Lately, news outlets have been saturated with the story of the three kidnapped girls from Cleveland. These girls were found nearly a decade after their disappearances, yet their joyous return is darkened by the horrors they endured all those years. The details of their bondage trickle in slowly: rapes, beatings, miscarriages and potential deaths of other women. The trauma these three women have endured has captivated a horrified public. People ask: what’s next? How does a woman recover from such a horrible experience? This high profile case is one example…

What are your goals? That is a big question with even bigger answers for most people. Some of our goals are short-term and can be reached with minimal effort, while others will take a great deal more effort and a considerably longer period of time to achieve. Whatever our goals, we should consider if they are attainable, or if they may require a bit of tweaking. When we set a goal, we should put a time limit to that goal. If we believe we have forever to complete a task,…

This beautiful salad makes a wonderful accompaniment to dinner in the garden. Serve it alongside tomato tarts and butter-roasted saffron chicken for a simple, rustic meal that celebrates the bounty of the approaching summer. Grilled Broccoli and Date Salad   Ingredients: 2 red onions, peeled and sliced Extra-virgin olive oil 75g (2.5 oz) flaked almonds 600g (1 1/3 pound) purple-sprouting broccoli Sea salt and black pepper 100g (3.5 oz) dates, cut into thin strips Dressing: 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed into a paste 4 tablespoons…

I come from a very talented family. Almost every member of my family plays a musical instrument or sings. This has brought so much fun into our lives. We have spent hours playing and singing. This was always a tradition during our camping trips. We would gather around the campfire and the ‘concert’ would begin. As children, we would tease my parents about the “oldies” they would sing. As time went by, and we all grew up and had families of our own, those ‘concerts’ were few and far between.…

Winston Churchill once said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” In today’s society, we are very success oriented. The problem can be how we define success. Some define success in terms of personal well-being, good health and healthy relationships. Others define success in terms of finances and material possessions. Regardless of the “yard stick” with which we measure success, Mr. Churchill’s quote can offer us a wise perspective. No matter how successful we are in any given area of our…

Have you ever wished you had made different choices in your life? We all wish that from time-to-time. Sometimes we wish we had chosen a different career, different mate, or chose to travel rather than settle down in one place. There is nothing wrong with re-evaluating our choices. Sometimes it is the catalyst to moving toward those things we are passionate about. If however, this re-evaluation process causes us to become dissatisfied, depressed or anxious we need to rethink our goal. Are we re-evaluating for the purpose of moving in…