One afternoon when I was walking home with my grandpa, we passed a little garden on the hill. There was a small, old house there, perched above a tidy shade garden. It was nestled like a glove into a tumble of boulders and pine trees. The garden was loved and generous and welcoming by the small farmers who lived around. Nobody lived in the house anymore; but the garden still had its charm. It was mostly dense forest or dry, rocky dirt around it. Some houses had more formal, g

She was not only beautiful, but also clever—so clever, in fact, that many suspected she had once studied in a small seminary for birds.

The fox nodded. “It is easier to be tended than to tend. But each time you flee the fear, you leave something of yourself behind.”

Dump, Deny, or Defer: insincere solutions for real problems for real people The patient accidentally washed her newly filled medication bottle with her jeans last night. The pills were a soapy, crumbly lump of mess, and the label was washed out. When she showed the bottle to her pharmacist, the pharmacist explained that there was only way to get a replacement. A lost medication over-ride had to be issued by the insurance company, because the potential risk of prescription dr

Calling children oppositional, disagreeable, or defiant, especially if the behavior is persistent or targeted, is very common at school and at home. While some parents and teachers might wonder why a child would do this or that despite repeated punishments, others may simply give the consequences to change behavior. While a therapist or a parent might mull over the child’s intentions or needs, some pedagogues just give clear and consistent instruction on how to follow the rul

People do not crave frustration, horror, and disappointment. No, not normally. But when there is fear and uncertainty, the urge to scroll is like the urge to watch a scary movie. There is a cathartic feeling of facing fears without having to face them in real life. Doomscrolling may begin like a compelling urge to find answers and explanations; just a brief forage for some small certainty on the phone. But actually useful information and valuable updates are rare, no? Like ba

Choosing software and services for a small business is like dating. You don't know what you actually need when you start, but people are appalled if you skip it. The advertised benefits are incredible, but when you ask people who have it already, the results are less impressive. Onboarding is awkward. Maintenance is no joke. Once you have figured out the difference between what it actually does, versus what it promised, you are too far in to shop around. And, in the process,