"Take it easy, take it easy. Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy. Lighten up while you still can. Don't even try to understand. Just find a place to make your stand, and take it easy."   If you are anything like me, after reading those lyrics, right about now you are humming to yourself the 1972 song by the Eagles. Given what we are all going through right now, I find this nearly 50 year old song very apropos. It is challenging, to say the least, to completely understand the impact of the current global coronavirus epidemic. In a relatively short amount of time, we have gone from being encouraged to be cautious, to being told to be socially distant, to being involuntarily closed down. It is safe to say that we are clearly in unchartered waters as our global, national, and local leaders work diligently to guide us and do everything possible to safeguard our health and well-being. The complete sell-out of hand sanitizers, rubbing alcohol, disinfectant wipes and sprays, and even toilet paper may be one indication that the "panic button" has been pressed. I am here to say that while I am personally doing everything to keep my own family, friends, clients and students healthy and safe, I prefer to press the "easy button". Read More

Years ago, I took a public speaking class. We were allowed to make speeches on any topic of our choice. One of the most memorable speeches was the one made by one of my classmates who spoke about how to make chocolate chip cookies. I recall that her speech was very well received, perhaps because her closing remarks included the distribution of freshly baked and warm cookies! I regularly bake cookies in my home. My family enjoys the finished product as well as how wonderful the house smells while they are baking. For us, the “perfect” chocolate chip cookie is chewy on the inside and very slightly crisp on the outside. It is not too thin and not too thick. It contains a favorable chip-to-dough ratio. If my description is beginning to remind you of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the 19th century fairy tale in which Goldilocks wanted her porridge to be “not too hot, not too cold, but just right”, then allow me to elaborate. Everyone’s description of the “perfect” cookie is different. It doesn’t matter if you prefer yours thick or thin, with or without nuts, or if you favor semi sweet, bitter sweet or milk chocolate chips. The point is this: two people can each use identical ingredients (butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour and chocolate) with the intention of creating the very same thing (delicious chocolate chip cookies), but end up with completely different results. Haven't you tasted cookies that were dry instead of moist, were more cookie than chips, or were as hard as a hockey puck? Didn't it make you wonder what went awry during the baking process? Even putting all of the ingredients together in the same order and at the same time is not a guarantee of success. You need to honor the proportions of the ingredients, have a certain order in mixing them together, and blend them for a specific time. Can you tell I have spent a lot of time over the years trying to perfect my personal recipe?   The same concept applies to our lives. Just because you have all of the same "ingredients" as the next person, doesn’t mean your results will be the same. You can both have the same running shoes and athleisure apparel, but if your neighbor puts them on every day and goes for a long walk or a run and yours are adorning the shelf of your closet, your results will most definitely not be the same. Read More