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

Last night I learned it doesn’t matter how hard you play a harpsichord as the volume will remain stabile because the instrument’s strings are plunked rather than hammered. I also learned the name of a piano was originally “piano forte,” which is translated as “soft loud,” as this instrument offered a musician the ability to…

I was walking onto the Santa Monica Pier yesterday when a woman behind me said, “well, this is as good as it gets!” In front of us was the blue water of the Pacific, an iconic Ferris Wheel, and to the left and right an expansive beach that could rival any in the world. And…

Tig Notaro is a comedian, Grammy Award winner, featured in a Netflix special, and a cancer survivor. In a talk we heard her give yesterday, Notaro shared how her therapist had encouraged her as a part of her healing process to “make room for possibility.” And I thought, that is wonderful definition of hope. ——…

There is a distinction between viewing an obstacle we face as impossible or necessary. The distinction is made in one of my favorite science fiction films, Interstellar, where Matthew McConaughey attempts to dock his ship into a space station that has had an explosion and the AI robot says, “it’s not possible.” McConaughey responds, “No, it…

Edward Gibbon, author of famous books about the Roman Empire, described how a historian needs to ask not only what “were the first, but what were the secondary causes” of events. Gibbon’s observation is a helpful way to approach and to better understand emotions and relationships. Meaning, we might conclude someone’s anger – for example…

“In fairness to me,” I overheard a woman say as her covered her heart with her left hand and stared indignantly at the person in front of her.  Her sentiment made me realize it matters from what vantage point we calculate what is fair and what is not. For example, do we calculate fairness from…