We have been talking here at length about introducing children to the idea of God. In our last post we said..."Let’s say that your daughter has heard at her friend’s house that God punishes us if we don’t do what He wants us to do. She’s heard that if we are not careful we could wind up going to “hell.” Now what do you say? “Sweetheart, that’s not true.” OR…“I certainly hope that’s not true. Let’s cross our fingers.”

Yes…these questions about how to proceed are not small questions. So let’s back up right here and start at the beginning. The first thing you need to do as you explore how to introduce your child to the concept and the reality of God is to get clear about what YOU think about the concept and reality of God.

So let’s take a...

It wasn’t my original intention to have a two-part or continuing series in my column about this particular topic, but after last week’s piece about the controversy surrounding the Cheerios commercial and the racially driven outbursts which took place as a result of its portrayal of a bi-racial couple who are parents to a mixed-race daughter, it appears as though another opportunity has presented itself for us to enter into a thoughtful conversation around belief systems which thrive on and promote ideas of separatism and which attempt to control and dictate other human beings based upon nationality, physicality, skin color, age, sexual orientation, etc.

Sebastien De La Cruz, 11 years old, a former contestant on the popular television program "America’s Got Talent," was invited by the NBA to sing the National Anthem at the opening of Game 3 during the finals...

If I could show you a way to transform your life in one year or less, would you be interested? How about if you could help others do the same thing at the same time?

Intrigued?

Read on...

May I share a possibility with you, one that caused my life to alter so dramatically that it changed the course of my life forever. In fact, I wouldn’t be writing this to you today without it. You might be thinking by now that it was reading books like Conversations with God. Well you would be partly correct, but it wasn’t just reading CwG that made the difference for me.

About 14 years ago, I embarked on a spiritual quest, to find my truth about God and life. I was 12 years sober at the time, but I was missing something, as my life experience was...

I’m writing this blog while drinking my last cup of coffee, at least for today, and then one day at a  time from there on out.  You see, I like coffee.  I like the taste.  I delight in the process of making coffee.  I savor the aroma of the brewing process.  I enjoy the burst of energy.  But there is a problem.  I am suffering consequences.  Real or imagined, I am not sure.  But nonetheless, I believe there is a downside that I am not willing to continue to experience.

One of the suggestions all newcomers get in the 12 Step program is to not make any major decisions for the first year.  I had decided I wanted to quit smoking during my first year of recovery, and my sponsor and many people in the 12 Step meetings advised me against...

When I first heard about the National Security Administration’s PRISM surveillance program, I thought it only extended to under covering the records of the phone giant Verizon. But, with a bit more investigation, it was also found that the ‘Big Nine’ Internet Networks (Yahoo, Google, Youtube, Facebook, Skype, AOL, Paltalk, Microsoft, and Apple) were infiltrated by PRISM’s backdoor access. And for many teenagers, this strikes VERY close to home. With the government having direct access to our messages, contacts, and even our GPS location, how will we teens react?

Last week, Neale brought up a very refreshing idea about the court order for Verizon to hand over their phone records to the NSA. The idea of total transparency is very uplifting, and is something that we should all aspire for in our own lives and relationships. Cultivating Trust, understanding, and total...

I recently took a job close to home, and I chose it over a job offer in another state.  Both jobs seemed like they’d be a good fit, and believe me I weighed the pros and cons of each; I literally almost just flipped a coin to decide.  My problem is, now that I made my choice I am plagued by thoughts that maybe it was the wrong one, that I am missing out on a totally different life that I might enjoy even more.  Is that insane?  How do I know I made the right choice, and if that’s not possible to know, how do I make peace with the one I made??

Frank, Pennsylvania

Ah decisions, decisions.  I don’t know about you, Frank, but to me the worst part about making the “wrong” decision is that I am the one...

I was listening to the song Imagine, by John Lennon, a few days ago. It was the first time I had played it for my daughter, and the first time I had actively listened to the song in years. It brought me to tears to hear it through her ears.

At first I was sad to think about how long ago he wrote it and the little progress we have made in our quest for peace.

And then I looked into my daughter's eyes and I thought of the hope of the new generation. I thought of all of the children coming up today who are more aware of global concerns; younger than they have ever been in previous generations. I thought of the child who wrote Vice President Biden asking if guns could shoot chocolate. I thought of Malala Yousufzai who...

by Beth Anderson

“You are not the body. You are not the mind. You are not even the soul. You are all three – and more.” from When Everything Changes Change Everything.

We are in a battle for balance in our lives. We constantly get pushed and pulled away from our focus, distracted, and stressed. How in the world are we supposed to create a balance between body, mind, soul, and more?

In order to make sure that we have a balanced life, we need to eat a balanced diet. But what does that mean? We must consider not only what we eat (protein, fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, water, fats) but also the flavors, temperatures, and textures of our foods.

One way to balance our foods is to consider the Yin and Yang properties of each food. Yin foods are expanding, cool, moistening foods...