Blog Archive

Dear Lakshmi, Today, you turn ten years old.  You are turning a corner, a decade of life, moving into the double digits.  I can’t believe it.  Time has flown by, and somehow in the blink of an eye, you have evolved into a conscious, aware human being, one with a personality and a voice, with opinions, likes and dislikes.  And it is hard for me to imagine that the next decade will somehow pass by even more quickly, and before we know it, you will be a grown adult, and I too wi

Tonight, I laid down with my son to put him to sleep.  We don’t often do this, but tonight was somehow different.  I laid down next to him, and rubbed his back. “Can you stay until I fall asleep?,” he asked. “Well…I can stay for a few more minutes.  But then I have to go do some work, ” I answered. Why do you have to work?  He wanted to know.  Would I be working all the time if he and his sister weren’t around?  He wanted to know. “I might work more, yes.  I have to help my p

This month, I was fortunate to serve as guest parenting editor of City Life Magazine, a lifestyle magazine that is distributed throughout Canada and the US.  I was asked to write a short article on how we as parents can help encourage gratitude in our children.  I wanted to share the article here for my blog readers as well, as I know this is an issue that many of us are challenged with, either for ourselves, or in our role as parents. If I could add anything else to my artic

This morning, I went for a run with my nine year old daughter.  In Pismo Beach for the weekend, we ran along a beautiful ocean front path, with drizzles of rain intermittently trickling through the sunshine.  The waves were frothy and grey from the rain.  The roar of the ocean was loud, and yet we had to tune in to the sound in order to fully notice the ebb and flow of the water’s song. As we ran, my daughter stopped to visit with every dog she met.  She is an avid dog lover,

Every week when I sit down to write my blog post, all I ask of myself is that I write from my heart.  Sometimes something happened during the week within my family or with my patients, that inspires me to write about a particular topic.  And sometimes I sit down at the computer and start typing, with not a clue as to what will emerge. This week, what has been on my mind and heart is the topic of mothering.  On January 14, my mother will turn seventy years old.  As an amazing

There is something about a new year ahead that makes me pause and think about time.  The time that has passed, the time that is yet to come, and how time can be so strange.  We can all remember moments that stretched into lifetimes, and other times, when years seemed to pass by in a heartbeat. As I was driving home the other day, it dawned on me that my daughter was all of a sudden nine years old.  In the blink of an eye, here she was, part of our lives for almost one full de

My patient shifted around on the couch, frustrated and upset.  She was speaking of a conversation she had recently shared with her father.  My patient had finally managed to complete and submit a job application, and had eagerly shared the good news with her parents. “And then do you know what he told me?”  Tears sprung to her eyes as I waited for her to continue.  “He said, you know, don’t you, that this really shouldn’t be that big of a deal?  This is what normal people do

As I approach the one year anniversary of blogging (next week will be my 52nd weekly post), I marvel at how blogging has changed my life.  It has been my first attempt ever to stay consistent with my writing practice.  It has been my first attempt to regularly put my work “out there” in the public eye.  Blogging has required an entirely different depth of vulnerability than I have ever experienced before. But more than any of that, I think blogging has fundamentally changed t

This weekend, I was reprimanding my daughter.  I had asked her several times to turn off her IPad, and yet she continued on, happily playing Minecraft.  She said she absolutely HAD to finish something that her younger brother had requested her to create. As I (rather loudly) reminded her about our rules for technology, and how I would like her to listen to me when I speak to her, she started to become tearful.  All of a sudden, my son stepped in between the two of us.  In as

For today’s Mindful Monday post, I would like to share a story with you. This past weekend, I was trying to get a quick workout in on our treadmill.  I was nearly done, just as my eight year old daughter popped into the room.  “Mama!  Mama!  Can you please stop the treadmill?  I need to tell you something important!” I looked at the screen and saw I only had about five minutes left.  I wanted to finish my workout and move on with my day.  But I paused the treadmill, and the b

This article first appeared on OC Moms Magazine on March 21, 2015. As parents, we have endless hopes and dreams for our children.  We hope first and foremost that they are safe and healthy.  We hope that they are happy.  We hope their hearts don’t get broken.  We wish them work that they are passionate about, work that supports them and is meaningful.  We hope that they have close, fulfilling relationships and that their lives are populated with kind people.  We hope they are

This article first appeared on Huffington Post on March 19, 2015. One of the occupational hazards associated with writing numerous articles and a children’s book about mindfulness and parenting is that people expect you to be a mindful parent. They expect your children to be mindful children. You might think, on any given day, that my household is calm, with zen music playing, candles flickering and my children peacefully playing or meditating. You might imagine my home looki

My brain knows that gratitude is important. I know when I am in a state of gratitude–aware of my blessings, small and big, I feel happier and less alone. I feel more connected to the people around me, and my life experiences. I feel in my body a life force greater than myself. But my heart can find it difficult to stay in a sustained place of gratitude. Rather, it is a practice of reminding myself over and over, to start, over and over. Sometimes that means making lists of th