“If you so choose, the challenges can make you stronger. If you so choose, the disappointments can make you more determined. If you so choose, every mistake can lead to greater understanding and effectiveness. If you so choose, every frustration can help you to be more patient and more persistent. If you so choose, even…

I just stumbled upon this fantastic download from one of my new favorite blogs, Kind Over Matter.  It’s an easy, yummy way to make someone’s day.  Just print it out, get some Tootsie (or other lolly) pops, slip them through, and leave them on a co-worker’s desk, a husband’s briefcase, a school bus driver’s seat,…

Oh, Meryl. Swoon. Sigh. Smart, funny, alive, shockingly talented, and inspiringly joyful. Here’s the funny, playful, insightful speech she gave last week at Barnard College on happiness, success, fame, pretending, and becoming authentic. It’s a little all over the place, but it’s 28 minutes of Meryl. ‘Nuff said. One of my favorite parts: “I know I was…

Oh how I love this viral video of Jessica–a girl who’s now 12 and seems pretty grounded and cool in this video interview. They didn’t ask her if she’s still doing these or if affirmations were a regular thing in her life or if it/they gave her an overall positive outlook (so curious!). But I’m pretty…

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about

Valerie Reiss

Valerie Reiss is Holistic Living Editor at Beliefnet. She was a founding editor at Breathe magazine, and her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Women's Health, Natural Health, Yoga Journal, Lime.com, Vegetarian Times, and ABCNEWS.com. A native New Yorker, Valerie holds an M.S. from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a B.A. from Beloit College in Creative Writing with a minor in Women's Studies. She also lived in Maui for a while where she drank green papaya juice and taught some creative writing. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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