My cousin-once-removed asked me about meditation, so here's my story. I started with guided meditation when I was in my mid-twenties. I liked listening to someone else's voice as it led me through a visualization exercise that helped me relax and feel completely...
Previous post on weight & health: Slow as weight loss National Public Radio's This American Life program recently broadcast a show called "Tell Me I'm Fat." On their website, it's described like this: The way people talk about being fat is shifting. With...
I hardly know why news providers like the L.A. Times do stories like Americans could prevent roughly half of all cancer deaths by doing these four things. We know we should stop smoking, drink less alcohol, exercise regularly and achieve and maintain a "healthful...
On this April Fool's Day, I feel like stating the obvious: depression is not productive. At the age of 49 and three quarters, I'm still learning how to manage my chronic depression, which sometimes gets triggered by a specific circumstance, but often shows up with no...
Previous post on weight & health: Wheat is the culprit I've spent most of my life as a thin person. I was a skinny kid and then a gym rat who constantly struggled to stay down at a size 10 or under. My raging sweet tooth that never stopped somehow never tipped the...
Bernie Sanders has my vote, which I plan to cast later this week during Illinois' early voting period. But I was disappointed by his remark in last night's debate: We are -- if elected president -- going to invest a lot of money into mental health. And when you watch...
Previous post on weight & health: Physical vs. emotional Last November I cut grains, sugar, dairy and caffeine out of my diet. That means that on most days of the week I didn't indulge in any of those things, but periodically I had each of them in turn as the...
By the way: last week I celebrated National Suicide Prevention Day on September 10th by not wishing I were dead.
This is National Suicide Prevention Week and Sept. 10th is National Suicide Prevention Day. I'm actually ambivalent about suicide prevention (I feel equally strongly both ways). I believe people have the natural right to decide when they die, but I'm also sensitive to...
PCOS stands for polycystic ovary syndrome and increasing numbers of women are being diagnosed with it. It's a hormonal imbalance that can cause problems with periods and make it hard to get pregnant. The most obvious symptoms are acne, weight gain, increased hair...
Doing "cleanses" is a popular practice, which usually means temporarily purging certain foods from your diet and taking some kind of supplement (often a juice or shake) to help your body release toxins. I think afterwards many people just go back to the way they were...
Fariha Roisin describes her experience growing up in Living With My Mother's Mental Illness. If you have a few minutes, please read it and let me know if your childhood was similar to Roisin's experience. I wonder how many people grew up in similar circumstances...
During a recent interview with The Huffington Post, Jon Krakauer said his 1996 climbing of Mount Everest was a mistake. This is startling because in his 1997 book Into Thin Air, he explains that reaching that summit was a dream he'd had all his life. In many ways, it...
Four ibuprofen every three and a half hours. I even set my alarm to wake me up in the middle of the night so I wouldn't wake up to PAIN. Keeping the air conditioner on high so I can use the heating pad while it's in the 90s outside (30s Celsius). Staying home a lot so...
(My original post about my fibroid tumor is here.) So I decided to go with the Lupron treatment for my uterine fibroid tumor symptoms, but in the two weeks since my doctor appointment, their office has been having a hard time getting the paperwork through. The cogs of...