How do you know if you have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD? You know that you might have OCD if you spend much of your time and energy trying to fend off unwelcome, recurrent thoughts (obsessions) or engaging in repetitive behaviors (compulsions) that you feel driven to perform. You have the sense that these thoughts and behaviors are irrational or excessive, or have been told so by others, but you have little or no control over them. Typical obsessions include fear of contamination (for example, refusing to touch doorknobs or use public restrooms), fear of acting... Read More

…by Julie Clark Robinson   “On with the dance! Let joy be unconfined..” -Lord Byron             I won\’t do it this year. I\’ll not get myself worked up in a tizzy all in the name of providing a memorable Christmas for my family. I\’ll keep the gifts under control, and the trimmings and menus and parties and everything else that lands me in bed with the flu every year by New Year\’s Eve.             I can\’t even believe it\’s me who is saying these things. What happened to that bright-eyed young woman whose heart... Read More

…by Prill Boyle I don\’t know about you, but I need all the support I can get-especially when I\’m taking a risk. Over the years, my girlfriends and I have endlessly encouraged each other. But as I was gearing up to launch my first book a few years ago, I needed the support to be both more specific and more structured. So even though I\’m not much of a joiner, when my headshot photographer Suzanne Sheridan suggested in the fall of 2003 that we form a Creative Women\’s Business Group with two other local women, I thought to myself, why not? The four of us have been... Read More

…by Suzanne Falter-Barnes In the ten years that I\’ve taught people how to get on with their books and creative projects, I\’ve noticed a phenomenon that I\’ll call “Author\’s Block.” Would-be writers can, indeed, sit down and work when pressed to it. The problem is that they\’re not so sure they want the pressure of being an author. But they do want it. But they don\’t. And so on. Ah, the agony of getting on with your book. Well, I\’m here to diffuse that situation with a list of the key reasons we have trouble sticking to our writing or other... Read More

…by Mary Pearsall The holidays are right around the corner, but that doesn\’t have to mean disaster for your health and fitness program. With a pen, paper and about a half hour of “thinking time,” you can create a simple wellness (sanity) plan that will help you stay balanced, healthy and active through the holiday season. To begin, determine the time frame (e.g., six weeks) when your schedule is most likely to be interrupted. Then write down the challenges you anticipate, such as “Aunt Jane\’s fudge” or “won\’t be able to do... Read More

…by Prill Boyle When did aging become such a sin? Everywhere we look-magazines, movies, TV, billboards-we see airbrushed images of gorgeous, wrinkle-free women who appear to be in their twenties, even when they\’re considerably older. These women are held up as our cultural ideal, as if adhering to this rigid and unattainable (at least for ninety-five percent of the population) standard of beauty ensures that we\’ll feel fulfilled. But as social anthropologist Kate Fox argues, we don\’t just equate this distorted vision of beauty with fulfillment. We equate it with goodness,... Read More

WHAT IS PTSD? Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is one of the anxiety disorders that can be experienced by anyone. It is experienced by almost everyone who has experienced some type of severe psychic or physical trauma. That trauma may have occurred in childhood with symptoms appearing decades after the original traumatic event. Or it may occur during their adult years. Psychic trauma occurs whenever we feel that our very lives are threatened. In some cases, that is exactly what has happened. For example, a near-death experience from a terrible auto accident, a physical... Read More

…by Mary Pearsall Times have really changed. Could you imagine our mothers picking up a dumbbell or doing a set of pushups? It just didn\’t happen back then. A lot of baby boomer women are supplementing their exercise programs with some kind of muscle conditioning – and for good reason. Time and again research has shown that women who maintain a regular moderate strength training program enjoy many and varied health benefits. However many women fear that lifting weights will bulk them up like Arnold, so they avoid this aspect of fitness. The truth is, strength training is one... Read More

…by Julie Clark Robinson  “Be still in silence and listen to your heart. When it speaks to you, arise and go where it brings you.”  –Susan Tamaro, Va\’ Dove Ti Porta il Cuore I think the sound of my own voice has finally gotten to me. Here it is, four years after I sat down to write my book, (ambitiously entitled Live in the Moment), two years after it was published, and countless book signings, speeches and interviews later, I\’m finally going to take my own advice. I\’m off to Italiana! Can I afford it? Nope. Will my husband and kids be able to stay alive... Read More

…by Prill Boyle As a writer who works from home, setting boundaries is an issue I deal with on a daily basis. I\’ve just returned from a month in the Thousand Islands where I\’ve been writing a novel, and what I want most right now is to finish my book. (Every day I don\’t write my heart shrivels; every day I do, it soars.) But since I\’ve been back, I can\’t seem to find the time. When I was on the island, I had no distractions. After waking up each morning, I sat down to write for six or seven hours. But in Connecticut, the diversions are endless. I\’ve... Read More