Relationships can get complicated. And communication fumbles can further complicate them. I know. I’ve complicated mine more times than I want to admit. But the good news is that effective, even intimate, communication can be learned, broken relationships healed, happiness returned and love restored.

Motherhood is a profession worthy of a 7-figure celebration. In fact, Motherhood is the highest paying job on the market. What other position pays in the currency of so profound and deep a love as a Mothers’ love?

Life is really an accumulation of daily small stuff that adds up to one huge thing called living. It’s also called love … and kindness … and family.

For this Valentine’s Day, I offer you some of my most pithy thoughts on humanity’s favorite topic. Perhaps you’ll even find a nugget of wisdom buried amongst all the pith as well!

  The great thing about having children is that you get instant feedback on how Read More.

My favorite Life Coach, Zen Master and Guru of Happiness has never written a book, never meditated atop a snow capped mountain and has never spoken to an audience gathered at his feet to absorb the richness of his wisdom. His name is Jacob. And he’s my son. But the truths he’s taught me has made me a better (and happier) person.

Ideas are powerful things that can take on a life of their own, digging like roots deep into our hearts and souls and branching out into the circumstances of our lives as we nourish and tend to the germinating seed of thought. Come see my top 10 favorite ideas captured in picture quotes, ready for bite-sized consumption!

“Who you want to be is irrelevant to who you are if who you daily choose to be is different than who you wish you were.” Who we are and who we believe we should be are not always one and the same. Your Ideal You is likely somewhat higher than your Actual You. And so we read posts like this one looking for inspiration to nudge us down that path. Come see three areas we can improve on to become better people.

Why do we take the whole of humanity and carve them up into distinct categories of subdivided, semi-related, subgroups, sorted and classified as separate clusters of generalized identities, all tagged and marked for racial and lingual and socioeconomic distinction, subsectioned into demarcated and clearly separated differences? Why not think of others the way my son does?

Are you addicted to your smart phone? Do you spend a significant chunk of the day online? Or playing games? Or watching TV? How long can you go without checking status updates or text messages or your twitter feed? The more we rely on electronic media and electronic forms of interaction, ironically, the more disconnected we become. This challenge is to unplug and reconnect.

A blow-up with my son led to some valuable life lessons about anger.

What is love and how can we grow our own little pot of it? Love is more than some might think. I contacted some of personal development’s blogging superstars to ask them to contribute their two cents on the topic for this Valentine’s Day post. Click on in to read their responses (and a few of my own thoughts).

For many, the Holidays are not happy times. They are filled with stress, anxiety, loneliness, despair, discouragement or a sharp case of the holiday blues. But they don’t have to be. There can be so much more joy in the Christmas season than you think. There are, in fact, specific steps you can take to have a happier, more meaningful Christmas this year, even if circumstances are not ideal.

This Thursday, we will celebrate Thanksgiving here in the United States. The very first nationwide proclamation of a day of Prayer and Thanksgiving was made by George Washington in 1789. Since then, Thanksgiving has morphed into a different kind of observance, one punctuated by football, turkey and day-after mega sales. Here are 5 ways to add fun and meaning to your holiday observances.

We are not merely physical. We are emotional and intellectual as well. We are also spiritual. As such, to neglect the spiritual side of our lives is to neglect a foundational part of who we are at the most fundamental level. To build relationships ignoring that vital part of our natures is to create a relationship that hobbles on one leg. Spiritual intimacy adds depth to our most cherished relationships.

I was thinking the other day about the man I hope my son will one day be. I was imagining him with the qualities I hope he acquires. And then I wondered if I was adequately teaching him the traits I envisioned him having. Come on in and read the 31 lessons every mom and dad would do well to teach their children before they can no longer teach them.

Friendships are organic things. They live and grow and sometimes wilt and decay. They take something of us to maintain and nourish. Neglect can kill a relationship just as fast as it can a houseplant. At some level, we like to think there is nothing that could end a true friendship. But in the real world, there are many poisons that quickly sink deep into the bloodstream of even our most cherished relationships, infecting them with deadly toxins. Come in and see what those deadly toxins are!

What do your kids most need from you? Here are 10 gifts you can give your children that will change their lives … and yours … forever. Come see why parenthood is such serious business. There’s no other business, in fact, more important you can spend your time and energy building. Average parenting requires average effort. Great parenting requires more of us. It requires us to work on the inside, on the person who is the parent. Offering these gifts will require that deep commitment to what’s best to raise happy, loving and decent men and women.

A guest post by Steliana van de Rijt-Economu: I’m convinced there’s a place in our heart and soul where we can withdraw and be happy for just the simple fact of being. In my case, I find that place when I hold my little one and sooth her when she is crying. I also feel it when I open the window early in the morning and feel the fresh caress of spring air cooling my cheek, reminding me that there’s a new day … a day full of possibilities. Some people call it happiness, but I would like to leave it undefined.

Guest post by David J. Singer: If you stop to think about the number of times a day you interact with other people you’ll probably find it’s more often than you think (at home, the store, the bank, post office, gym, neighborhood, classroom, in line, at the office and even passersby). What are yours like? Are they deep and rewarding or superficial and thoughtless? Mindful interaction may be the answer you’re looking for.