"What's the matter with you?"
"How could you do that?"
"Explain yourself, young lady/young man."
"Why are you dressed like that?"
"Why are you late again?"
"What did you do to your hair!"

How often did you hear some variation of this when you were growing up? I heard it all the time. And what I learned to do was to desperately defend and explain in fruitless attempts to get my mom or dad to stop judging me and SEE me. Or I would apologize and become the "good girl," so they would approve of me.

By Shavonta Arline

Girl...guess what?

Just then, I bet your ears perked up, you can't wait to hear what I'm about to say. I've heard those words a thousand times (and probably said them just as many). Those eager words, dripping with the juiciness of some sweet morsel of info that you just have to hear, words that often creep up out of nowhere and bring a dull, dry conversation to life. They turn many eager heads toward them, waiting, anticipating, practically dying to know just what it is.

A recent study indicates that crying does not make people feel better. But there is a problem with this study.

(Crying shame: Tears don't make you feel any better, study
shows, By Cari Nierenberg, http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/07/29/7190543-crying-shame-tears-dont-make-you-feel-any-better-study-shows#.TjR9l8uTx0A.email)

The study indicates that:

"Shedding tears only improved mood in one-third of criers who kept tabs of their bawling behaviors, finds recent research."

"He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an indisputable law." - Henry Ford

Have you ever noticed how often you say, "I can't"?

"I can't lose weight."
"I can't find my soul mate."
"I can't find a job I love."
"I can't take care of myself."
"I can't heal this shame."
"I can't get myself to exercise."
"I can't find my passion."

by Steve Kovacs

My mother died about two years ago from pancreatic cancer. She apparently had it for a few years before the cancer was found. She died within six months of being diagnosed. I was able to finagle the Cleveland Clinic affiliate hospital where she went for some treatment to keep her comfortable in the hospital until her death. I did not want to move her around to another facility or even to a local, albeit highly respected hospice center. The personalized hospital care was second to none and I made it my goal in life to keep her in the fine hands of the doctors and nurses there. I could hardly believe that I was able to keep her there for over a month after she was referred to hospice, but I did.<