Emotional Health and Well-Being

I've long been a believer in the idea that all of us are born to be creative artists. Playing music, drawing, acting, dancing, writing, designing, building, even playing sports at a high level - when we nurture our creative instincts through any of these artistic experiences, we stand a good stance of feeling deeply fulfilled, and we almost certainly add value to our and other people's lives. In my opinion, both of these consequences of nurturing our artistic spirits are essential to experiencing our best health.

They say that you can learn a lot about yourself and life from your own children. I'd say that they're absolutely right.

Our older son Joshua, now four and a half years old, is sweeter and more gentle than we could have wished for. These days, he lives to experience new and exciting things with his family. Things like riding the subway in Toronto for the first time, discovering the magic of helium balloons, and meeting new characters and worlds through trips to our library.

Originally published in March, 2009

Late last year, I started playing tennis again after a hiatus of several years from regular play. It took me a few sessions to get my wind back, but all in all, it's been amazingly fun to be back out on the courts. I feel younger, stronger, and healthier than I have in several years.

Close friends and family members are typically surprised - shocked, even - when they learn that my wife Margaret and I have had a good number of fights over the years. At first glance, both of us are generally viewed as being kind, thoughtful, and maybe even a bit shy. So jaws tend to drop when people find out that we're far from being the Cleavers.

Over the last couple of years, Margaret and I have had an ongoing discussion over the merits of home schooling vs. sending our children to public or private school.

It feels like we've been to the circus and back about a dozen times with this decision, and though we're leaning towards home-based learning for our boys, we continue to have moments of uncertainty.

Updated on July 3, 2009

Several years ago, I was fortunate to meet a lady named Deborah at a fasting clinic in northern California. I had several conversations with Deborah over the course of a year, and what I remember most is that her kindness was amazingly genuine - the feeling for me was that she had done a lot of inner work to identify the life principles that she strove to live by.

Originally published on September 21, 2009

On an evening trip to the public library a few days ago, I was greeted by a friendly worker as I checked our family's books in. Though we had said hello many times before, on this particular evening, I could tell from the way that she was looking at me that she had something to say.

"You're friends with Dr. Lee, right?"

"Yes, I know Dr. Lee from when we were kids," I replied.

Updated on March 10, 2009

A few days ago, I was flipping through an Oprah magazine that my wife borrowed from our public library when I came across a short piece on forgiveness by playwright and actor Tyler Perry.

Here's the part that I felt a strong connection to:

I definitely agree that forgiveness is often more about freeing oneself from limiting, painful emotions than it is about releasing the person who hurt you from responsibility for their actions.

Many times the people who hurt others are so unconscious of their own inner processes that they will continue to behave in the same or similar ways throughout their lives. They are simply too damaged and too ignorant to be able to do what it takes to recover and become sane, caring human beings.

As parents to two preschool boys, my wife and I are deeply concerned about our boys running into bullies at school. At the same time, we realize that bullying tends to stem from a lack of care and education at home, and that those who bully need as much compassionate guidance as those who are bullied.