Living Your Healing Blog

Though I have a fundamental belief that we can find light in the darkness, that premise has been tested lately with so many really challenging events in the world. I do not want to be in denial about what is happening but know that a significant part of healing for me has been to believe there is light at the end of the tunnel as well as looking for points of light along the way. One of the points that shown brightly in the midst of the recent devastation in the Ukraine was Amelia Anisvych, a 7-year-old Ukranian girl. She sang the song “Let it Go’ from the movie...

While Valentine’s Day is generally associated with romantic love, there are so many other forms of love that we can give and receive. And one that is essential yet often the most difficult for many of us is self-love. It can seem so much easier to love someone else, a pet, a place, an experience or an activity than ourselves. In the book Love is the Strongest Medicine: Notes from a Cancer Doctor on Connection, Creativity, and Compassion oncologist Steven Eisenberg, MD shares how he learned about the importance of love, especially self-love, from his patients....

Does the image to the right remind you of any past experiences you’ve had of making a resolution, like eating less sweets, using willpower to stay on track, and shortly finding yourself doing just the opposite? And then falling into a pit of shame and self-blame, thus negating the enjoyment you could have derived from indulging in those treats. We humans have been making New Year’s resolutions for thousand of years, both as religious ritual and secular practice. According to recent research, while as many as 45 percent of Americans say they usually make New Year’s...

“Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” Howard Thurman, theologian, educator, and civil rights leader Considering the state of the world, I think we need a both/and approach. Ask what makes you come alive and then see how you can use that to address what the world needs. In the past I’ve burned myself out trying to ‘save the world’ by doing things that depleted me. And organizations are filled with people who are not lit up by the work they are doing...

Have you ever been frustrated by a situation and had the thought “I wish someone would do something about that”? And then realized that maybe that someone might be you? Dr. David Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA had that experience on his deathbed and responded in an extraordinary way that not only saved his life but is helping thousands around the world. Stricken in the middle of medical school with idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (iMCD), he has almost died 5 times. Nothing his doctors tried was working, and no one was doing any research for a cure, so he decided he...