a daily blog on well-being and how to feel better by Mark Barger Elliott…

On his show Stephen Colbert asked Billie Eilish to describe the rest of her life in five words. Isn’t that a fascinating question? Eilish struggled for a bit, and then answered, “laughter, smiling, snuggling, eating, singing.” What five words would choose to describe the rest of your life? I think mine would be “present, inspired,…

I am writing a play with a friend and while I enjoy the process, looking back on the last nine months, it is fascinating to note how many times I’ve started over, rewritten scenes, and stared up at the ceiling wondering how to put the pieces together.  Peter Shaffer in one of my favorite playwrights,…

C.S Lewis observed that an essential aspect of a relationship is to have and to maintain a “shared question.” Not that you share similar answers, but you have committed to exploring and trying to answer this “shared question” together. In our series “How to Live” we next turn to relationships. Do you have relationships where…

“I don’t feel crazy. That’s the weird thing. I was crazy before. I know what crazy feels like. This all feels . . . I don’t know. Like I’m finally seeing the obvious.” Olivia, a character in Richard Powers’ book The Overstory: A Novel, says those words after a traumatic experience suddenly heightens her senses and focus on life…

In a recent article author and professor Kelly McMasters shared how she wrote her obituary last week. As she explains, “I often do so once a year; it has become a kind of ritual. I’ve met a few others who do the same or something similar. A teacher I know likes to start every new year…

Yesterday, a friend shared advice that Pascual Olivera, an internationally renowned flamenco dancer, once gave. Olivera said, “Everyone is an actor performing the play of life. It is we who write the scenario and who perform the script of our own lives—neither fate, chance, nor a divine being writes this script. We write it, and…