Dear Readers,
Please come in! Look around! This is YOUR place for information and inspiration that we hope will help you achieve your healthiest self. Here you will be nudged to care for yourself - yes, it's OK! We know your life is full - we want you to be full of life!

Friends add to the fullness of our lives and are an investment in our well being.

Maintaining those friendships takes time and effort - something we all run out of every now and then. Here are some thoughts on the subject. You might want to share them with a friend!

Four of my girlfriends and I have what we call “a birthday lunch” whenever one of us is celebrating a birthday. The birthday girl decides where she wants to have her special lunch, and we all gather for fun and friendship. We bring the silliest birthday cards we can find and laugh out loud as we pass them around the table after each card is opened. It is almost ceremonial!

When I am not working full-time, scheduling the “birthday lunch” with my friends is well, a piece of cake! Trying to fit it in when I am working takes more effort and truthfully, causes me a little stress. I recently had some conflicts with the next scheduled birthday celebration and told my friends reluctantly, “I would try to make it.”

And then I remembered the question posed by Dr. Wayne Muller in his inspirational book, How, Then, Shall We Live?, Four Simple Questions that Reveal the Beauty and Meaning of Our Lives: name what you love and then ask yourself, is this where I give my hearts time and attention? The light that came on was as bright as candles on a birthday cake! I remembered I love my friends! I love seeing their faces and I love the connectedness I feel when I am close to them. Barring an emergency, why would I want to deprive myself of experiencing those wonderful blessings?? The answer was simple. I wouldn't!

According to a recent article in The New York Times, researchers are beginning to realize the importance of friendship and social networks in overall health. A study of nearly 3000 nurses with breast cancer showed that women without close friends were four times as likely to die from the disease as women with 10 or more friends. Good friends can boost our immune systems, help us relax and remind us of what really matters.

For most of us, our days are busy. But the truth is that friendships need nurturing if they are to flourish and endure.

Do you have a friendship in mind that could use a little “watering?” There is no time like the present, they say. And isn't that what are friends are...presents...a gift we give to ourselves?

I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar, but I cherish the friend who for me does not consult his calendar. -Robert Brault.