Neurons grow and new connections are formed in response to fresh stimulation — Although for many years, popular opinion was that our brains lose vast numbers of neurons as we age, research in the 21st Century has shown that brains, no matter the age, respond to enriched environments. …

And an appreciation for the little joys of life — At age 16, I became enamored with the loving group of hippies that was The Children of God. They welcomed me into their community and made me feel a part of something bigger than myself. I believed I had found my life’s vocation of serving God. As the years passed…

I hurt those I love and wasted years. What next? — In my youth, I naïvely joined what looked to be an innocent Christian group, the Children of God. It soon devolved into one of the more notorious cults to come out of the 1970s. It took 31 long years for me to break free. Leaving the Children of God came…

Socrates and Gandhi have given us wise advice — 1. The unexamined life is not worth living. — Socrates If you have read any of my writing, you know that I spent 31 years in the notorious Children of God cult. After leaving in 2004, I felt a deep compulsion to understand why I had joined that group and why I had stayed for so many years. I had…

“If you want to master something, teach it.” — Sandra Jasionowska wrote a lovely introduction using this format, and I wanted to give it a try. Why and how did you start writing? I enjoyed writing as a child, but during my 31 years in the Children of God cult, I had no opportunity — nor even the time — to do anything for myself. After…

Perspectives garnered through the years — Here are 12 pieces of advice, in no particular order, that I wish I had heard — and heeded — in my youth, garnered from many years of life, many mistakes made, and resultant lessons learned. 1. Life is hard, and it’s not fair. Don’t expect life to be fair, and don’t look with envy at others. Play…

Learn from my mistake — Consider your future self — Now that I am old, I have a very real sense of my own mortality. I want to seize the day and do the things I want before I die or no longer can, but decisions I made in my past hold me back. Granted, the decisions I made were…

The critical role of daydreaming — Swimming, sitting in a traffic jam, and standing in the shower have one thing in common. They are great places to daydream. For most of my life, though, I was taught that daydreaming was bad. I was to “bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” a Bible…

Rewiring my brain to be more kind — Like many other children born of well-meaning Christian parents, I was raised to believe that man is inherently evil. Only God is good. I am a sinner. I saw no reason to question this. It made perfect sense. When I stopped to consider myself, I was pretty awful. I seemed…