People don’t  make resolutions and then spring into lasting action. Behavior change researcher James Prochaska and others (link is external) have written about how people actually change — in stages. The actual behavior change, like starting to exercise, or going on a diet, is not the first stage of change, but rather comes after contemplating a change and then preparing to make the change. Research says that almost all of us who make resolutions will fail. One reason we fail is our resolutions are too vague. Typically we say things like I’m going to “lose weight”... Read More

  My yoga instructor always says, “Do you think you are enlightened?  Spend some time with your family.”  The point is, even the most zen of us can get caught up in relationship patterns and history that can harsh our mellow.  You may have started the holiday season already stressed.  The 2016 election was unprecedented in its divisiveness and the levels of anger and frustration that played out before and after.  Some of that divisiveness may have been within your own family and, now that the holidays are here, it may seem like the level of frenzy is higher than usual.  The... Read More