Topophilia is a strong emotional pull to a special place.  Research says that people experience intense feelings of well-being, contentment, and belonging from places that evoke positive memories far more than treasured objects such as photographs or wedding rings. Why is contentment important to our well-being?  Happiness is about being able to make the most […]

Every new year brings with it resolutions, goals, intentions – whatever you want to call it.  In short, we make plans for how to be better versions of ourselves.  I’d like to suggest that we think differently about the new year by considering our big WHY? Your big why is something you plug into emotionally […]

Researchers think Tom Yum Gung, a zesty Thai soup, might have cancer-fighting ingredients as well as good taste. Also called hot and sour soup, Tom Yum Gung is a shrimp soup with herbal ingredients like coriander, lemon grass, lime leaves and even galangal roots, a pungent root similar to ginger. A recent joint study by […]

There is no perfect diet for everyone, in spite of what you might have heard.  It seems the human body can adapt to almost any diet and survive, even thrive!  Consider the diet of the Inuit, the people indigenous to polar locations such as Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. Theirs is a mostly meat diet, […]

Most singles would probably consider themselves knowledgeable about dating, simply by virtue of exposure. By the time we are all adults, most singles have done quite a bit of dating. Our perceived experience as daters may or may not be real, because many of us are still using a traditional dating paradigm in the era […]

Hospitals around the country are using music therapy as a way to ease a patient’s pain, lower blood pressure, and reduce anxiety and depression, allowing patients to heal faster. Thirty-five percent of healthcare facilities in the US offer music, of some form, to their patients. An article in the journal, Pain Physician, indicates ​that music functions […]

Dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins are neurotransmitters that regulate our happiness.  A neurotransmitter is a messenger of neurologic information from one cell to another.  Being in a positive mental state has significant impact on our motivation, productivity, and wellbeing. Did you know you can intentionally cause neurotransmitters to flow? Let’s take a look at each […]

Maybe you’ve had JuJubes at the movies? The precursor to gummy bears, JuJubes are faux fruit flavored chewy candies that keep your dentist in business. The hot JuJube right now is actually Ziziphus jujuba, commonly called jujube, red date, Chinese date, Korean date, or Indian date. Mounting evidence shows the red date can protect us […]

In 2013, the most recent year for which we have data, there were about 2.8 million traumatic brain injury-related emergency room visits, hospitalizations and deaths in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly two-thirds of concussions take place in children and teens and although most patients’ symptoms disappear within two […]

Competition is a good thing!  There are so many dating sites out there right now that you can, at the very least, find like-minded souls (think JDate or MeetMindful), or in the best of all possible worlds, find a very high level of selection (think OnlyFarmers).  Dating sites and apps are not one-size-fits-all.  Each site […]