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

Recently I started to read And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by Jon Meacham. Over the weekend, I came across this passage: “For many Americans, to see Lincoln whole is to glimpse ourselves in part—our hours of triumph and of grace, and our centuries of failures and of derelictions. This is why his…

The US Open is occurring right now and for the first time in many years the big three – Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer – are out of the tournament because of losses and retirement. A few new stars have emerged, including Carlos Alcarez, but their performances, although exciting, are at times still inconsistent. In an…

I’ve been pondering lately how science reveals what we focus on frames our future. That simply, if we want to accomplish a particular goal, or experience a certain emotion, such as joy or wonder, we need to focus our brain’s attention in that direction. In his book Transcendent Brain neuroscientist and best-selling author Alan Lightman, one of…

In our 7th insight from Lao Tzu he notes differences between that which is living and that which is dead. Namely, that which is alive is soft, supple, and yielding, (like a plant,) while that which is dead is stiff, hard, and inflexible. We can choose, suggests Tzu, which attitude we will apply to our…

I read our 6th insight from Lao Tzu over twenty years ago and it still guides me whenever I face a complicated situation. “Do you have the patience to wait  till your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself? —— If you know someone…

Our 5th insight from Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching invites us to consider the importance of timing in regard to the inevitable difficulties that arise within every pursuit or endeavor. Tzu’s observation is the longer we wait in addressing such situations the harder they will become. As Tzu puts it simply, “Confront the difficult while it is…