Your Cozy Corner of
Encouragement
Restore Your Brain Today
If you’ve ever driven a long distance for a long-awaited vacation, you easily recognize the stages of your journey. You start out fresh, exhilarated. Once you break free of your hometown, the road unfurls ahead, full of promise for memories and adventures on the other end. Before long, you break the trip into segments. At […]
Autism Awareness Month
April is the month devoted to several important causes that are near and dear to my heart. As a school psychologist and former case worker for special needs children, I have found autism to be a challenge for many children and families. Chances are, you have known individuals who have challenges on the autism spectrum. […]
It’s a Miracle We Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day
The St. Patrick’s Day we all know and love, once looked nothing like what we experience today. Hundreds of years ago it was only a humble celebration to commemorate the life and service of St. Patrick, a man who brought Christianity to Ireland. A special feast took place to remember his service to Ireland that […]
What I’ve Learned from an Ongoing Bout with Stress
Three out of five employees experience work related stress in recent years and many careers, especially health care and education, suffer from staffing shortages and high turnover. Lately, I've learned a little more about the reality of those stressors.
How I Made Peace With Goal Setting
For years I’ve made elaborate goals at every turn of the calendar year. Holing myself up with a hot drink, envisioning all the ways I could improve gave me enough spark to send me sprinting toward the dreary January days ahead. This year was different. I stared at that blank page, rehashing the same […]
Autumn is a Mood Booster
With a new season on the way, allow yourself to feel all those mood boosting endorphins that come with Autumn by soaking in the beauty and promise of what's to come.
Is Optimism all it’s Cracked up to be?
A recent trend caught my attention in the headlines as it scrolled past last week. I rode along the transit options of New York City and learned that optimism is a state of mind connected to longevity, better physical and mental health, and greater happiness. Sounds fabulous, doesn’t it? Maybe this topic deserves […]
Book Review When You Are Mine by Michael Robothan
Is there a difference between pure evil and horrendous, yet justifiable crime? Officer Philomena McCarthy would say no. That honest to a fault lens of policework developed from her own dependence on a heroic policewoman rendering aid during a catastrophe when she was a child. Now as a young woman, Philomena is determined to […]
Who Are You Deep Inside?
Several years have passed since I’ve been able to go home. Not the one I sleep in every night with my family. I’m talking about the one I came home from the hospital to, and got on the school bus in front of, and ate my mother’s home cookin’ inside. And yes, it is […]
Restore Your Brain Today
If you’ve ever driven a long distance for a long-awaited vacation, you easily recognize the stages of your journey. You start out fresh, exhilarated. Once you break free of your hometown, the road unfurls ahead, full of promise for memories and adventures on the other end. Before long, you break the trip into segments. At […]
Autism Awareness Month
April is the month devoted to several important causes that are near and dear to my heart. As a school psychologist and former case worker for special needs children, I have found autism to be a challenge for many children and families. Chances are, you have known individuals who have challenges on the autism spectrum. […]
It’s a Miracle We Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day
The St. Patrick’s Day we all know and love, once looked nothing like what we experience today. Hundreds of years ago it was only a humble celebration to commemorate the life and service of St. Patrick, a man who brought Christianity to Ireland. A special feast took place to remember his service to Ireland that […]
What I’ve Learned from an Ongoing Bout with Stress
Three out of five employees experience work related stress in recent years and many careers, especially health care and education, suffer from staffing shortages and high turnover. Lately, I've learned a little more about the reality of those stressors.
How I Made Peace With Goal Setting
For years I’ve made elaborate goals at every turn of the calendar year. Holing myself up with a hot drink, envisioning all the ways I could improve gave me enough spark to send me sprinting toward the dreary January days ahead. This year was different. I stared at that blank page, rehashing the same […]
Autumn is a Mood Booster
With a new season on the way, allow yourself to feel all those mood boosting endorphins that come with Autumn by soaking in the beauty and promise of what's to come.
Is Optimism all it’s Cracked up to be?
A recent trend caught my attention in the headlines as it scrolled past last week. I rode along the transit options of New York City and learned that optimism is a state of mind connected to longevity, better physical and mental health, and greater happiness. Sounds fabulous, doesn’t it? Maybe this topic deserves […]
Book Review When You Are Mine by Michael Robothan
Is there a difference between pure evil and horrendous, yet justifiable crime? Officer Philomena McCarthy would say no. That honest to a fault lens of policework developed from her own dependence on a heroic policewoman rendering aid during a catastrophe when she was a child. Now as a young woman, Philomena is determined to […]
Who Are You Deep Inside?
Several years have passed since I’ve been able to go home. Not the one I sleep in every night with my family. I’m talking about the one I came home from the hospital to, and got on the school bus in front of, and ate my mother’s home cookin’ inside. And yes, it is […]
Is There Such a Thing as Smarter Breathing?
How can something as simple as inhaling and exhaling alter our state of mind and health? Breathing is one of those things we completely take for granted. We rely on our body’s autonomic nervous system to keep us breathing while we sleep, eat, exercise, and sit around binge watching our favorite shows. Why should […]
BOOK REVIEW Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult
If you’ve read at least one of Picoult’s imaginative novels, you know how easily you can fall into the lives of her characters and their misadventures. As expected, Wish You Were Here delivers big. Even though the reminder of our long and life-altering pandemic may not sound appealing if you want to escape into […]
BOOK REVIEW The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
This novel is still sizzling in my thoughts days after the last page. The spicy allure of movie star Evelyn Hugo is bound to be the character you’ll love to hate as you get a front row seat at the mysterious retelling of her life story. Strangely enough, she selects Monique Grant, a low rung […]
The Mood Boosting Benefits of Autumn
I have been in love with Fall for as long as I can remember, even though I’m not so excited about the fact that winter is chasing its heels. Fortunately, I’m not alone. Autumn happens to be a favorite season for most people. All those pumpkins spiced lattes and wagon rides are not the only […]
Have You Ever Wanted to Leave the Past Behind?
There are moments or long stretches of time we’d all prefer to leave in the past. One of the toughest things to do is distance ourselves from painful memories. Our recollections are not selective. In fact, some of the very things we want to forget most are the things that stick around the longest. Some […]
What Can We Learn About Motivation From a Child?
The question we all face at junctures in life is – how do we keep the fires of motivation burning? Everything we ever do requires motivation. To break it down even further we can have multiple sources of motivation for every action throughout our day and lifetime. How can we tap into the well of […]
BOOK REVIEW Survive the Night by Riley Sager
Riley Sager has proven that he can up the ante with each thriller. Survive the night is an expertly maneuvered set of spurts, spins, curves, and brakes that convinced me that I might not make it through the night without reading the last page. Sager has a knack for revealing the inner workings of […]
Try Adding a Habit That Is Easy and Healthy
Finding the good in people you come across daily is something most of us think little about. The unpleasant fact is that we all tend to judge and even criticize others across our interactions. That spills into negative comments about people, drawing comparisons, and ultimately separation from others. Something fascinating – we would probably […]
BOOK REVIEW Kill All Your Darlings
David Bell’s newest thriller, Kill All Your Darlings, takes us through those mysterious college hallways where the inside politics behind classroom lecture halls are revealed. That pressure to publish is real. It’s easy to see why Professor Connor Nye passed off a missing student’s manuscript as his own. After losing his wife and son in […]
What Does Empathy Have to do With Success?
Simply put, empathy is being able to feel the experience of another person. If you’ve ever noticed a small child try to comfort a distressed playmate or even a baby closely watch a crying infant, you have seen the early signs of empathy. It appears as if the ability to sense the pain or emotions […]
About me
Latest Post
Restore Your Brain Today
May 29, 2023
Autism Awareness Month
April 7, 2023
It’s a Miracle We Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day
March 12, 2023
What I’ve Learned from an Ongoing Bout with Stress
February 27, 2023
How I Made Peace With Goal Setting
January 22, 2023
BOOK REVIEW The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
December 4, 2022