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

When you live to 101 people are curious how you did it and often ask for lifestyle tips on topics such as diet or exercise. Norman Lear died this week at 101. He was known for creating TV shows such as “All in the Family” and worked until the very end of his life, which…

Author Raymond Carver once asked, “And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so? I did. And what did you want? To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth.” This is a season of white lights that glimmer in the darkness, an invitation to believe in miracles as candles are lit,…

Poet David Whyte offers the challenging observation that some of us walk through doors that life offers while others never fully choose to do so. Whyte writes, some are “always at the gates of existence, but never bravely and completely attempting to enter, never wanting to risk ourselves, never walking fully through the door.”  As…

It is easy to be impacted by people’s opinion of our clothes, hair style, fitness, talent, profession, ideas, or dreams. A negative comment can deflate us. A slow response to a proposal or an idea we sent can make us doubt ourselves.  I came across a fascinating way to counter such situations and that is…

This morning I came across a lovely poem by Anne Sexton, “Welcome Morning.” She writes, “There is joyin all:in the hair I brush each morning,in the Cannon towel, newly washed,that I rub my body with each morning,in the chapel of eggs I cookeach morning,in the outcry from the kettlethat heats my coffeeeach morning,in the spoon…

We were listening to a Christmas playlist when an album came on with the title, “To Enjoy is the Only Thing.” Every day offers opportunities to enjoy what unfolds before us or to find fault; to choose to be a celebrant or a critic. What might a day look like if to enjoy it was…