When a green bank bag containing checks, cash and personal identification disappears, panic quickly turns to suspicion and anger. But encounters with grief, Scripture, Stoic thought and the act of writing gradually place the loss in perspective—and reveal how the stories we tell ourselves can deepen or relieve our distress.

Why does your brain cling to bad news? Why do worries feel so real—even when nothing's happening? This new post explains how our minds evolved to protect us, but sometimes go into overdrive. Understanding this is the first step toward peace.

We are given two ears and one mouth to listen more than we talk, Epictetus, the Stoic philosopher, said. “When people talk, listen completely. Most never listen.” Ernst Hemingway claimed. Malcolm Forbes, the creator of the Business magazine which bears his name advised, “The art of conversation lies in listening,” A google search shows no dearth of books on how to listen. Titles abound, The Sacred Art of Listening, Why Don’t We Listen Better, and How to Listen with Intentio

Regrets, I’ve had a few but then again too few to mention. I did what I had to do………. And I did it my way, Frank Sinatra sang in the 1969 song, My Way. Set to the music of the 1967 French tune, Comme d'habitude, My Way climbed to number 2 on America's Easy Listening Tunes and topped the chart in the UK for weeks on end. It was popularized, no doubt, because the lyrics, clear, clean, and contemplative struck a chord. In fact, in 1969 and today, Regret is something most people

I called out the man’s name, then did a sniff check of the waiting room. The briskness of Fall had softened the ripe smell of body odor which permeated the units during the summer months. From the far end of the room, a behemoth figure with a Santa Claus beard slowly rose from the institutional plastic chair. He held a paperback in his hand and ambled toward me. The Correction officer, Boyce, who sat elevated in an ergomatic behind a long counter at room’s end copped a loo