Conventional wisdom tells us we'll only be happier after a divorce if the marriage itself was a war zone.

Maybe it goes without saying that if you want to become a famous writer before you’re dead, you’ll have to write something. But the folks in my classes with the biggest ideas and the best publicity shots ready to grace the back covers of their best-selling novels are also usually the ones who aren’t holding any paper.

I've never been socially outgoing, but I suspect I've gotten more and more ambivalent about making new friends. I'm irritated by how-do-you-do chit-chat, but that's how new relationships usually begin.

Some caregivers want to reciprocate the care they themselves received as children.

When we strike a balance between the challenge of an activity and our skill at performing it, when the rhythm of the work itself feels in sync with our pulse, when we know that what we're doing matters, we can get totally absorbed in our task. That is happiness.

One thing that blocks flow is self-consciousness.

I don't know if my mother was a narcissist - or bi-polar or borderline. Those were words she tossed around over the years.