According to Pat Devine, superintendent of Waconia Public Schools, “My sister was the kindest person you could ever meet. She had a way of becoming your ‘new best friend’ within minutes of meeting her.”

​Pat Devine’s younger sister by just a couple years, Ann Devine, had Down Syndrome and passed away 9-years ago at the age of 46. “Everyone she met just loved her,” Pat Devine shared.

Have you ever known anyone who is so negative it’s hard to be around them?  Do you ever find yourself in a rut of negative thinking and heaviness?
About twelve years ago, my husband Mark and I were on our honeymoon on the island of Maui in Hawaii.  We were so excited to start this time in our lives as a newly married couple and on our second night there, we went to a luau.  Neither of us had ever been and we looked forward to the dancing, eating Hawaiian food and spending a warm night by the ocean.

​Volunteering not only provides services for the community you're volunteering in, but has direct benefits for the individual volunteer. The best-kept secret about volunteering is that it's good for you.

I’m writing this piece about meditation not as a well versed, practicing for years, can float-in-the-air guru. I’m writing this as a wannabe. Because, come on, all the cool kids are doing it.
For me meditation is like exercise. The idea of doing it is fantastic, the benefits of it are endless, it’s easy to do, and once I’ve done it for a week I feel my life changing. And then I get lazy and fall off the wagon.

​The shortest answer to this question would be to ask your child, “Do you feel like you have more happy days than sad or more sad days than happy?”
The longer version begins by asking yourself that very same question. As adults, we need to be able to identify and articulate our own emotions in order to help our children. Think back to when you were young and how your family acknowledged or did not acknowledge emotional pain- anxiety, sadness, despair or grief.