This morning, I checked my email and saw a phrase I’ve never heard before. The writer and creator of Ness Labs, Anne-Laure Le Cunff, said in her recent newsletter, “This year was both the slowest and the fastest of my life. Some parts feel like a blur, others feel like they lasted forever.” The statement couldn’t be truer for me. For many of us, 2020 is the year where nothing happened according to plan.

I began 2020 with vacation plans. Normally, I take awhile to decide on a location and plan it down with precision. However, I decided in January that if I’m ever going to visit NYC, then I’d better do it now. Somehow, I was right. I went to NYC in late February with my husband and two children. Two weeks after we came home, the city shut down, along with the rest of the country. …

“Happy lives are not stress-free, nor does a stress-free life guarantee happiness.” — Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D, health psychologist

Several months into the pandemic, in mid-August, I found myself having a rather stressful week. My husband was working overtime that week and was gone six days out of seven. I had a job interview in the middle of the week that failed miserably when my kids decided to pound their fists outside my bedroom door as if the house were on fire (apparently, you can only hide from your kids for about fifteen minutes), causing such a ruckus that I had to excuse myself twice to tell them to please let me finish the interview. …

“Empathy is an experience. Kindness is an action.” — Jamil Zaki, Stanford psychologist

Twenty one years before I read the novel, and many years prior to that, the author Catherine Ryan Hyde experienced something so profound, so unexpected that inspired her to write a story about a little boy who changed the world. She recounted her story in the following video.

When she was 24 years old, Catherine found herself stranded in a dangerous part of town. Her car broke down and then caught on fire. Out of nowhere, two strangers appeared, but her instincts told her otherwise. “It never occurred to me that they would come to my aid,” she said, “but that’s exactly what happened.” …

October 26th was a special anniversary for me — not to anyone else, just me — because it marked a full 30 days of writing down my gratitude daily in a journal, which I kept on my nightstand as a reminder to myself to do the activity. And what I learned during the past month of writing down what I’m thankful for has been transformative.

The act of outwardly expressing gratitude has long been studied — for example, this landmark study by Barbara Fredrickson at the University of Michigan on the effect of positive emotions proves that when you recognize positive emotions, you see more possibilities in life. Opportunities immediately open up in ways you didn’t expect. …

“I’m not gonna coach you to who you are. I’m gonna coach you to who you should be someday.”

These are the words of the former Boston Celtics coach, Glenn ‘Doc’ Rivers, who led the team to multiple NBA championships during his reign from 2004 to 2013, then later as the coach for the Los Angeles Clippers. Named as the most successful coach in Clippers history, according to the NBA, Doc was featured on the first episode of a recently debuted documentary series on Netflix called The Playbook: A Coach’s Rules for Life.

In an interview that was as deep and intimate as a romantic relationship, he relayed all the things that he learned from his time as a professional basketball player and later, as a coach. I was amazed at just how much I learned from him (and will definitely watch the next few episodes) about what playing sports can teach you about life. …

“Are you afraid of death?” said a little preadolescent voice.

The man’s eyes grew large, alarmed. He pauses for a moment before answering, “Yes.”

Both are tucked in bed, at a summer vacation home in New Hampshire, the scene of a 1991 Bill Murray film called What About Bob? whose cast includes Richard Dreyfuss and Julie Hagerty. The boy in the scene is Siggy, the son of a successful psychiatrist named Dr. …

Todd Parr entered my life when my son and daughter was three and six, respectively. Almost every night for the past year and a half, my children would dutifully pick out one of his many books (40+ so far!), and together we’d read aloud together.

His books are fun, bright, and quirky. Upon first glance, you might say that the illustrations and words are the works of a child — but it’s all Todd. As a youth, he failed art class, which made him pause on the artistic dreams for awhile. …

“Who did I forget to thank Gerald?!?”

This famous line towards the end of “The Thank You Book” by Mo Willems makes me laugh every time I read it with my kids. The Thank You Book is about two best friends — an elephant and a pig, aptly named Gerald and Piggie, who goes on adventures, or perhaps everyday experiences and learns about things like sharing, being thankful, playing nice, being kind, and so forth. The Thank You Book epitomizes the importance of being thankful for everyone in your life and expressing it by saying, “Thank you.”

That’s why Piggie decided at the beginning of the book to go around and thank each and every character from their world. It wasn’t until more than halfway through she realizes that she has forgotten to thank Gerald, her best friend, for being her best friend. But Gerald responds with, “No Piggie. You forgot to thank our reader.” The book ends with the two smiling brightly on the page, “Thank you reader. We could not be ‘us’ without you.” …