The emotional support of a dog When we first brought home our dog Bandit, emotional support was not the first thing that came to mind. He was a four-month-old puppy with manic energy. I used to look at my husband and say, “Where is the off button?” During the first…

I was speaking to a woman yesterday whose son and daughter-in-law are having their first baby. She told me her daughter-in-law thought birth and taking care of a baby was going to be easy and although she wanted to help her with some advice, she wasn’t sure how to offer…

When our dog Bandit first came to us, I noticed on his paperwork that he was born a week before my grandson. I was so glad that Bandit and Parker would grow up together. …

Have you ever asked friends to get together and a large group of people said they would be there, but then at least a few backed out and did not come? How did that make you feel? It’s easy to say you felt as if the guest didn’t want to…

When someone betrays, hurts, manipulates, or in any other way maligns us, forgiveness can be hard. We may need to consider though that carrying around all the negative feelings might affect us worse than the person who hurt us. The article, Forgiveness: your health depends on it from www.hopkinsmedicine.org says…

I learn life lessons all the time through exercise. I see inspiration, courage, fear, and everything else that has to deal with the human condition. Many people use exercise as a weapon to prove they are strong enough, some use it as a therapy to deal with emotional pain, some…

The road not taken Robert Frost is one of my favorite poets and I love his poem, The road not taken. He comes to two divergent paths in the woods, and he has to decide which path to take, just as we have to make decisions about which path in…

I was interviewing a local business owner and I was impressed by what a great listener she was. She was completely focused on our conversation without checking her phone, her e-mail, or looking around at what others were doing. I knew she heard me completely. Can you say that about…

Overcomers are faced with huge obstacles, but instead of letting the obstacles crush them, overcomers bust through them and come out stronger, all the while inspiring us. We don’t always have the power to control what happens to us, or what challenges rise up in our paths, but we do…