I've been thinking about disowning some of my genes lately. I have a few healthy, happy, long-living optimists in my family tree - most of them fans of Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy, a major champion of positive thinking. But I've got plenty of ancestors who played out more tortured hands.

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

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.

Looking for the perfect day is not going to make us happy, because that day isn't going to come.

Everything is freedom and everything is loneliness. Make your choice and let the rest fall away.

In our cultural history, all emotions have been more culturally acceptable to women.

In my experience, staying in a marriage that my ex and I both agreed had all its best moments behind it was epically depressing.