Amid the discerning consumers of post-pandemic wellness culture– in which the prospects for future thriving look increasingly like things we used to do in the past— ice baths and cold plunges are having a pop culture renaissance. I first heard about cold plunging almost ten years ago, when the talking heads in the New York […]
culture
An Insider’s Guide to Monterey, California (“Big Little Lies” Edition)
Monterey, California is a charming little beach village located about 2 hours south of San Francisco and 45 minutes north of Big Sur, California. The unparalleled beauty of the coastline in this region, especially along the iconic 17-Mile Drive, is one of the many reasons that visitors have been drawn to the area for decades. […]
A “Forrest Gump” Guide to Savannah, Georgia
Tom Hanks’ 1994 performance in the iconic American film Forrest Gump was a revelation at the time the movie came out– though the politics of having an able-bodied person (Hanks) play someone who was intellectually disabled (Forrest) have certainly changed. (Spoiler alert: that is a bad idea!) Nevertheless, Forrest Gump remains an essential narrative within […]
What is a Lohri Party? What To Expect When Invited to This Joyful Indian Celebration
The New Year brings with it lots of fluffy traditions that don’t always seem rooted in history or culture, but Indian Lohri celebrations date back thousands of years and have a certain joyful magic about them. Like going to an Indian wedding, attending an Indian Lohri party is a bucket list item for many curious […]
Watch Will Smith’s Powerful Red Table Talk on Resolving Conflict
One of last year’s most poignant episodes of “Red Table Talk” (Jada Pinkett-Smith’s new family-focused talk show on Facebook Watch) was an episode featuring Will Smith that centered on conflict resolution. In this episode, Will Smith hosts a conversation with Janet Hubert, who played the original ‘Aunt Viv’ on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” with whom […]
Understanding Ho’oponopono: A Beautiful Hawaiian Teaching About Forgiveness
People who struggle with the concept of forgiveness– both for themselves and for others– often find comfort in a deeply healing age-old practice that comes from Hawai’i. The beautiful Hawaiian teaching for Forgiveness is called “Ho’oponopono” (pronounced HO-oh-Po-no-Po-no), and it’s lovely. This ancient Hawaiian practice of forgiveness functions as both a communication concept for reconciliation […]
17 Money Saving Hacks For When You Can’t Stop Worrying About Money
According to Amazon therapist Bea Arthur, “financial anxiety is the biggest crisis in America” right now. And while it’s true that money itself undergirds many of today’s most divisive political issues (health care, campaign finance, and the like), the experience of financial anxiety in daily life is real and pronounced. For example, according to a […]
How Climate Change Affects Mental Health
For all the endless chatter surrounding Climate Change, not much of the global conversation has centered on the connection between Climate Change and mental health. The psychological impacts of a warming world might seem intuitive, and rightly so. But on a personal and macro level, changing habitats and unpredictable weather patterns have had a universally […]
How Mental Health Became Pop Music’s Unlikely Muse
Maybe you’ve noticed that some of the biggest songs on the radio in recent years have dealt with themes of depression, anxiety, suicide, and other aspects of mental health. Or maybe you saw Lady Gaga‘s 2019 speech at the Grammy Awards in which she mentioned, perhaps unsurprisingly, that many artists deal with mental health issues. […]
Michelle Obama Is Dealing with “Low Grade Depression,” Too
In the latest episode of the new Michelle Obama Podcast, the former First Lady said she is currently battling “some form of low-grade depression.” “Not just because of quarantine, but because of the racial strife, and just seeing this administration, watching the hypocrisy of it, day in and day out, is dispiriting,” she said on […]