[embedded content] In this video, I share the seven spiritual fitness tools for living a purposeful life. Spiritual fitness is comprised of seven easy-to-apply daily practices that help one develop discipline, commitment, and devotion within little as 45 minutes throughout each day. The benefits of spiritual fitness are to slow down, look within, achieve mental, and emotional balance, and develop a deeper connection within oneself. Spiritual Fitness is the ultimate body, mind, and spirit workout. Many blessings on the journey. Live Brave, Chris

Unappreciated stepparent after 30 years. Do I cross boundaries? Why do grown kids not accept personal responsibility, but blame me? –Unloved and Unwanted; Boca Raton, FL The first thing I do with this column each week is edit the chosen question to ensure it’s easy to read. I didn’t do that this week. The question above is the question that was submitted in its original form. What does it mean? What is this person asking? I’m not exactly sure. But as I tried to make sense of the 20 words they sent in, I couldn’t escape the magnitude of two of them: Personal responsibility. Personal responsibility seems to be a…

Michael J. Armstrong, Brock University The Conversation Editor’s note: The Conversation Canada asked our academic authors to share some recommended reading. In this installment, Michael Armstrong, an operations research professor at Brock University who has written for The Conversation Canada on topics as diverse as student success rates in school to the mathematics of Civil War battle, shares the top three books that he recommends for guidance on making the most of your career at any age. Here are three books that I often recommend to my students and friends. All are practical guides that have stood the test of time. The first will help you start your career, the…

“Hey Ryan, you know that suffering is optional, right?” I’m safe in saying that I had the most experience on my team with a coach before I joined Accomplishment Coaching last year. I hired my coach while I was in process of writing Written in the Stone. My original coach Michelle said those words I started with at perhaps the lowest point in my life. I was swimming upstream in a current of hell. I was a month removed from losing my dad – my best friend. My well-being was a hot mess. I hadn’t slept well in several months. My hope was fading away. And I was * this…

“Why don’t you go to law school?” my girlfriend’s mom asked. “My parents would like that,” I said. “I want to write movies.” “Why don’t you go to law school and write on the side?” “Mom,” Sam said. “It was a suggestion.” “Mom, how’s your gnocchi?” Sam thought she did me a favor by changing the subject that day. I wouldn’t apologize for my dreams. So what if I wasn’t going to law school? A future, creating fiction made my chest swell with secret swagger. While my peers pedaled through pre-professional career tracks, I focused on a saga so epic it would blow the hinges off Hollywood. Based on a…

Mr. Engber, my high school chemistry teacher, asked me to meet him after school, on the last day of class. His rule was: if you miss 3 homework assignments for the year, you automatically fail. I’d missed 180, as I hadn’t done a single one. “You know,” he said “I can’t pass you. “Robert” I replied, “you know you can’t FAIL me.” “Did…did you just call me Robert?” he asked incredulously. “Bobby. Whatever,” I said. “I know you can’t give me the 95 I deserve. Of 400 students, I’ve got the second highest test average in the grade.” “You didn’t meet the curriculum criteria,” he correctly said. “Bobby,” I asked…

As many of you know, I was a psychotherapist for seven years before changing my practice to one of coaching. Naturally, lots of people ask me what the difference is between COACHING and THERAPY. My landlords, who are Scandinavian, didn’t get the concept of Life Coaching (they’re in their 70s) and wondered if I’m teaching people how to brush their teeth or make their beds. To be clear, I’m not. Here’s a little debrief: I started working with my first coach in 2012, while I was still a therapist. I had considered the idea for a while, but hadn’t actually hired anyone for fear that the investment might be a…

Several years ago, I sat in the back row of the Bernard Jacobs Theatre taking in the Broadway-hit, Frost Nixon. The entire auditorium sat in silence, gripped during the play’s most compelling monologue. Just as the speech ended, I heard an elderly woman in front of me whisper, “Beautiful,” under her breath. I want to make people feel that way, I thought — so moved by a piece of expression they literally can’t keep it to themselves. I followed the blueprint for someone hoping to tell stories for a living. I moved to New York, went to a fancy drama school, and in no time was auditioning for big television,…

— There is a distinct lack of praise and appreciation in our intimate relationships. My female clients frequently tell me things like: “I just want to know that he still finds me attractive.” “Sometimes I can’t even tell if he still wants to be with me.” “A lot of the time during sex he feels really distant. I don’t know if he’s thinking about someone else or just doesn’t want to look at me as much anymore.” Your partner deserves to know how much they affect you. And they want to know that you find them attractive. Here’s how to make a woman feel beautiful and show her how much you love her. 1.…