1: Two-thirds of the housekeepers in Stanford Professor Alia Crum’s study believed they weren’t exercising regularly.

One-third said they got no exercise at all.

“Their bodies reflected this perception,”  Kelly McGonigal notes in The Upside of Stress.  “The average housekeeper’s blood pressure, waist-to-hip ratio, and body weight were exactly what you’d expect to find if they were truly sedentary.”

Their perception was their reality.

Which is different from … continue reading

1: You’ve got it all wrong.

You’ve been taught that stress is bad for you.

This belief is harmful, Kelly McGonigal argues in The Upside of Stress.

“The best way to manage stress isn’t to reduce or avoid it, but rather to rethink and even embrace it.”

The fight-or-flight survival instinct is part of your stress response.  When something major happens, your sympathetic nervous system mobilizes your entire body.… continue reading

1: When Diane Button was new to end-of-life care, so many questions flooded her mind.

“I wondered if I would ever get to a place where I would feel comfortable stepping into the home of a dying person with ease and grace,” she writes in her wonderful book What Matters Most: Lessons the Dying Teach Us About Living.

Fortunately, she had a mentor. “Hospice chaplain Clarence Liu was was … continue reading

“One of my clients had candles spread all over her house, in every room,” Diane Button, an end-of-life doula, writes in her book What Matters Most: Lessons the Dying Teach Us About Living.

“They were on nightstands and dressers, surrounding her bathtub, and even along the walkway of the woodsy entrance into her house,” Diane notes.

“There were dozens of them, and they were beautiful, but not one … continue reading

1: It was November of 1988, and Terry Looper was on his way to Las Vegas.

Terry owned 10 percent of the company that was about to be sold.

“Once the papers were signed, I should’ve been on top of the world,” he writes in his book Sacred Pace: Four Steps to Hearing God and Aligning Yourself With His Will.

“I was not just a millionaire as I’d always … continue reading

1: Ready for an interesting fact about games?

When we play them, we almost never feel hopeless.

“It’s true,” Jane McGonigal writes in her book SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully.

“Psychologists have studied the top emotions during game play, and genuine anxiety and pessimism are extremely rare,” Jane notes. “Even when we’re losing or struggling, we’re vastly more likely to feel determined and optimistic than panicked or powerless.”… continue reading

One of my clients said, on her deathbed, “This is so beautiful…and so warm. There is light, everywhere.” Lomi, age 76

1: “Please forgive me! Please forgive me!” Ruth exclaimed.

“She was sitting up with her eyes open wide,”  Diane Button writes in her powerful book What Matters Most: Lessons the Dying Teach Us About Living.

The seventy-year-old Ruth was experiencing severe distress and agitation. Diane, who serves as … continue reading

1: Scott had been diagnosed with prostate cancer several years before. But now the cancer had returned to his lymph nodes and bones, and he was in constant pain.

Scott’s wife, Susan, reached out to Diane Button, an end-of-life doula—someone who provides emotional and practical support to people who are dying and their families. This role is similar to that of a birth doula, but for end-of-life care.

“Scott didn’t … continue reading

1: Bo had Parkinson’s disease. He was sixty-one years old.

“He lived alone for two decades until he needed extra care, and moved back to the town where his kids and ex-wife still lived,” Diane Button writes in her wonderful book What Matters Most: Lessons the Dying Teach Us About Living.

Bo went to live with Joon, his youngest daughter, whose husband was in the army and was deployed … continue reading