Dear Meli, I am writing to you about my sister. She has been having a hard time for years now, but lately it’s gotten worse. Her husband left her a year ago, one of her children is battling alcoholism, and she recently got laid off from work. The worst part of...
We’re all run by formulas, whether we like to admit it or not. Given my hard-core nerd status, I actually like admitting it. Formulas that dictate my life and my interactions with others?! Yeah! Bring ’em on! In my early years, my relationships were run by...
Dear Meli, I have been in recovery from drug and alcohol use for five years. I have been going to Twelve Step programs for most of that time. Recently, though, I have been having trouble with meetings. It seems that everyone is so focused on their identity as an...
Dear Meli, I recently found out that the wife of a dear friend of mine is having an affair. If you’re wondering what this has to do with spirituality, that’s my question. She is supposedly a “spiritual” person. And yet her behavior seems so out...
Dear Meli, Being spiritual has a lot of “shoulds” that come with it. Take this one, for example: “Spiritual people SHOULD be able to get along with everyone.” But what about difficult people? What about people from your past? In my case,...
Prejudice is everywhere. We see it in the news. We see it in our families. Some of us are more aware of prejudice than others. People of color. Differently-abled people. When we think of the power of prejudice, we tend to think of its destructive power. Let’s...
