9 Secrets to Thriving arrived at the right moment in this year of adversity

  From the St. Paul Pioneer Press Opinion page,  September 20, 2020 Why do some people survive, and others thrive when faced with adversity? That question plagued Emma Bell during her childhood as she noted how she and her two siblings responded differently to the same challenging circumstances. It followed her into her career as…

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Navigating our troubled times

From the St. Paul Pioneer Press Opinion page, June 7, 2020 Protestors with masks on freeways, a fuel truck bearing down, horn blaring. It’s one of many powerful images reflecting the surreal state of affairs in 2020. For months we’ve been told to quarantine, furlough employees, avoid family, friends, churches and gyms, all to protect…

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Reflecting and regrouping during the pandemic

From the St. Paul Pioneer Press Opinion page, May 24, 2020 Way back in January, I decided this was going to be my best year ever. Resolving to be more deliberate about how and with whom I spent my time and resources, I set goals and made a plan. Then the coronavirus arrived like a…

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How Taking a Chance Transformed Me from Survivor to Thriver

From the St. Paul Pioneer Press Opinion Page, Nov. 28, 2019 It’s here. The time of year when we pray, plan, and prepare for what we hope will be a period of joyful celebration. That dream has not always been reality for me. But I have a good feeling about this holiday season. Next month…

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Optimism? It’s Worth the Stretch

From the St. Paul Pioneer Press Opinion Page, Sept. 29, 2019 Is it possible to become an optimist if it isn’t within one’s nature to be so? I’d like to think it is, for though I don’t have both feet in the optimist camp, I wish I did. How does one become more optimistic? In…

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Finding a Way Through Alzheimer’s

As seen in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on March 10, 2019. It’s been a painful slide into the sunset for Patty Sagert and her family as the man who was a successful entrepreneur and family patriarch has slowly left them, another victim of Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, a group…

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Change is difficult. And inevitable. And involves choices.

  This column originally appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on February 24, 2019. Bad news comes on many fronts — a cancer diagnosis, a death, or loss of a job. While we often can’t control the circumstances, we can control our response. Which means life can deliver us to a crossroads with a challenge…

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Enduring Lessons in Resiliency and Empowerment

This piece originally appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on January 20, 2019. Have you discovered your life’s purpose? Gloria Perez found hers early in life. Perez spent 10 years in a two-parent family committed to faith, education, and the community. Then her father died of cancer. As a young girl, she witnessed the struggles of…

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We can be better. If we choose.

This piece originally appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on November 1, 2018. As I was born to a Jewish mother and Catholic father, it feels poetic that a Catholic priest shared a Jewish man’s life-changing wisdom with me nearly a decade ago. I was in a dark place, trying to make sense of…

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