I didn’t always love her even though she was my mother. She wasn’t there when I needed her, and we never seemed to connect when she was. As a kid, when I was told I looked like my mother, I’d cringe with pain at the thought that we were cut from the same cloth. At...
Is Happy Birthday to you Used A lot? Arguably among the most widely used words in any language are, “Happy Birthday.” And, probably the most famous and commonly used lyrics are those from the song, “Happy Birthday to you.” It’s played repeatedly by millions of people....
I’ve always been fearless, or so I thought. And as long as I had a drink or a drug in my hand, that was true. Chemicals gave me the courage to do the impossible, such as talking to people, feeling my feelings, asking for what I needed, taking what I wanted, being...
Sometimes when we’re disappointed because we didn’t get the outcome we wanted, it’s hard to understand why it happened. It seems unfair that we try hard to achieve our goals with little visible success. It’s especially hard if we did our very best. “Why me?” we ask....
Addiction, regardless of how we define it, robs us of the ability to make the right choices. Whether we’re addicted to drugs, alcohol, food, gambling, sex, love, other people’s opinions, or old ideas, our lives are no longer our own. Because we’re addicted, we do...
My heaviest weight was 145 pounds, and I was only twenty-six years old. I went from a size four to a size fourteen almost overnight. For some, 145 is not a lot of weight, but for my small frame, it was a lot of bulk to carry. And I got that way by design. It wasn’t a...
You are the artist in your life. You create the images and colors on the canvas called your life. Are you creating the picture you want? Does your canvas convey a life of fulfillment and growth? Or does your canvas convey chaos and despair? Sometimes we don’t like...
Imagine you’ve lived a long, full, and productive life. Now, you find yourself at the pearly gates waiting to gain entry. Upon arrival, the gatekeeper doesn’t ask how many pairs of cute shoes you have, where you went to school, how much money is in your stock...
Pause. It’s an esteemable act to stop and smell the roses. For years I diligently and faithfully read my daily meditations. I worked them into my routine activities, just as I shower, brush my teeth, and press my clothes. After each reading, I’d stop and digest the...