“Change is painful, but nothing is as painful as staying stuck somewhere you don’t belong.” Mandy Hale Beyond our basic needs for food, shelter, and safety, we all want to belong, to be accepted. It’s how our brains are wired, and society sets a clock for us to find our place by a certain age. But it doesn’t bother to tell us that true belonging starts with self. As author Brené Brown puts it in Braving the Wilderness: “true belonging actually requires the willingness t

We spend time learning to love others unconditionally. What if your body deserved that same grace?" Nearly ten years have passed since that fateful day in January 2017, when a stroke attacked Mia’s brain, causing massive damage to her body. She spent the first few months of rehabilitation relearning how to walk, feed herself, speak, read, and write – childhood milestones most of us take for granted. Determined to regain some level of independence, Mia embraced every physical

“Everything changes when spirit leads the way.” For 17 years, I've lived with degenerative spinal stenosis, refusing to let it define me. By tapping into spiritual wellness, I’m thriving with no prescription medication and no surgery - just an intentional practice that has carried me further than what any doctor said I'd go. This same practice has guided me for nearly a decade as caregiver and wellness coach for Mia, a stroke warrior who is also thriving. But none of thi

"At the center of your being, you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want." — Lao Tzu From an early age, we’re taught that life should follow a straight path. You go to school, set goals, plan, celebrate milestones, and live your dreams – the perfect picture of order and predictability. But as we grow, we discover that life isn’t quite as linear –rarely does it unfold exactly as planned. When unexpected events happen, the straight line starts to curve

“The solution to the problem of the day is the awakening of the consciousness of humanity to the divinity within.” Hazrat Inayat Khan After four years of keeping a gratitude journal, I discovered another life-changing book: Wayne Dyer's "There's a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem." Hoping to understand what life was trying to teach me, I decided to give it a try. The title made a big claim, but the opening quote - "The solution to the problem of the day is the awakenin

"It’s hard to “Be Well” while holding on to self-defeating habits. At some point, change must come. The secret - start small." My small change approach to living my best life grew from two things: 1) my innate gift of systems thinking – I’ve always sought patterns and connections within complicated situations and, 2) lessons learned along my journey from caterpillar to becoming a wellness butterfly – what I call small change “Blessons” (blessings hidden in lessons). Sharin

To every mother who ever went without so her child could have, who faced fear so her child could feel safe, who stayed up worrying while pretending everything was fine, who gave her best without expecting anything in return—there is no word big enough to describe who you truly are. So I simply say… Thank you for being: Matchless – Your birth canal is our passageway to the world – it can’t be replicated. Omnipresent – You are always with us, even when we’re miles and lifet

Every May, organizations across the country encourage women to prioritize their physical, mental, and emotional well-being through checkups, screenings, and the establishment of healthy habits. It’s great advice, but it’s incomplete. True wellness encompasses the whole person, and the small change Wholistic Approach to Wellness fills in the missing pieces of the health and wellness puzzle. It’s based on a simple conviction: Health isn’t a destination you arrive at - it’s a

“Fear is an invitation to reconnect with a deeper sense of self.” Stress Awareness Month has sparked several interesting conversations about how stress affects us. While I didn’t learn anything new, these individual and group talks confirmed three things: 1) We don’t fully understand how stress affects our bodies. 2) We don’t get the connection between fear and stress. And, 3) No one is immune to stress, no matter their background. Most of our stress comes from the fear we cr

"It's not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it." — Hans Selye I was quietly working in my office when I received the urgent SOS from my daughter. I rushed to her room. She was in her bathroom, slumped on the commode with a trash can up to her mouth, miserably dry heaving and sweating. She murmured that her stomach hurt unbearably. When I asked if she’d taken something for it, she nodded but said that what she took wouldn’t stay down—and the pain was getting worse.

“Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.” – Dale Carnegie Stress is something we all experience, but don’t fully understand. We feel it every day — in our bodies, our minds, and our relationships — but we rarely stop to examine what it truly means. If you asked ten people to define stress, you’d probably get ten different answers. The good news? When we learn to recognize stress and understand how it works, we can stop reacting to it blindly and start re

“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” April is Stress Awareness Month—a timely reminder of the importance of caring for our mental and emotional well-being. Political upheaval, economic uncertainty, and the challenge of maintaining daily balance have left many of us feeling more stressed than ever. In moments like these, we all need an anchor that truly makes a difference. Gratitude journaling is a simple yet powerful way to shift your focus, ease stress, and bring more

A healthy person has a thousand wishes; a sick person only has one. The sickcare industry is a complicated industry by design, and navigating the system can feel overwhelming, especially when you or a loved one is already facing a health challenge. Every year, millions of people encounter confusing medical jargon and complex processes. For vulnerable populations, it can be the difference between life and death. One way to make things better is through the help of "patient

" When a person can't find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure ." Viktor Frankl I’ve begun reading Anne Lembke’s Dopamine Nation . A few pages into the book left me once again shaking my head, wondering if we will rebound from this man- made calamity. Whether you've noticed it in yourself, those around you, or the culture at large, man has engineered an environment so saturated with instant pleasure that it is systematically hijacking ou

“ I am a joy bringer. Where I go, good cheer goes. Where I am not, depression, discouragement, the “blues” are present. My absence means declining powers, often thwarted ambition, blighted hopes, mediocrity, failure, a shortened life." Orison Swett Marden WHO AM I? I am the vital force of life – the greatest of all assets. I am the energy that flows through every cell in your body. I am shaped by your thoughts and

Last week, the Society of Hospital Medicine celebrated National Hospitalists Day, honoring the contributions of more than 60,000 hospitalists - physicians dedicated to caring for hospitalized patients. In recent years, hospitalists have transformed the delivery of inpatient care and are often praised for streamlining care and improving patient outcomes. Whether hospitalists improve patient outcomes is debatable, but here’s something I know for sure: during hospital stays,

“ Not the world, not what’s outside of us, but what we hold inside traps us. We may not be responsible for the world that created our minds, but we can take responsibility for the mind with which we create our world.” Gabor Maté, M.D. No matter what you want to accomplish, old habits are hard to break. They’re woven into your routines, your identity, and your memories, and establishing new habits can be challenging because they push you

As a wellness coach, reshaping how people think about health in a society that has never prioritized prevention is like swimming upstream in a flood – I’m moving against two powerful currents: the profit-driven medical community and consumers plagued with decades of habits that have normalized the very behaviors that make them sick. Not only do both cultures resist wellness messages — they often undermine them. So this week I’m appealing to you for help. Here’s why. When we’r

February 20, 2026, is National Caregivers Day, a time to celebrate the unsung heroes among us - family, friends, and professional caregivers who provide physical and emotional support to those with chronic conditions, disabilities, and age-related needs. It’s also a good time to rethink what “Caregiving” really means. I’ve been a caregiver to my daughter for nine years now, and I’ve grown to appreciate that it's not just another responsibility on my to-do list – it’s li

In July 2025, my niece went into kidney failure and started dialysis treatments. Three months later, the nephrologist informed her that the damage was irreversible and she’d need dialysis permanently. Her primary care doctor suggested she add her name to the transplant list. But her aunt Marie and I had some different advice for our niece. Marie said to her in her “you better listen to me” tone of voice: “Brin Brin, talk to your kidneys—apologize for damaging them and promi