The Joy of “Normal”

Joy of Normal

When I interviewed Mary Roethler about her remarkable claim to fame—a kidney transplant recipient celebrating 42 healthy years compliments of her sister, Ruth—her zest for life burst through our phone connection. All the normalcy she’d enjoyed since the age of fifteen (when she received her sister’s life-saving gift), seemed a miracle. Freedom from a dialysis…

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The List that Changed My Life

The List That Changed My Life

I recently heard Cheryl Strayed, an author I admire (best known for her memoir Wild) tell this story, and it stuck with me. She was riding in the car with her ex-husband years ago. On an icy patch of a Wisconsin highway, the car started to slip and slide. As he tightly gripped the wheel,…

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Connections during Coronavirus

Connections During Coronavirus

As I’m home dodging COVID-19, I’m lucky that I like to write—keyboard tapping definitely fills time. And I’m delighted that the Founder of ModernWell, Julie Burton, published this story about my grateful-to-give-back Live Happy, Dammit! t-shirts on the ModernWell blog. Check it out, stay home, stay healthy, and stay happy!

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One Daily Practice for a Better Life

Busy lives create busy minds. The nonstop thoughts that compete for our attention every day are not always positive ones. Sometimes, a steady stream of stress and negativity play like a continuous news ticker in our brains. Fortunately, we all possess a powerful inner tool to reorder this stream and refocus. This tool, or habit,…

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