Tag: Better Living

Zen of Busy: Continual Letting Go When You’re Overwhelmed

These past two weeks have been hectic and exhausting for me. My wife’s father passed away, and I’ve been in non-stop planning, coordinating, cooking, cleaning, driving around mode. Yesterday was the funeral, and it was a long, tiring and busy day. Incredibly sad, but busy. In the midst of this busyness, I’ve been trying to remember…


Miraculous Reflexology: How to Give Yourself a Foot Massage That Heals the Body

As an old saying goes, “The root dries up first before a tree dies, and the feet grow feeble first when a man ages.” The feet not only support the weight of the whole body, but also have a close relationship with the individual’s overall health. Foot massage can improve many small health issues throughout…


Life After Loss

Two months earlier, Mita’s partner had died suddenly. “I hate this. I hate it so much. When will it get better?” she asked. Her plea carried the familiar chest-crushing tune of grief. As a widow of three years, I knew too well that the truth would seem incongruous if not insulting. So all I said…


Becoming Resilient in the Face of Grief

Two months earlier, Mita’s partner had died suddenly. “I hate this. I hate it so much. When will it get better?” she asked. Her plea carried the familiar chest-crushing tune of grief. As a widow of three years, I knew too well that the truth would seem incongruous if not insulting. So all I said…


Mindfulness Practices Are Becoming the Backbone of Disordered Eating Programs

The complication of disordered eating is that food cannot be avoided, unlike the source of other addictive behaviors. It’s a delicate mental illness that hides on the fringes of a diet-obsessed culture driven to focus on the exterior. Yet experts are finding that shifting exceedingly to psychology—particularly the practice of mindfulness—is altering the success rate…


One of the Worst Things You Could Slather on for ‘Protection’

It’s widely overused – and loaded with a brew of toxic ingredients that pummel human fertility, impair your neurons and threaten coral reefs. First off, let me make it very clear that sunscreen is widely overused. There are some circumstances where it is wise and appropriate to use but those cases are few and far…


Can Mindfulness Really Change Your Brain?

Meditation and other mindfulness practices may improve your attention, but they won’t lead to structural changes in your brain in the short-term, according to a new study. Previous studies have shown that learning new skills, aerobic exercise and balance training could trigger changes in the brain, and some research has suggested that mindfulness regimens could…


The Nocebo Effect

Most people are probably familiar with the placebo effect, but may not be aware of its less popular cousin, and opposite, the nocebo effect. According to the latest research, this mysterious phenomenon is perhaps more prevalent than many people realize, even medical professionals. Let’s define them both. The placebo effect occurs when someone is receiving…


Reclaim Your Kids From Screens So They’ll Find Joy in Real-life Activities Again

  “I don’t know how to explain it, but something is wrong with my son,” one mother told me, fighting back her tears. “He’s a good student, he does his chores, he used to be so sensitive and caring. But I feel like I’m losing him. His video games are the center of his universe…


The Challenge of Doing Hard Challenges

This year, I’m doing a series of 40-day discomfort challenges, as a way to continue my training in falling in love with discomfort and uncertainty. It’s a training I’ve been doing for 1 1/2 decades now, but I’ve been deepening into it even more in the last 5 years. And now I train others in…