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The trouble started on a late afternoon in September. It was around 6 p.m., and I was sitting under one of the trees in my backyard, watching a brace of pigeons splash wildly around in our stone bird bath, beneath which a stone head of the Buddha rose up from the grass. My dog Nova, a West Highland white terrier, rested peacefully nearby. I’ve always loved this hour of the day, when the spill of late afternoon light, so ethereal, filtered through old-growth trees in Wedgwood, a neighborhood of gentle hills and slopes at the edge of strip malls, burger joints, auto dealers, and Rick’s topless nightclub in Lake City....

But she says the mental impact was more difficult—the feelings of fear and loneliness her new body inspired, not being able to do the things she used to. That drew her to Thailand, where she attended her first meditation retreat. Shapiro, now an author and professor of psychology at Santa Clara University, has conducted two decades of research into the health benefits of mindfulness. In this Tedx Talk from the fall, she talks about her personal journey to learning mindfulness, as well as how meditation and mindfulness can affect our health:...

With Thanksgiving around the corner, we bet your holiday schedule is already starting to fill up! We’ve taken the stress out of either planning or attending a fabulous white elephant party with your favorite people. Why is it called a White Elephant anyway? Why is it called a White Elephant anyway? In Thailand and other Asian countries, the white elephant was considered a holy being. But, the upkeep of this animal was outrageous to say the least....

But even with ENDLESS tips and tools to assist in solving conflict patterns in marriage, couples can still feel helpless in the heat of the moment. So what is the secret to taming and overcoming escalated marital arguments? Before we begin, there is no such thing as a perfect relationship. All couples have differences. Also, there will be moments in every relationship where conflict is mishandled. But by learning and practicing healthy disagreement strategies, your relationship will be MUCH better off than simply feeding into an unhealthy argument style because you know they’re common for couples....

But it’s not so difficult to shift toward a more mindful way of gifting, such as gifting experiences, instead of more items they may not want or need. This could mean anything from an offer to cook and eat a meal with them, to a ticket for a special event, workshop, or class, to an online course. By gifting experiences instead of things, we can focus on the real goals of exchanging gifts: to express love and generosity to the people we care about, create opportunities to connect with them, and contribute to their greater well-being and happiness....