Category: Better Living

Can Gardening Make You Happier?

Years ago when we had a big yard, thumbing through gardening catalogs was one way I got through the long Minnesota winters. I dreamed about what I’d plant when the weather warmed up and the ground thawed. I’d look at unusual plants, early bloomers, late bloomers, heirloom tomatoes, and whatever else caught my attention in…


Our Essential Need for Novelty

Have you ever wondered why “out of the ordinary” days stick with you the most? Maybe it was the day you met a lifelong friend, the moment you set your eyes on a beautiful landscape in a new country, or the birth of a child. When we enjoy novel experiences such as these, research shows…


The Critical Importance of Deep Knee Bending

Being able to sit down on the floor and stand up from that position without using one’s hands can indicate a person’s potential longevity, according to a 2012 study published in the European Journal of Cardiology. If a person can stand up from the floor with the help of one hand or one knee, the…


Finding Balance in the Chaos

When we’re hit with uncertainty either suddenly or in large amounts, it can throw us off. We can get frustrated, overwhelmed, stressed, and discouraged. This is normal, and there’s nothing wrong with it. However, it’s my belief that we can train ourselves to stay more balanced when things get chaotic and stay level-headed and calm,…


How to Gamify Your Health

I know people who can spend hours per day playing video games. The activities they do in their virtual world are similar to jobs that exist in the real world. They build cities, solve problems, and hunt for opportunities—all without getting paid or needing external motivation. I’ve wondered what it is about games that make…


A Life Coach’s Personal Playbook

Ignore your oppressive to-do list, life coach Kristen Glosserman says. Replace it with a shorter, more powerful and encouraging “do list” each day. Make one of the items on it your “commit”: If you accomplish nothing else, at the end of the day you’ll have completed this commitment. Make it something you’ve been avoiding, and…


Avoiding the Toxic Effects of Aluminum

The human body is an electrochemical miracle. While we often think of it as a fleshy machine of sorts, it can be more likened to a constantly changing collection of chemicals and electrical signals that’s continuously rebuilding itself and responding to your mental state, food, air intake, physical activity, and environment. This biochemical landscape of…


Milk Thistle for Liver Health

Milk thistle, with its distinctive purple flowers and long, thorny leaves, has long been touted for its liver health benefits and detoxing prowess. Milk thistle and its healing properties were first described by the Greek physician Dioscorides in 40 A.D. Dioscorides was a physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and the author of De Materia Medica, a five-volume…


Living in a Chaotic World: How to Keep Anxiety at Bay

Ella Fitzgerald sang that “into each life some rain must fall,” but it has felt like torrents of grief have fallen upon us in recent months or years. We all experience hardships and stress, and we are all very well-acquainted with that pit that forms in our stomach when nervousness takes hold. Many of us…


Use Story to Change Your Life

Most of us don’t realize how powerful stories are in our lives. We don’t even notice that we’re very often telling ourselves a story and that these stories shape everything we believe about our reality. For example, the stories you tell yourself is the reason you feel: Resentment toward a loved one or coworker Guilty…