The old saying is: You have to give to receive. Seriously, there is scientific evidence to back this up. Volunteering is good for you, emotionally and physically. Multiple studies support myriad benefits of volunteering. In a 2013 systematic review and meta-analysis of forty studies (including …
Our armed guard went first, peering behind crumbling mausoleums and around trash- covered bushes; then, satisfied that no thugs were lying in wait, he waved us on. We left our bags and phones in the van, and picked our way down the dirt path to …
The rescue and assistance request posts are heartbreaking, and there are so, so many of them every day. I belong to a nationwide (international, actually) physician Facebook group over 60K members strong. When local emergency services were overwhelmed by the impossible number of calls, people …
Decades of research show that volunteer activity is significantly associated with multiple health benefits, both psychological (higher levels of happiness and self-esteem, lower levels of stress and depression) and physical (improved cognition, decreased mortality)*. What’s more, studies show that interacting with animals decreases blood pressure …
Most Saturday mornings, Hubby and the kids do cartoons and breakfast, while I work out my weeks’ accumulated stress and sedentary achiness. Today, I ran a favorite route: a hilly road featuring a nice smooth sidewalk, stately homes, and a well- kept Trustees park overlooking the …
Last night, we returned home from a family dinner at Nana’s to a bit of mayhem in our yard. A trash bag that had been left outside of the barrel (oops, cleaning people) had been ripped, shredded, and ransacked. The scraps and unsalvageable leftovers from …
A major parenting priority of mine is to raise kids who give back. To me, that means kids who not only recognize that there are people less fortunate than us, but who will also step up to help. The basic requisite here is that …
The kids went to the dentist on Thursday. It was a midmorning appointment, so I kept them out of school for the day. At Babyboy’s school, you have to be buzzed in, show ID, sign in, get a name tag, such a process (for good …
We can learn a lot from animals. Here is Salter, my current favorite resident of our local animal shelter. This friendly feline was surrendered by a family after suffering for days, if not weeks, with an open infected leg fracture. When I first met him, …