In just seven days I will be competing for a coveted prize. Like many challenges worth setting one’s mind to, the actual winnings are not as valuable as the prestige of triumph. The competition will be fierce and although to a certain extent the outcome will be out of my control (I have my suspicions that it may be rigged), I will compete wholeheartedly in hopes I am victorious.   To win, one must be the recipient of a whole almond in one’s Christmas rice pudding. One must consume one’s pudding in its entirety without chewing too vigorously or one... Read full article »

I had the great pleasure of spending last weekend with a group of people who had just been through an amazing transformative experience.   All week they had been eating amazingly healthy food, exercising, meditating and practicing mindful activities like Tai Chi and Yoga. They had no alcohol, caffeine or chocolate, which some of you might think sounds like torture, but these people all had the healthy-shiny-glowy look of well people.   They’d been through a program at The Golden Door health retreat and it culminated with a screening of my film The Connection, followed by a Q and A... Read full article »

There is one sentence in the English language guaranteed to trigger a stress response in my body and a friend said it to me the other day.  ‘There are just four weeks until Christmas.’  I instantly felt panic rising in my body with thoughts like ‘I haven’t bought any presents,’ ‘There goes my diet,’ and ‘Here come the late nights.’   To me, the modern version of the ‘Silly Season’ seems completely out of whack with the origins of many of the traditions that we celebrate. In the US, it starts with Thanksgiving and then the rest of the world... Read full article »