I am not a negative person and when I’m sad I don’t dwell on it. That being said, I am constantly reminded that our lives could change in an instant.

I often think about the people in my life that have passed away at far too young an age. But rather than allow those memories to get me down, I use them to motivate me to love with all my heart and live with gusto! Think about it—we never know what tomorrow is going to bring.

What will you do with your precious 86,400 seconds in a day? Will you waste them by focusing on what you believe is wrong with you (i.e., too heavy, too gray, too lazy), or spend time being disappointed in your spouse or child for not doing what they “should” be doing?

Start today on a positive note by creating a daily gratitude practice. Jot down 3 things from the day that you are thankful for. They can be anything from enjoying a delicious strawberry to having a great conversation with a friend. When you begin to look for the good every day, it makes you feel so much more appreciative of this one beautiful life that we are gifted!

To learn about the ingredients for happiness, you can purchase my book: The Recipe for Real Happiness, on Amazon!!! Click here.

Sending you so much love!

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I’ve spoken to so many people about how COVID has affected their lives, and one common theme, oddly enough, is how much they’ve loved the slower, quieter pace of the past year.

I think this is true for all of us. We haven’t been bogged down with plans (because there was NOWHERE to go) and we’ve been able to accomplish things around our homes that we normally never have time to do. Many people really enjoyed the forced downtime.

My advice: Don’t wait for another (heaven forbid) forced reason to relax. Build it into your life now, before you get back into that over- planned, over-scheduled go-go-go mode that we often create. I know it’s not easy but it is SO important for your emotional health!

Allowing yourself to have “mental” space can improve your relationships because you’re able to be more present and available to whomever you are with. Carving out downtime also increases productivity. Research has shown that we perform best and are most productive when we alternate between periods of intense focus and short breaks.

So as things are getting back to normal and we’re all able to socialize more, think twice before agreeing to every dinner, party, and event. Before you fill up your calendar, schedule in some free time. It may feel tempting to make up for a year of no activities but leave some time for YOU!


To learn about the ingredients for happiness, you can purchase my book: The Recipe for Real Happiness, on Amazon!!! Click here.

Sending you so much love!

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Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” This is SO true! When we compare ourselves to others, we can end up feeling either inferior or superior—and neither way is good for us.

We are all on our own journey, each one of us on a different path. Don’t waste your time and energy judging how you measure up to others or allow yourself to be weighed down by your perceived “mistakes.” Practice ingredient #4 in my book: Learning. Take a look at all of your challenges and successes as opportunities from which to grow and learn—they are uniquely yours!

Imagine yourself driving on the highway of life—stay in your lane and on your unique adventure. There will be bends and curves in the road and you will shift lanes at times— because you choose to, not because you are following someone else’s journey!

To learn about the ingredients for happiness, you can purchase my book: The Recipe for Real Happiness, on Amazon!!! Click here.

Sending you so much love!

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We’ve all done things in our lives that we regret, and we end up carrying the burdens of those actions, often for years. Whether you feel like you’re never doing enough, or are doing the wrong thing, or have potentially hurt someone or screwed up a relationship—it all results in feeling guilty.

I hear from young parents all the time that no matter what they are doing (even if it’s working to help provide for their families), if they’re not home with their young children they feel anxious and guilty because they “should” be home.

Think about how often “I should…” crosses your mind!

Guilt keeps us from being our true selves. It holds us back and makes us feel awful and stressed out. I say bullshit! Be honest and ask yourself—is there really more you want to be doing? If so, DO IT. If it’s just a nagging feeling of “should,” then pay attention to when you have that twisted feeling in your stomach and replace that thought with a more realistic and positive one: “I’m totally doing my best!”

To learn about the ingredients for happiness, you can purchase my book: The Recipe for Real Happiness, on Amazon!!! Click here.

Sending you so much love!

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“Forgive to live” is such a simple phrase, but it carries so much weight! I consider myself to be a very forgiving person and it has served me well in my life. Letting go of grudges is one of the practices in my book, The Recipe for Real Happiness—Four Simple Ingredients, under my first ingredient: Love.

Holding on to anger and other negative feelings can wreak havoc on your mood and your health. The unresolved conflict can make you feel like you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders—and who wants that?

Forgiving people for the pain or harm they have caused can free you from anger, disappointment, and a lifetime of misery. You may continue to feel hurt or offended, but forgiveness makes room for more love and inner peace in your life.

Here’s a technique I recommend to practice forgiving to live: Even if you’re not ready to confront the issue, you can release the burden by writing a letter to the person stating your anger, hurt, resentment, and frustration. You don’t even have to mail the letter, just putting pen to paper can help you let go and experience the benefits of forgiveness—especially that weight lifted off your shoulders! 😃

To learn about the ingredients for happiness, you can purchase my book: The Recipe for Real Happiness, on Amazon!!! Click here.

Sending you so much love!

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As the world is beginning to open up again, people are finally making plans to see family and friends. After having been home for so long, holed up with Netflix and popcorn and maybe a zoom or two, we are starting to reconnect—and for many of us it’s causing a bit of anxiety.

Before you pick up where you left off, take a little time to reevaluate your friendships. Think about who you truly miss, and who you’d really like to see. It sounds crazy but making a conscious choice can be very freeing and empowering!

Ask yourself, were all your relationships healthy? Which ones made you a better human being? How many of your friendships really added value to your life? Spend some time reflecting on who you want to spend time with before rushing right back in.

When you’ve taken stock and know who you want to reconnect with, remember that it's been a hard year, we’ve all experienced it differently and we’ve all changed in some way. Some people have suffered great loss and maybe they’re struggling just to wake up each day and put one foot in front of the other. Part of reconnecting is trying to be understanding of wherever the other person is at.

Finally, consider how this year changed you. Negatively for many reasons of course, but what were the positives? How are you thinking and behaving differently now? It’s something to talk about with your good friends in an authentic caring way.

We all need connections. Let’s just make them with genuine love and understanding!

To learn about the ingredients for happiness, you can purchase my book: The Recipe for Real Happiness, on Amazon!!! Click here.

Sending you so much love!

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We all naturally wonder (and worry) about what others think of us. Everyone wants to be liked—it’s human nature. But... have you ever thought about how much you really care?

As I’ve gotten older, with years of learning, living and loving 🥰 under my belt, I realize that I care less and less about what other people think of me! And believe me, I’m a very kind, loving person. I’ve just learned that not having the pressure of making people like me is very liberating.

In other words, I “do” me and if I connect with someone, great— if not, that’s ok too!

I guess my message is just be you. Be the authentic, best version of yourself and trust that you’ll naturally connect with “your people.” Spend your time and energy with those who respect and appreciate you and who enhance your life, and don’t waste your time repeatedly trying to win over those who don’t!

To learn about the ingredients for happiness, you can purchase my book: The Recipe for Real Happiness, on Amazon!!! Click here.

Sending you so much love!

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I woke up the other morning and I asked myself, “How do I want to feel today?” I thought about it—and decided that it was “calm. I want to be calm.”

And that’s it. I simply decided that my intention was to practice being calm, no matter what the day would bring. As it turned out… I got my 3rd flat tire in 4 months! Imagine that, how annoying! But I was able to control my response because I know that using various mental tools and practices on a consistent basis makes it that much easier to tap into them when you need them. I must say, my purposeful intention truly helped me stay centered and relaxed.

There are so many ways we can choose to “be” on any given day, we just need to select—confident, humorous, loving, thoughtful, a good listener—and the list goes on.

We are human and we are NOT perfect. We all need tactics and reminders so we don’t go into a stressed-out default mode. Put your intention on your phone, write it on a post-it, ask your friends to check in on how you’re doing… do whatever you need to get support.

This week, when you wake up and start your day, STOP and ask yourself, “How do I want to be/feel today?” Taking on the day with intention puts you in charge of the outcome!

To learn about the ingredients for happiness, you can purchase my book: The Recipe for Real Happiness, on Amazon!!! Click here.

Sending you so much love!

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I love sharing everyday practices that make life better. Here’s one that I’ve been doing lately. I call it my “ACG’s.” It is a practice of consciously paying attention every day to things that I have Accomplished, Contributed, and Gotten (or Learned).

This is what my ACG sheet looked like the other day:

Accomplished:

Made that nagging phone call to the insurance company;

Balanced my checking account.

Contributed:

I recommended a great doctor to my friend;

I showed a lot of patience to someone in need.

Gotten:

I learned that there is another set of steps leading to the river at the park near my apartment;

I learned that I felt SO good bringing my reusable bags into the supermarket.

As simple as they are…by paying attention to these practices (like an ACG practice)

and making them habitual, we can create new neural pathways in our brains that will increase positivity and an overall sense of wellbeing.

Write down your ACGs every night! They can be anything—there is NO right or wrong. You’ll begin to notice that you accomplish more, contribute in many ways and get a lot more from your day than you think!!!

To learn about the ingredients for happiness, you can purchase my book: The Recipe for Real Happiness, on Amazon!!! Click here.

Sending you so much love!

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I am feeling more hopeful these days. This pandemic has certainly taken its toll on all of us, but those dark days are literally over now that we’ve changed the clocks and can enjoy longer, brighter, sunnier days. We can finally see the light at the end of the long, dark tunnel we have been living in!

It’s important to have hope. Hope is essential for our sense of wellbeing. Having positive expectations combined with a sense of faith and trust that something good will happen has never been more important. And we have good reasons to be hopeful now: More venues are increasing their indoor capacities, the number of new infections continues to decrease, and more people around the country (and world) are getting their vaccinations.

I sincerely hope that by summer, the guidelines and restrictions will ease up so much that we’ll be able to gather with our families more freely and return to some sense of normalcy. I’m looking forward to celebrating all those happy occasions we have not been able to do in more than a year, and I’m sure you are too. We must always keep hoping!


To learn about the ingredients for happiness, you can purchase my book: The Recipe for Real Happiness, on Amazon!!! Click here.

Sending you so much love!

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The other day I called my daughter Alex and caught her at a moment while she was focused on work (she creates beautiful websites). She said, “Okay mom, hang on a sec, I need to take off my work hat and put on my wedding hat” because I had a question about her upcoming wedding. 😃

The concept of wearing many hats is not new, of course, but Alex’s comment caused me to wonder how often we multitask (in all those metaphorical hats) without thinking about giving our full attention to any one thing at a time.

When Alex mentioned switching hats, I thought that was a wonderful idea—in fact it’s one that promotes ingredient #3 from my book: Mindfulness. What I love about Alex making a conscious shift from one task to another is her purposeful intention, and her knowing that doing one thing at a time is always less stressful.

This week think about changing hats when you change activities—whether it’s for a few moments (like my chat with Alex) or for a longer period of time while you’re cleaning your house, taking care of kids, or spending time with your significant other. We all wear so many hats. . . shift gears, stay focused and think about which hat you need to wear!


To learn more about the power of mindfulness and the other ingredients for happiness, you can purchase my book: The Recipe for Real Happiness, on Amazon!!! Click here.

Sending you so much love!

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Respect. It’s only seven letters, but what an important word! Think about its meaning:

1) To feel admiration for (someone or something)

2) To regard (someone or something) as being worthy of acclaim because of good qualities

3) To act in a way which shows that you are aware (of someone's rights or wishes)

4) To treat or deal with something good or valuable in a proper way

Respect covers so many areas—respect for yourself, for other people, animals and nature in general, material things, and much more. Some people think respect should be earned, others feel it should be automatic, and then there are those who may never really think about it.

As you can probably tell, respect has been on my mind lately. I always strive to live my life being consciously positive and I genuinely believe the path to any successful friendship or relationship is to start from a place of love and respect.

This week consider whether you purposefully show respect, admiration, and appreciation when and where it’s appropriate. Ask yourself, “Am I respecting myself (my body, my feelings, my needs), other people, my home and possessions? If not, start NOW! Let's all make this week leading into spring about renewed

R - E - S - P - E - C - T toward everyone and everything!

Sending you so much love!

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