years of “problem drinking,” in the end it was one lousy six-pack that did me…
There is a real value to an optimistic “everything-is-fine” stance toward life. Studies have shown that pessimists seem to get sick more easily than optimists, experience higher rates of depression, and alienate those closest to them, while optimists—those who see the proverbial glass as half full—live longer than pessimists and are more mentally and physically resilient and productive. “While optimists-at-all-costs say everything…
