Category: Radiant Life

The Capitol’s Statuary Hall

On the quick walk from my office to the House floor to vote, I paused a moment in Statuary Hall, my favorite room in the Capitol building. The room once served as the meeting place for the U.S. House of Representatives, back when there were fewer representatives and each member’s desk could fit in the…


Poetry, Almanacks, and Spelling Bees

Upon seceding from Britain, her thirteen former colonies immediately began to lay the foundations of an independent humanities tradition. One could argue, of course, that the process of creating a uniquely “American” literature was already well underway long before the Revolution even began—with William Bradford’s “History of Plymouth Plantation,” for example, or the poetry of…


Does Natural Immunity Earn Some Freedom?

Millions have rolled up their sleeves to take the COVID-19 vaccination because the jab promises protection against the notorious pathogen. However, millions more remain hesitant. Now, officials are pushing a new incentive: freedom. A growing number of universities now require that students get vaccinated before they return to campus. Airlines and workplaces are devising apps…


Support Your Body in the Fight Against COVID

As we continue to face COVID-19, we want to emphasize the importance of proper immune function. Whether you have had COVID-19 and want to facilitate the best recovery possible, desire to avoid triggering an autoimmune condition, or want to bolster your immune system to avoid succumbing to a serious case, you can take steps to…


Tips for Relieving Late Spring Blues for a Smooth Transition to Summer

A solar term is a period of about two weeks and is based on the sun’s position in the zodiac. Solar terms form the traditional Chinese calendar system. The calendar follows the ancient Chinese belief that living in accordance with nature will enable one to live a harmonious life. This article series explores each of…


Americans Are Getting Quite Plump During Lockdown

It was about one year ago, in spring 2020, when the jokes about the “quarantine 15” weight gain began making the rounds. But one year later, a longitudinal cohort study by researchers at the University of California shows that we underestimated the problem. According to the Trust for America’s Health State of Obesity 2020 report, 42.4…


Long Work Hours Linked to High Rate of Repeat Heart Attack

The whole idea of working long hours never made sense to me. Why put so much emphasis on one thing at the expense of so many others? A new study by researchers at Université Laval published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology is showing that those long hours don’t make sense to your heart,…


The First 2 Steps to Creating Resilience

When life is shaking us up and we’re feeling stressed, it can be tough to feel resilient. Resilience helps us to deal with chaos and overwhelm. But how do we create it when we feel like we’re underwater? The first step is to remove things that are adding unnecessary stress. The second step is to…


The Goodness and Gifts of Gratitude

A young man I know drives to work from Front Royal to the traffic-tangled roads of Northern Virginia. He recently told a mutual acquaintance that he uses the hour-long trek to prepare his mind for the day’s tasks. On the way home, however, he spends that same drive decompressing from work and readying himself to…


Remembering What Is Important: It Is All But Hay

As human beings living in this world, we are often bombarded with materialistic desires that may fuel our sufferings. We can be led to believe that our lives would be better if we only had more—more money, more affection, more education, more beauty, and so on. Pursuing more, however, often leads to more hardship. For…