The column "Find Your Buried Treasure" appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on January 20, 2011. I think I’m on to something here, and I can’t wait to see where it will lead. I’m pretty sure it’s taking me toward better health and habits, and an even more productive beginning and peaceful close to each day. It started with the candle ritual I wrote about in my column last week. After receiving a scented candle as a Christmas gift, I began a tradition of beginning each workday by lighting the candle, making a cup of tea, and sitting at my kitchen table as I organized and prioritized everything I had to do that day...

The column "Find Your Buried Treasure" appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on October 7, 2010. I read an article in the StarTribune last week about foundations and corporations that have started to redirect more of their resources to one specific issue, rather than giving lesser amounts to a greater number of causes. This is good news, certainly, for the issues and conditions that are receiving greater attention and more resources. But it’s disastrous for those that will now be losing out on the funding they would otherwise have received...

The column “Find Your Buried Treasure” appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on September 30, 2010. A friend of ours is an avid outdoorsman. He hunts, hikes, and takes several trips each year in which he goes off – way off – into the woods, the wilderness, or to a secluded island. Sometimes others go with him, and sometimes he goes alone, occasionally spending a few weeks at a time in total solitude with no other human contact. He is always in awe of how powerful and rejuvenating it is to be alone and silent for long periods of time. He recently told me about a time when he once took a chair down to the water’s edge, brought a cooler with drinks and snacks, and spent the day there. Literally, the entire day...