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

We were talking with a doctor last night who shared when she encounters a difficult patient and ends up leaving the hospital room somewhat frustrated, she tries to remember an insight a chaplain gave her, “come back the next time with compassion.” After this doctor shared her insight it occurred to me how it could…

This time of the year invites us to become re-enchanted with the world, and our lives, as we gaze up at constellations on a winters’s night, enjoy desserts of the season, and celebrate festivals and holidays. David Byrne is one of my favorite musicians, songwriters and authors. He is perhaps best known as founding the…

I was talking with my daughter about attitudes to adopt when approaching complex situations and we wondered if “possible, no expectations,” is a helpful approach. Meaning, we choose to anticipate that everything is possible, but also bring to such situations no expectations. Think of “possible, no expectations” as the opposite to being pessimistic or controlling.…

What can we do when our mind drifts to negative thoughts? Those times when we continually replay a stressful event in our past; we feel anxious about the future, or doubt ourself? Barbara Fredrickson is an author and Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina. Her research reveals one way to…

“I begin each day of my life with a ritual,” shares choreographer Twyla Tharp in her book The Creative Habit. “I wake up at 5:30 A.M., put on my workout clothes, my leg warmers, my sweatshirts, and my hat. I walk outside… hail a taxi, and tell the driver to take me to the Pumping…

Our family is particularly fond of the poet W.H. Auden. In that spirit I’ve been reading Alexander McCall Smith’s book What W.H. Auden Can Do For You where he describes ways in which the poet changed his life. In one section he shares how he now wishes he had discovered Auden in his younger years,…