Finding Happiness

As I thought back to my mother’s generation, I was shocked at how “ageist” many people were back then. Or, maybe it was simply the fact that there weren’t many role models for women (and men) who were thriving and doing things differently…

Mindfulness pushes our hearts to get involved in all our interactions. We often have a difference of opinion with friends and loved ones, but when so many children and adults are hurting, it is time to search for answers…

There are two words that, generally speaking, in the Western world we don’t like to mention much. One of them you will probably not be surprised by. But the other you might well be. Given my specialty is end of life planning, you can easily imagine what…

One of my favorite late lunch haunts is a cocktail lounge next to a Chinese restaurant. The bar is uncrowded mid-afternoon and the WiFi is great, so I can spread out and catch up on a few chores. The bartender, who I consider a friend and therapist…

I stepped on a pickleball court 29 years ago, and it was love at first sight. Yet if I happened to mention my passion for pickleball to work colleagues or certain friends, my enthusiasm would be met with a heavy dose of snark and “pickleball shaming…”

Here we are in our 60s, finally done with raising a family, if we chose to do that, and perhaps enjoying grandchildren now. We are done with the responsibilities of a professional life… or at least one that we must pursue to provide for ourselves…

Just as surely as the earth turns, the times change. The first blush of love turns into the apathy and pain of divorce. The miracle of birth turns into the challenge of adult children struggling in life. The career highs turn into the search for purpose…

In the months leading up to the release of my second book, I stood before my image in the mirror, questioning whether I still can handle the changes sweeping through my life with the same energy and enthusiasm as I once did. Even though I have written…

A common belief is that our happiness and wellbeing are in direct proportion to our circumstances. When things are going well, we’re happy. When problems or challenges enter in, we’re miserable. And we’ve all said things like, “When I lose weight, I’ll…”

When I moved from Tokyo to New York, I was a young mom with three children under 3 years old. I was too busy settling down in a new home, in a new country, in a new continent to notice much about the weather. I didn’t know then how much it would…