There’s more than one way to celebrate Groundhog Day. What will you do with yours?

Why I don’t recommend traditional New Years resolutions (two words: fried chicken), and an alternate way to get what you want out of the year ahead.

Do you dread going to the airport during the holidays? This trick can help.

Time changes the circumstances of our lives; we can re-define how we think about our lives in order to embrace our new circumstances.

Living with others can lead to misunderstandings; what are your assumptions about shared space?

Ever notice how some houses take on a mythic character in a neighborhood? Especially as children, we characterize houses—and often the people who live in them—as creepy, foreboding, magical or just plain different. What role do you, and your home, play in the neighborhood dynamics?

By imagining that “someday” is the answer, by not being OK with who we are in the present moment, we are coming from a state of lack. We are looking, seeking, running after something we don’t have. And this state of non-havingness does not bring us joy, fulfillment or happiness.

When we visit a new culture, we encounter beliefs and interactions that are foreign to us. The same is true as we get to know the nonhuman cultures of the world (including those found in our backyards). There’s a tendency to either overly-anthropomorphize nonhuman animals or to consider them to be overly-other. It’s tricky to find the right balance between similarities and differences (as it is with human cultures as well).

Commonly, people caution, “Be careful what you ask for, you may get it.” While I do not advocate fear, it is true that the universe responds to our inquiries. The practice of mindfulness—creating through conscious intention—is powerful, and powerfully illustrated in the following story.

As the veil thins this time of year– and we celebrate Halloween and the Day of the Dead– we discover that spirit is not that extraordinary after all. As a house healer, people ask to hear stories about the spirits I encounter. Below is just such a story. However, this story illustrates the humanity of spirit.