My first childhood hero was an agent on the popular television program, "The FBI." Despite getting shot every week or two, he never complained and always managed to get the bad guy. Alas, a tour of FBI headquarters did to my hero-agent what all those bullets couldn't: killed him off when I learned he was nothing [...]

We watched “2012” the other night, the latest in what seems to be a growing industry of apocalyptic films and books foretelling the end of civilization as we know it. Coming as it does on the heels of so many recent high-profile earthquakes, it’s got more than a few folks feeling jittery. Watching the film [...]

John Edwards. Tiger Woods. Jesse James. Lots of high-profile marital shenanigans of late. The most recent involves actress Sandra Bullock, who barely had time to celebrate her new best-acting Oscar before word came of hubby Jesse James’s months-long tryst with a “tattoo model.” Thousands have commented on the situation, virtually all of them in support of [...]

The flyer in my mailbox read: “Because life is too busy to waste time cleaning your own home.” And it pictured a happy team of immigrants busily cleaning a modern middle-class McMansion while the equally happy homeowners helpfully tutored their children with all that extra time on their hands. Alas, experience teaches us that the [...]

Marriage is work. If you’re married, how many times have you heard this expression or shared it with others? More important, do you believe this to be true? Which parts of a relationship constitute work? Isn’t it interesting that we look at relationships as an object that requires “work” vs. an energetic dynamic between two [...]

Some years ago I had a remarkable dream. In it I was a raindrop tumbling from a great, gray cloud and I felt ecstatically free the way one can in flying dreams. Then, suddenly, the clouds parted and below me stretched a vast and endless blue ocean and to my horror I realized I was [...]

In the spring of 1999 I and another member of the American Red Cross boarded a flight bound for the Balkan conflict in Kosovo. A veteran of many humanitarian assignments, I felt no particular concern about the trip. But on the evening of my departure the chronic anxiety that had become a part of my [...]

During the holidays my wife received word that a favorite cousin had been hospitalized with advanced brain cancer. He is young, handsome, charismatic, a business owner, a newly minted husband and father of a child not yet one. Family and friends are stunned, praying for a miracle. We humans are funny about our suffering. We’ll [...]

His name is Gene Sprague. He paces the Golden Gate's walkway at its highest point, occasionally stopping to gaze down at the water more than 200 feet below. Immersed in their picture-taking, nearby tourists fail to notice him. His pacing stops, he brushes his long black hair from his face, pushes himself into a sitting [...]

Recently I stumbled across the following. Take a look and consider its implications not just for your medical treatment, but for all aspects of your life. One study found that when confronted with a patient with back pain, surgeons prescribed surgery, physical therapists thought that therapy was indicated and yes, acupuncturists were sure needles were [...]