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

I recently came across a quote suggesting there’s really only one question to ask ourselves, “What am I unwilling to feel?” Our answer can provide a clue as to an area of our life that might need to be reflected upon and perhaps, addressed. For example, if our answer is “happiness,” or “anger,” or “faith,”…

Author and therapist Mary Pipher observed in her practice that what she saw over and over again was most trouble in people’s lives started when they went for the last 10%. In other words, they were more or less 90% happy with their work, relationships, or home, and yet something compelled them to pursue the…

I recently came across one of the best definitions I have ever read of what a leader looks like by Alan Moore in his book, Do Design: Why Beauty is Key to Everything. Moore writes – “A leader’s real authority is a power voluntarily given by others. It is an optimistic gift in the belief that…

Nile Rodgers has written, produced, and performed on songs that sold more than 500 million albums and 75 million singles. He was also the co-founder of the group Chic. Yesterday I came across a fascinating insight Rodgers offered on songwriting and creativity.  He said, “Chic developed a philosophy. We said: ‘A song is an excuse…

I finished Katharine Rundell’s book about the 17th century author, poet, and priest John Donne recently and discovered Donne speculated that what happens after we breathe our last breath is we are “translated.” Donne writes, “When one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and…

4th Century BCE Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu noted how four actions enable us to “partake of and delight in the mysteries of heaven” and discover what he called “the Way.” They are: To laugh rather than to cry; To be entertained rather than to judge; To allow yourself to join the flow of life; To cease…