We often think that to be valuable, we need to do or be something extraordinary. Not true! You are already valuable—you need to realize it! Once you know it—really know it—you can show it!

Michelangelo once said that when he was commissioned to create a statue, he would go to the quarry and select a large piece of marble. He imagined that God had already created the statue, and that his job was to just get rid of the excess marble.

We can apply this principle to our lives. Our job is to get rid of whatever is obscuring the light of our soul so our true self—our value—can be revealed.

How to know when something (or someone) is getting in your way? You’ll know it in your gut—that intuitive sensation that lets you know when something isn’t right. So, this week, pay attention to the various situations you find yourself in and just notice how you feel (in your mind and your body) and…… if you are allowing your soul to shine!

To learn more 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 heard someone say this the other day and I thought how true this can be.

How many times have you responded to a text or an email while upset or angry and then felt awful about it?

DO IT BY PHONE!!!!!!

Texts or emails just don’t convey what the spoken word can. And…. As you know- you can’t undo the written word—but you can explain yourself in a conversation.

The same holds true for social media posts – be thoughtful about what you write in your on-line posts because they can be misconstrued and will last forever.

The next time you are about to let off steam in writing- think about what you want the other person to know. Find the words that express your sentiments in a way that you feel they will most likely understand. Remember, it’s not as much what you say as how you say it. Don’t write it, pick up the phone…. And give them a call!

To learn more 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 order and neatness both in my physical space and in my mind—you know I’m all about mental clarity! However, we all have times in our lives when we must deal with messy emotional situations and homes that have become cluttered and disorganized. Facing either one (or both) can cause uneasiness and anxiety which affects our mood and behavior.

In addition to my life’s everyday ups and downs, I’m going through a move right now (which they say is a stressor right up there with death and divorce). It most certainly is difficult for me to look at, but I’ve made the conscious choice to “say yes to the mess.”

I see the chaos all around me and instead of panicking I am accepting it and reminding myself that not only is it temporary, but I’ll soon be able to create beautiful new spaces in my next home. When we say “no” to our situation—i.e., don’t accept it for what it is—we tend to create unhappiness and angst for ourselves and others.

So, today’s message is two-fold: First, practice saying “yes to the mess” when needed, and second, use the practice of remembering that nothing is permanent (be it physical or emotional).

Acceptance is the key here. Acceptance creates the basis for inner peace, and it enables our ability to savor life with gratitude for all our blessings—even in the midst of a mess.


To learn more 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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Would you consider yourself to be more mindful, or mindless? Do you normally feel present and engaged, or reactive and uninspired? Practicing being mindful is the key to changing up your habitual responses and freeing yourself from existing on “autopilot.”

Here’s how to practice: Choose a cue to remind yourself to be mindful. It could be when your phone rings, (or when you're going to make a call), when you first get into your car, when you begin a meal, or even when you do the dishes. Use the cue to remind yourself to take a deep breath, relax your body, and get present.

Mindfulness is when you are completely engaged in what you’re doing while you are doing it, without judging it. There are so many benefits to mindfulness including reduced stress, increased focus, and better decision -making moment by moment, and day by day.

When you are living mindfully, you’ll be aware of all the “aha” moments, coincidences, wonders, and beauty that surrounds you—and you’ll experience the world in a completely different way!


To learn more 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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Happy January 10! We’re almost two weeks into 2022 and at this point, approximately 71% of people have kept up with their goals for the new year.

If you’re among the 29% who haven't, that is so ok! Do NOT get discouraged! All you need to do… is to BEGIN AGAIN!

We’re so lucky to have the opportunity to start over. So, whatever you had planned for this time of renewal, such as following my advice from last week and choosing a word to live by (I admit I have not kept up with reminding myself of mine—Zen), eating more healthfully (you had every intention, but you overate or drank a bit too much over the last 10 days)—it’s all ok. Be compassionate with yourself! There’s no need to beat yourself up—that will NOT get you what you want. Just begin again.

Think of it like a meditation practice: When we meditate, we begin with an object of focus. Then when we inevitably get lost in our thoughts, we gently bring our attention back to our object of focus (our breath, a mantra, a visual).

Let’s do that with our intentions for 2022. If you lose focus on what you promised yourself you’d accomplish, just gently bring yourself back and begin again!

To learn more 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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Happy New Year! If you’ve been reading my newsletter for a while now you know I believe that every moment (and every breath) is a new opportunity to start fresh, to begin again.

That said, we can also create purposeful intentions. Intentions of where we want to put our attention. In other words, whatever we focus on—whether it’s positive or negative—ends up being what we pay attention to. So, it’s up to us to choose. Don’t let the “washing machine” of life, all those outside influences such as Covid, your boss, your mother, your spouse, your financial situation, your kids, choose for you.

One good way to select exactly how you want to live in this new year is to pick a word to live by. Examples of words that some people tend to choose are simplify, self-love, confidence, grateful, generous…
My word this year is Zen. I want to think of that word whenever I make choices—i.e., is this going to add to my feeling of Zen?

Find your word. Write it on Post-It notes and place them around your home—on your fridge, bathroom mirror, computer screen. This is important—we ALL need reminders.

Think of your word throughout the day, and again in the evening when you lay your head on your pillow. Make it a practice to think about the choices you made that day that represented your word and will add to who and how you want to be.

I’d love to know what word you chose. Email me back to this email and share. Thank you all—it’s a privilege to be part of your Monday! Here’s to a HEALTHY, HAPPY 2022!

To learn more 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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It’s so easy to put ourselves down. It is often our go-to reaction. Why? Why are we so freaking hard on ourselves?

It’s not our fault—we happen to be wired that way. Our brains have what is called a “negativity bias,” which means we are innately always on the lookout for things that could harm us. This self-preservation is part of our evolution as a species—to be able to outrun that wild beast when we needed to. Of course, modern-day threats no longer include escaping dangerous animals but that protective part of our brain has become so deeply ingrained in us, that it is now our default mode.

However, our brains are malleable and because of this neuroplasticity we CAN teach an old dog new tricks!

Make it your mission in 2022 to change up that default mode. You can choose to become more positive and more loving to yourself—starting right NOW!

Begin by talking to yourself the same way you would to a good friend or your child. Say nice, kind loving things to yourself. Give yourself a pat on the back for everything you do- no matter how small. If you notice that you’re putting yourself down, say “STOP!” to yourself. Then go ahead and give yourself a hug.

At the end of each day create a self-gratitude list: Name three positive things you did that day. It’s an important practice that may take some getting used to. No worries if you forget from time to time, just start again!

To learn more 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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What is going on in this world? Between Covid variants still attacking us and worries about global warming—what message is the universe trying to tell us?

Other than doing our best not to get sick, keeping ourselves and those around us safe, and being mindful of the planet...what else can we do?

Focus on the one thing that we definitely have in our control: being kind. No matter what is happening in our personal lives, we can make it a mission to always spread kindness and love!

I want to share one of my FAVORITE quotes by Maya Angelou:
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Think about how you treat other people. Are you patient? Do you smile and make people feel good? Consider what kindness imparts:
· It releases feel-good hormones
· It creates a sense of belonging and reduces isolation
· It helps keep things in perspective and eases anxiety
· It helps to make the world a happier place…. one act of kindness can often lead to much more!

Make it a mission to end this crazy year with kindness. It will not only benefit the people to whom you are being kind—but you’ll find that the more you do for others, the more you end up doing for yourself.


To learn more 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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In our last quest to get in touch with our senses, this week is about our sense of smell.

Our sense of smell has many functions, including detecting hazards, and pheromones (hormones that are excreted to attract members of the same species to one another). It also plays a role in our sense of taste, as well as playing an extremely important role in our memory, mood and emotions.

When we think of the word smell, we typically think of it negatively - such as garbage, body odor, or rotting food. These can be true, but there are some very delicious smells around us, as well - the scent of a wood burning fire, an aromatic cup of coffee in the morning, beautiful flowers, and especially now, the delicious scent of pine trees!

This week- just pay extra attention to the smells around you. Just notice. No judgement- (like oh that’s a good smell or that stinks- just notice it as a scent).

This is not so easy to do, but it’s a great practice to help you become more aware and tolerant in general and not allow little things to bother you.



To learn more 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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Happy Holidays! Let’s continue exploring our senses. This week - week 4 of “waking up our senses” - we bring extra attention to what we are hearing. What a wonderful time of year to practice using our ears more consciously!

Pay attention to everything you hear, right now! What sounds are happening around you? Birds? Christmas songs? Kids playing (or crying)? Just notice, without labeling any of them “good” or “bad”, they are just the sounds around you.

Listening more purposefully encourages you to be more present, which over time will bring you a greater sense of calm and inner peace.

Spend this week with your ears on OVERDRIVE. Notice, respect and embrace the sounds around you!

To learn more 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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Welcome to week three of being sensual. I hope you’ve given some attention to your sense of sight and taste—now let’s give a little love to our sense of touch.

As the weather gets colder here in the Northeast, we reach for warmer clothing in a variety of cozy-feeling fabrics from flannel to corduroy to cashmere. Even if you live down south, and your wardrobe is cotton, linen and silk—notice the textures in the items that you touch and wear.

Focus on being more intentional when you pet your dog (or cat). Feel the shampoo suds in your hair, the warm water in your shower or bath. Pay attention to how your car’s steering wheel feels on your hands. Is it hard, soft, rough, smooth, cold or hot? No judgements—just notice.

Touch your way through this week and see how it feels!

To learn more 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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Welcome to week 2 of learning to be more mindful. Hopefully last week’s practice opened your eyes (literally) to something that we so often take for granted—our sense of sight.

The most difficult part of these simple practices that I am sharing with you is remembering to do them. I promise that if you turn them into a habit, you will see amazing benefits but if you haven’t started or only managed to squeeze in a couple of days, don’t beat yourself up. Here’s the good news—you can bring your focus where it needs to be whenever you choose.

This week is all about our sense of taste, which seems appropriate for Thanksgiving! You may not like all the flavors on your holiday table, but the point is to really pay attention each time you take a bite—not just on Thursday but every day. Is the food sweet, salty, creamy, soft, crunchy, tart? Try not to multitask—simply eat without judgement about whether it’s good, bad, or just not your favorite.

This practice of just noticing—without judgement—helps strengthen our sense of being present and accepting, which ultimately leads to a true sense of inner peace!

To learn more 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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