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

Noted American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe once gave this advice, “You want to be able to pick up on the magic of the moment. That’s the rush of doing photography. You don’t know why it’s happening, but it’s happening.” There are two ways of being present in the moment.  The first is to ask why something…

“Art sees you across a room,“ writes art critic Jerry Saltz, “and says, ‘You. Come closer. I could change your life.’” Which made me ponder how our ability to change is usually in proportion to our proximity to the catalyst. —— To download or share a free copy of my new book How to Feel…

We were coordinating an online symposium yesterday and reminded to turn our “focus on,” which means to turn on a feature on our computers so we don’t receive notifications. It’s a simple task, but a powerful idea; with one action we can turn on and off our focus. In some meditation practices you have a…

I recently finished reading the writings of Chuang Tzu, the 4th century BCE philosopher. And he made this lovely observation about accepting ourselves as we are.  “There is nothing that is too large  And not a thing that is too small.  The short legs of the duck  Are perfect for the duck  As the long thin…

A few days ago I was having a great conversation about how to navigate obstacles that appear along the journeys we take, both literally and metaphorically. And I said, “Well, if nothing happens on a trip, then you end up having nothing to talk about.” And he said, “I always say, comedy is tragedy plus…

“In tennis,” shared Roger Federer recently at a commencement address, “perfection is impossible. In the 1,526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80% of those matches… Now, what percentage of points do you think I won in those matches? Only 54%. In other words, even top ranked tennis players win barely…