The holidays are a particularly meaningful time to think about the most valuable gifts that we receive. I’m talking about the words of wisdom that are passed along from one generation to the next. Around the holidays, a few years ago, a few of my friends from work got talking about our grandmothers’ old-fashioned expressions, beliefs, and bits of sage advice. You may think these expressions are quaint and old-fashioned, but they are really much more. These sayings are the collective wisdom of our ancestors, the survivors. Here are a few of the ones for which I am most grateful. Continue reading
Category Archives: Rest & Relaxation
Lucky Enough
An old friend of mine is lucky enough to live at the confluence of two small lakes. I hope I’m using that word right — what I mean to say is that if you look out the windows of his home toward the east you see one lake; and if you look toward the north you see a different one. Can you picture it? On the little spit of land that juts into the space between the two lakes, right next to where families of ducks and swans cross all the day long in a patient parade of parenting, sits a small cabin. And in the front window of that cabin rests a sign:
“If you’re lucky enough to live on the water, you’re lucky enough.” Continue reading
Wellness as a Pyramid
I like to think about health and wellbeing as a pyramid, a pyramid with three major pillars: eating patterns, activity patterns, rest & relaxation patterns. Notice I didn’t call anything diet and exercise — yeh, those don’t work. Continue reading