This is a very short mindful blog this Monday. I’m not feeling well and I’ve decided to take it easier on myself. I had surgery 3 weeks ago and I am still healing. Exhaustion comes easy when you have an injury. Add an insult, like a water break in the house, and well, this gal’s body has had enough. In German it's zuviel ist zuviel.

Know when to say enough is enough and take care of yourself. No one else will, that’s for sure.

Have a great week and a Mindful Monday!

Meanwhile, I'm resting up and sending you all Loving-kindness.

May we be happy. May we be healthy.

If you like the truly American spectacle known as the SuperBowl, yesterday did not disappoint. Congratulations to Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs. Well done.

I personally watch the Superbowl for the commercials and this year did not disappoint. I was blown away by the New York Life Commercial #LoveTakesAction Click here to watch. This short commercial shows love in action, which is the definition of Lovingkindness.

I'm writing a presentation on Lovingkindness for my Mindfulness Meditation Teacher's Certification Program that I have to give in two weeks. The fourth type of love described in the commercial, Agape love, is the unconditional love for all living things. Lovingkindness is a feeling and an action. It's moving through life with love.

To practice Lovingkindness is typically done by entering a quiet state and repeating  phrases such as "May I be healthy, May I be healthy, May all living beings be healthy, May all living beings be healthy." It comes out of an acceptance o...

For the past three days, I’ve been heads down finishing my book, “Staying Grounded in the Middle of Chaos.” In the last 30 minutes, I sent the draft to the editor and reached back out to the cover designer to let him know that we are rounding third base and heading for home. I’m sitting here with my eyes closed typing, feeling into the good feeling of completion. Breathing in ‘yes’. Letting go on the exhale.

My boss calls this the “Polish Vacation.” That’s where you take PTO from your first job, to work on your second job. From Friday morning until this morning, I reread every poem I’d written over the last three years. I use poetry to process emotions. I stopped hiding that I write poetry and there are 75 poems and one Eulogy in the book. It gives me goosebumps to claim that I write poetry. I am a poet. Not in the Robert Frost, Walt Whitman, Maya Angelou way. My way is, well, my way.

Poems pop into my head, especially while I’m walking Oshie. I’ve started carrying my phone so I can ...

For the third year in a row, the Mediterranean Diet has been named #1 for overall health by the US News and World Report dietary rankings. A team of scientists, health practitioners, and dieticians review diets and rank them in several categories, probably in response to the criticism of the food pyramid. If you are still eating in a pyramid, swim across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy, France, and Greece for healthier choices. 

I came across the Mediterranean Diet back in the late 90’s. I went to my library and dug up the original book I read by Artemis Simopoulos, M.D. called The Omega Plan. My copy is dog eared and has no less than six page-markers where I’ve made important notes.  For someone like me, who deals with Celiac Disease and a Poultry allergy, eating Mediterranean is a fabulous fit.

I’m going to be discussing the diet in more detail during the Healthy Mindful Self Mastermind, this Wednesday at 8p eastern. (Free to register. Giveaways to those who register.)

Learn more h...