express gratitude
What are you thankful for? How many times have you heard that question and heard people tell of the wonders of keeping a gratitude journal? I agree this is a wonderful and transformative practice, but I’d like to see you (and me) take it up a notch. It can be easy to rattle off 10 things you’re grateful for and after all, “Tis the Season.” With next week ushering in the big day, I thought I’d encourage yo

you’ve come a long way, baby!
I know many of you are way too young to remember where that slogan came from, but that is neither here nor there. I bring it up because recently, a friend from childhood said it to me (minus the “Baby” part) in reference to how much I have changed, from the girl I used to be growing up in the rural South. Don’t misunderstand; there’s nothing wrong with growing up in the rural South. In fact, I have many fine memories of childhood th

the best advice on the planet
I have a close relation—very close. Let’s call her miserable, I mean Miss E. Rable. For a period of time before I received THE BEST ADVICE ON THE PLANET, Miss E. Rable frequently visited her misery on me. I can just hear Dr. Phil now, “We teach people how to treat us.” These days I get that, but before I received THE BEST ADVICE ON THE PLANET, I didn’t understand that I had any way to stop Miss E. from making her frequent visits and

professional women smoking pot to unwind. who knew?
Apparently Marie Claire magazine, at least according to the TODAY Show interview I saw this morning. Marie Claire has published a story in their latest issue, about women who smoke pot on a regular basis as a form of stress reduction. The Book Editor in the TODAY Show segment reported that she smoked a joint often rather than drinking wine. When I visited the TODAY Show website for more info the headline for the story was

can i get a little back talk please?
Growing up as the daughter of a Southern Baptist minister, I learned early on the meaning of the phrase, “Don’t talk back!” Well, maybe not as early on as my dad would have liked, but after hearing it for the umpteenth time it did finally sink in…a little. And now that I have a child of my own, I have had several full circle moments of hearing myself utter those very same words. Words that, of course, I swore I’d never say. But you’re not my teenager and I’m not your paren