Has this ever happened to you: you have a wonderfully relaxing tropical vacation, you come home feeling calm and grounded, and then you check your e-mails, text messages, phone messages, snail mail, and work inbox and immediately become overwhelmed? It happened to me this week. My sense of overwhelm was so intense that my first reaction was to avoid all the messges, laundry and unpacking and stay in vacation mode for as long as possible. In other words, I started to procrasti

After spending a glorious week and a half on Maui, and we're (very reluctantly) getting ready to head home. I'm taking the last bit of time here I have to enjoy the island so I'm leaving you with a few photos from the trip rather than a blog post today. I'll be back to my regular blogging schedule on Monday. Aloha! Local blooms Walking along the beach Winding path along the ocean, great for morning walks (or jogs, depending how ambitious you are) Maui Sunset

One easy way to rebuild your energy is to remove energy drainers from your life. What are energy drainers? Energy drainers are activities, people, environments, situations, and unfinished projects or errands that deplete you of energy. They come in all shapes and sizes, from the the friend who leaves you feeling exhausted and down after a visit, to a shower nozzle in your bathroom that isn’t working, to having to wait in customs line-ups every time you travel for work. The pr

How many times a day do you tell yourself that you “should” do something? How many times an hour? Or are you not a “should” person? Maybe you’re more inclined to use “must” or “have to.” Should, must, have to - they’re all the same when you’re talking to yourself. When you use these words, you are setting yourself up to be miserable. Here’s why: when you tell yourself you “should” exercise more, and you don’t, you end up feeling guilty. Should is a one-way ticket to guilt. L

THE BOUNDARIES SERIES Part III of III I’ve always thought that dating was meant to be fun, exciting, romantic and glamorous. And I’ve always wanted the guys I meet to think I'm carefree, easy-going and fun to be around. But dating in real life isn’t at all like dating in my daydreams. Dating can definitely be fun, exciting and romantic but these days it seems less than glamorous, especially considering much of the initial stages of dating usually takes part over technological

THE BOUNDARIES SERIES Part II of III Who wants to join me in setting some new boundaries? In Monday’s post I talked about the 6 Signs You Need to Set Boundaries. Just to refresh – if you’re feeling angry, resentful, lost, out-of-control, and/or exhausted, you’re probably not getting some of your needs met. If you have unmet needs, it’s time to set some boundaries. What Are Your Unmet Needs? The following is one of my common patters: I make too many plans and then I start to f

THE BOUNDARIES SERIES Part I of III Are you controlling your life, or is your life controlling you? If you’re feeling powerless over what is happening in your life, it may be time to set some boundaries to regain command of your path in this world. The following are 6 Signs That You Need to Set Boundaries: You feel out of control. You're exhausted. You're not sure who you are anymore. You're consumed by and caught up in the drama around you. You feel lost in a relationship. Y

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know that I’ve been back on the dating scene for a couple of weeks now. How’s it going, you ask? I’ll be honest, something feels off: Online dating just feels so impersonal. I’m finding it hard to make meaningful connections with people. I feel like I’m one in a herd of cattle. Online contact is often brief and superficial. I feel really disconnected from the people I meet. I’d say the overall sense I’m struggling with is the lack of c

A few weeks ago a friend of mine emailed me asking for help. She was feeling upset about something that had happened in one of her friendships and didn’t know how to handle it. She was leaning towards letting it slide rather than saying something because she didn’t want to upset her friend or turn it into a big issue. Sound familiar? I think there are a lot of us out there who would rather swallow our upset than deal with conflict. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t learn g

When you’re living with chronic pain and illness most days are hard. And some days are really hard. Today I’m having a really hard day. I’m feeling off kilter, having a lot of trouble concentrating and I’m in a fair amount of pain. As a result, I’m pretty exhausted and a bit anxious. Every time I have a really hard day I still find myself feeling surprised and disappointed. Surprised that I’m still experiencing downs, or flare-ups, five years after being diagnosed with Myalgi