Did you know that William Shakespeare wrote King Lear while in quarantine from the bubonic plague?

There’s more . . .

In 1606, when the bubonic plague returned to England, wreaking havoc on Londoners, Shakespeare completed three of his greatest tragedies: King Lear, Macbeth, and even Antony and Cleopatra.

Experts believe that Shakespeare completed Antony and Cleopatra in July of 1606 after the plague forced the closure of his venue, the Globe Theatre.

That was over 400 years ago. Admittedly, Shakespeare, didn’t have… Read More

In addition to dealing with a “new normal” way of life, many of us are facing another new normal – a “new normal summer body.”

The term coined for weight gained during the pandemic is: The Quarantine 15.

A popular post on social media reads:

“Due to coronavirus, my summer body will be delayed to 2021. Thank you for understanding.”

Making light of difficult situations can have its place in helping to reduce stress.

But . . .… Read More

Can we talk about the science of prayer for a sec?

In her book, Who Switched off My Brain? Controlling Toxic Thoughts and Emotions, Dr. Caroline Leaf writes:

“A growing body of scientific research confirms that prayer and actively developing your spiritual life increases frontal lobe activity, thickness, intelligence, and overall health.” (Page 115)

Think about that for a minute: Prayer and actively developing your spiritual life increases frontal lobe activity, thickness, intelligence, and overall health!

Prayer is a… Read More

Are you ready for a good laugh?

Here’s the FULL blooper reel from the recording of my online course. It’s pretty funny!

I experienced so many emotions during those hours, days, and weekends of recording. I felt excited, frustrated, playful, confused, relieved, happy . . . you’ll see!

Imagine if you could watch a recording of yourself during the past ten weeks! How many different emotions would you observe?

Thankfully, this pandemic won’t last forever. As Robert… Read More

Just when you were getting used to counting crickets . . .

Businesses are gradually reopening and stay-at-home directives are being eased. This reopening can come with certain challenges and stresses.

Rest assured, I’ll continue to send strategies to help you reduce worry and stress as we navigate through these next phases together.

Until then . . .

Let’s go back to what I said about “counting crickets.”

Does anyone ever get used to that?

I’m talking about boredom.

Boredom. Can.… Read More

One morning, I opened my emails and saw a message containing this subject line:

“You’ve probably heard this lots of times but your book really has saved my life! Thank you!”

Obviously, I was very curious. I opened that email first and here’s what I read:

“Hello Denise,

I recently discovered your book while trying to get my life back on track. I have just been through an extremely rough patch… Read More

In these challenging times it can be hard to manage our feelings and find the happiness in the every day. Jennifer Valentyne interviewed me on Global News this morning to find the positive in difficult situations.

How can we be happy during this time of uncertainty?

In talking about “finding happiness”, we need to expose the myth of happiness.

The Happiness Myth:

The myth is that we’re supposed to be happy all of the time; and, when we’re… Read More

If you’ve read Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, you’ll know it to be a book about survival. Frankl miraculously survived the network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps.

While there are numerous ideas in this book for changing a person’s life, the message that stands out for me today is that of hope.

Frankl describes how prisoners died less from lack of food or medicine, than from a lack of hope and a lack of something to live for.

He… Read More

David’s closing words ignited more peace and hope than I could have imagined!

There were just about five minutes left in my online interview with Mortgage Agent, David Imler. I was live streaming the show and David’s image froze. Since we had already covered the strategies I’d promised viewers by this point, I decided it would be a good time to end the episode.

Little did I know the best was yet to come . . .

This episode focused… Read More

In continuing this series of keeping calm in the pandemic, it’s important to talk about financial stress.

With unemployment levels at an all-time high and businesses being shut down, millions of people are struggling to figure out how they’ll manage financially.

There is hope!

This particular message includes a story to inspire you and strategies to help you.

First the story to inspire you . . .

Last week, I was interviewed on The Morning… Read More