Self-Awareness 101 — You are not your thoughts

"I think, therefore I am!" Descartes' quote was great in its time, but I think it overshadows a larger reality. Most of us spend our time fully in our brains. We remind ourselves of what we need to do, the on-going "To Do" lists. We rehash conversations, worry about our futures, count calories, rewrite the …

Body Awareness 101 — Hear the wisdom of your body

Appearance and health usually top the list when we discuss our bodies. Perhaps sexuality comes in there a bit, but really, most people do not think about their bodies much more than that. We have been raised in a society where the brain runs the show. There is an understanding that everything should be based …

Stress Eating?

You are on your way to check out the new fish that are arriving today at the pet store and a car rear ends you at a stop sign. Then, you get there to find out that they haven't arrived yet and you see your lover petting kittens with someone that you don't know. You …

Right Brain/Left Brain — Chapter 7

I am in my office again. I just finished a pretty easy week at work. I was only covering my own desk, which meant that I had a reasonable amount to do. There are definitely ebbs and flows of work and this was a particularly light flow. It is 6:00 p.m. EDT and it is …

The Importance of Respecting What You Want to Eat

I feel like lessons are being taught. For example, I made a soup out of the left over vegetables. This is something that I do. I love these soups. They are all unique, so never boring and they give me this sense of satisfaction. No food is going to waste. I have found a way …

Unconscious Decisions

Going deeper and deeper into knowing and understanding myself is important to me. Who was it that said, "An unexamined life is not worth living?" To me, it is more than that. Discovering oneself can be the greatest and scariest adventure that a person can go on. I often coach people that have put up …

There is More to Life Than Avoiding Death

I was sitting on my balcony, enjoying the warm air and how the twilight deepens the colours and ushers in a peace that used to precede sleep in those days before lighting, when a clutch of little girls walked by. One of the girls said, "My mother won't let me sit in front of the …

The Art of Decision Making

As she got into the car, her entire face lit up. As a mom, I had seen this before and knew that she loved what she saw and how she felt sitting in the car. Her brain, the left side of her brain, that is, had told her to buy the other car. So, we …

Big Boys Don’t Cry

Whether it is expediency in parenting or preparing us for the reality of our world, we all learn before we are too old that it is not OK to express all emotions in public, if at all. The phrase, "If you cry I'll give you something to cry about," was commonly used when I was …

No Pain, No Gain

We have been told repeatedly that we must fight against time; fight against our appetites and fight against our bodies. Actually, wouldn't it be nice to just stop struggling? How many people do you know that have themselves scheduled so tight that they barely have time for their family or friends? What are they told? …