Each week when I water my houseplants, I am surprised by the subtle changes that have taken place in such a short time. Most of my plants started from seeds or cuttings and continue to grow, sometimes despite their environment and caretaker. Pruning and watering are my moving meditation, and I would like to share the life lessons they have…
In the age of the “selfie,” when the social media lens is more tightly focused on the self than ever before while constant media coverage exposes us to the suffering of others on an international scale, many people often feel discouraged or despairing. What if self-help, the pursuit of self-betterment, is actually the best way to help others? Self-help is…
“It is interesting what one can experience when circumstances shock the system,” writes Anandhi Narasimhan, M.D., in Psychiatric Times. My upcoming surgery to correct my now-deformed dominant hand is just a warning shot—an inconvenience, not a life threat. But I suspect that it will shock my system nonetheless. The trick of good aging, says my dear friend Zelda, who turned…
It was late afternoon in Dallas, Texas, I was walking down the loading bridge to the plane… and frankly, I had a bit of pep in my step. I was here by way of Minneapolis, on a connecting flight to Portland (Oregon, where I was headed to record episodes for my podcast and meet with collaborators/clients). It had been a stressful morning, but…
By Anneli Rufus In a recent study, people were asked to choose between winning a small prize immediately and larger prizes they would have to wait several weeks to claim. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 70 percent chose the smaller-sooner prize. But follow-up questioning revealed that those who chose to wait treasured their rewards more highly than those who claimed their prize immediately—even…
A number of years ago, my partner and I moved into a fixer-upper. I saw the potential of the inside—the good bones of the small but well-built house. He saw the rocks and woods and graceful space around the house—a little under two acres but completely suffocated by trees of every size, and no sunlight. I was frenzied. I had…
My husband and I have an infuriating problem when we need to leave the house together. We play a strange, relay-race game with time, but rarely do we find time for doing nothing. He’ll be ready to go, for example, but I’ll still need to find my shoes or brush my teeth. So he gets on his computer. I appear…
