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

“I was talking to myself,” Boston Celtics player Jaylen Brown said to the media. He was describing how before a play began with his team down 3 points with a few seconds to go he told himself, “If I get this shot… it’s going up and it’s going in.’” Brown made the shot. It’s hard…

I continue to enjoy reading Chuang Tzu, the 4th century BCE philosopher. Today he made this point: “People do not see their reflection  In turbulent waters, They see their reflection In still water.” To truly see ourselves – our hopes, anxieties, fears, addictions, and potential – we need to find still water that can reflect…

I was on the subway recently and a homeless woman entered the car and gave each person a small piece of paper offering God’s blessing to the reader and asking for some help in the form of a single dollar. I didn’t have any cash so I handed the piece of paper back with a…

Recently I heard a man give speech where he said there is a difference between asking, “what’s now?” or “what’s next?” The first question guides us to attend to the present while the second the future. The first invites focus the second strategy. Being aware of which question we are asking at any moment and…

“Just because it’s measured,” notes author Seth Godin, “doesn’t mean it matters “ It is difficult to measure what matters sometimes. It’s easy to record and evaluate, for example, financial performance, sales, or attendance. But what matters more could be how your team identified and rendered a new idea which will eventually lead to somewhere…

“Make your move after your teammate sets his feet, not before,” observed a commentator during the NBA playoff game between Dallas and Oklahoma City. In basketball you can help a teammate by setting your feet and holding your body still in what is called a “pick.” Your teammate can then run his defender into you.…