Your Health | PulseonParenting

First Impressions: Are They Friends or Foes?

Oct 12 2023

First Impressions are lasting impressions. No one can argue the truth in that. A first impression can trigger a lifelong friendship, a loving relationship, or a new pastime. A first impression can also trigger anger, mistrust and self-doubt. It can also result in missed opportunities or near-misses. First impressions create friends and foes, so are they a good thing? First Impressions: Are They Friends or Foes? I remember when I first met… Let’s reflect for a few moments. What first impressions were spot-on? Which were not? Not all first impressions reflect accurately on a person’s true nature, or the reality…

Jun 22 2023

I hate being lied to, don’t you? I’ve told my kids more times than I can count that it angers me more when they lie than with whatever it is they are lying about. When they lie, it means I can’t trust them. And lack of trust hurts all of us. But telling the truth walks a tightrope: is it kind to be honest, or is it cruel? Is telling the truth always the best policy? The answer to both questions is, unsurprisingly, it depends. How to tell the whole truth…most of the time. The anatomy of truthful people. Truthful…

May 04 2023

We have been cultured to believe that drinking coffee is a bad habit. And that sipping tea is the healthy way to go…think how herbal tea is labeled: antiinflammatory, immune-boosting, calming. However, there is a large body of powerful research that supports imbibing in a different kind of brew. Coffee drinkers rejoice: java is now good for your health. A Guilty Habit? Many of us agree: coffee is delicious. And I like it strong and black, thick enough to stand a spoon in. A couple of mugs every morning, and I feel my day is off to a good start….

Be brave enough to suck at something new.

Mar 31 2023

What’s your passion? Let’s find your passion! I’m passionate about… Plenty of well-meaning people use the word passion to describe that “thing” that makes them come alive. But I hear passion and my stomach clenches like I’ve heard nails on a chalkboard. Passion was a trigger word frequently used in the multi-level marketing business (MLM) I was briefly an “independent contractor” for. The idea of finding their passion as a part of the MLM drew people in, enticing them with community, a white Mercedes and a fabulous high-heeled lifestyle. Passion manipulated people and kept them cogs in a money train…

Our labra-dork came to New Zealand with us.

Mar 21 2023

Store. Ship. Sell. Every item needed one of these three labels and handled accordingly. It was no small task. Hundreds of little choices cluttering the international moving process. Decisions about bowls and pillows and books were scattered amongst obtaining visas and work permits and airline tickets. Even so, there were plenty of items we couldn’t label store, ship or sell. There were the intangibles that elude decision and couldn’t be packed away in a box and saved for later. We all know the adage you can’t take it with you. But it turns out, you do take some things with…

Nov 17 2022

More and more women have children after the age of 30. In fact, the median age of women giving birth is…30. So I did the math: if more women are growing their families “later” in life (“quotes” because geez, 30 ain’t old…), perimenopause will likely collide with having children at home. As if perimenopause isn’t difficult enough, juggling it with parenting is extra challenging. Read on about perimenopause and parenting: how to cope now. First, a pivotal moment. I was sitting on an exam table wrapped in a voluminous hospital gown, a stiff white sheet covering my lap. My healthcare…

Feb 19 2021

“She’s nice.” “Niiiiicccce!” says my son, ogling the Rolls Royce parallel-parked outside a downtown Boston McDonald’s. (Yup, really….) Nice. (Sarcasm oozing, eyes rolling, when we witness someone else’s blunder.) That was a kind thing to do! Often we consider “nice” and “kind” to be interchangeable descriptors. But let’s try a quick experiment. Try replacing “kind” for “nice” in each of the first three statements above. “Kind” only works for the first, but not for the second or third. We would not describe an expensive car (or any other pricey, stylish object) as kind, or, at least in current vernacular, use…

“But I Just Know MY People are COVID-Free”: Human Nature Fails Us Yet Again

Oct 22 2020

Don’t shame me, if I want to rent a house and lay on the beach with twenty of my fabulous friends from across the country, that’s what I’m going to do. I thought about this for a moment. Shaming. I didn’t know about her latest vacay plans when I told her about my grandmother’s lonely suffering in a care facility after three surgeries and the death of her daughter, that my own child was at-risk for severe COVID symptoms, and that my husband sees people in hazmat suits every day he goes to work. I’ll give her that: providing a…

Oct 01 2020

Where did this year go? (Down the toilet, to the dogs….) Certainly there’s no taking a reminiscent tone when pondering 2020. But seriously, where did it go? Seems like just yesterday we were all closed up in our houses and venturing out to get the paper in our Sunday best. Wait…that actually was yesterday. Except now, we are on the threshold of cold and flu season. This fall, more than in any previous year, getting your and your (older than 6 months) kids the influenza vaccine is of tantamount importance. In this time of a global pandemic and also with…

Sep 24 2020

My 6-year-old cousin sits beside me on the couch, madly typing away on an old-fashioned calculator. She asks me, when the screen can’t handle any more digits, What’s this number? I answer: two million, five hundred sixty-four thousand, eight hundred twenty-three. Or something like that. I can only recall the two million for sure. She asks, Is that a big number? Yes, it is. And I pause, adding, I think that’s the number of photographs your mommy and I have looked at this week. She looks at me, not old enough to have a fully-developed number sense, or understand my…

Category - Your Health

First Impressions: Are They Friends or Foes?

How to Tell The Whole Truth …Most of the Time.

Coffee Drinkers Rejoice: Java is Now Good for Your Health

How to Know When You’ve Found Your “Thing.”

Turns Out, You Do Take Some Things With You. Now and Always.

Perimenopause and Parenting: How to Cope Now

The Kindness Series: No More Mr. Nice Guy, Be Kind Instead

“But I Just Know MY People are COVID-Free”: Human Nature Fails Us Yet Again

9 Undebatable Points: Get Your Influenza Vaccine Now

Respect Life: 9 Ways to Get it Right, Now