It was 11 years ago this past January. My best-friend lay dying in a bed at a hospice and I, along with a few close friends, sat and waited. We knew the time was soon. A week before Tom, who was living with full-blown AIDS, had checked himself into the Wellesley hospital. He was worried about his continuous fevers and his inability to eat. Over the last few months he was a regular at the now defunct... 

Annabelle is a 53-year-old perimenopausal woman who was just offered an early retirement package from the corporation she worked at for almost 30 years. Slightly apprehensive, she is opting for the package, as she is close to retirement, and figures a year, or two (or five) won’t make that much difference in her lifestyle. This positive approach to a stressful situation is probably because four years... 

What we all need to develop powerful patterns in everyday life Science advocates them; religious leaders abide by them; we live and breathe based on them. They are rituals. Rituals dictate how we sleep, eat, work, and play. While often associated with schedules and patterns, rituals are also expressive ways we interact with ourselves, our family and our communities and, given the right opportunity,... 

Almost a decade ago I was a good candidate for cervical cancer. I was young, 24, a smoker and on the birth control pill for almost a decade. While not especially promiscuous, I had had more than one partner and, at that age, thought I was invincible. Until I spent an afternoon in my doctor’s office, wrapped in a paper-thin smock, crying as she mentioned the “C” word – cancer. The reality: I...