One of the largest threats to our well-being is stress. Stress is part of life. You promote your well-being by learning to manage stress. “Optimal” stress helps stimulate and activate you to live a productive and meaningful life. Without some stress, life becomes empty and lacking in meaningful engagement. However, excessive stress results in suffering and reduces productivity. Too much stress damages the brain and body. You experience stress when you feel threatened or frust

Thomas Jackson said, “I like liquor—its taste and its effects–and that is just the reason why I never drink it.” For Jackson, the pleasure of drinking felt dangerous, so to protect himself he never drank. The principle in question is the principle of love. Recovery means replacing pleasure to treat pain with love to manage pain. Savor pleasure when it comes, but don’t use it to manage pain. Addicting out of desire is a disguised form of relief from pain. Why would you feel a

A friend of mine shared the following story with me: A plump Indian businessman, dripping with gold and diamonds, came one day to visit Mother Teresa, fell at her feet, and proclaimed, “Oh God, you are the holiest of the Holy! You are the super-holy one! You have given up everything! I cannot even give up one samosa for breakfast! Not one single chapatti for lunch can I give up!” Mother Teresa started to laugh so hard her attendant nuns grew scared (she was in her middle 80s

I’ve just finished reading Cindy Wigglesworth’s book, “SQ 21: The Twenty-One Skills of Spiritual Intelligence.” See my previous blog on Ms. Wigglesworth’s groundbreaking work. Ms. Wigglesworth defines spiritual intelligence as the capacity to act with wisdom and compassion, with internal and external peace, under all circumstances. She describes a capacity for happiness, peace, joy, and love. Who wouldn’t want that? Fortunately, like emotional intelligence, we can develop our

Gary King once said, “There is no such thing as an inconsequential lie.” Honesty is so important to a successful life of recovery it deserves special emphasis. It is a cornerstone of integrity. Everyone lies. The person who says “I have never lied” is not telling the truth. People lie out of guilt, shame, fear, or to get what they want. This is why the practice of honesty is important to everyone. At the end of the day, it is hard to say who dishonesty harms more—you or other

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” A fundamental human challenge is to do what is right in the face of urges to do otherwise. To do that, we should first have a basic understanding of the difference and distinctions between acting through instincts and acting based on morals. Trouble arises when our instinctive urges conflict with a higher set of moral principles and values. We live in a complex and high

Think of wise, kind, courageous people in your life. Perhaps they include a family member. Perhaps great spiritual leaders like Jesus or the Buddha. Perhaps other great leaders like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, or Nelson Mandela. Write down the 6 most inspiring people to you. What do all these people have in common? First they represent your Higher Self, which is your own capacity for manifesting wisdom and compassion in your life. Second, they are “Spiritually Intelligent.” W

How do we thrive and prosper through adversity? Resilient people seem to have one thing in common: an unconditional reverence and respect for existence, for Life, for Reality. This reverence and respect for Reality persists despite Reality’s sometimes seemingly cruel, evil, and unjust brutalities. Reverence and respect make up a spiritual commitment to the sacredness of existence and our humble place in the large scheme of things. Reverence and respect for Reality are uncondi

Remorse is a feeling of sorrowful regret over harm we have done. It is a feeling that produces tears. We feel genuine sadness for what we have done to hurt someone or ourselves. There are different types of grieving. We may grieve a loss of something dear to us. We may grieve an injustice. To have remorse is to grieve for the hurtful mistakes we have made. Since grieving is a necessary part of healing, we need to go through the process of remorseful grieving to heal from the