10 Ways To Get 'Unstuck'

Can't work your way out of a problem? Here are some fresh ways to find new perspective.

We’ve all experienced times where we feel stuck. We struggle to find a new way to approach a problem. It could be about money, relationships, career, family or even our schedule. In situations like this, we need an infusion of fresh energy around the issue as well as a new way of thinking. There is no way out of approaching a problem from the same perspective unless something shifts. Einstein said that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” So, how do we find this new way of thinking? 1. Exercise. When we feel stuck, we need to refresh our brain and move the stuck energy of feeling defeated through the body. The best way to do that is to move. Walk, run, practice yoga, hike…

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When Kids Don’t React to Tragedy

After Boston comes face to face with terrorism, mental health professionals say not to worry if your children aren’t as concerned as you are.

Never was Boston so grateful for a Monday: Back to work, back to school, back to routines, after a five-day ordeal shook the city and the world watched.  Gone are most of the satellite trucks, the clusters of reporters and cameramen, the strands of law enforcement officers for every street on our normal path. By Wednesday, barricades and memorials for the victims of the April 15 bombings, bookending Boylston St., were moved and the street reopened. One week ago, my innocent concern was for the magnolias on Commonwealth Avenue, and whether they’d be at their showy peak when 23,000 marathoners rose up out of the underpass to greet the last six-tenths of their 26.2-mile race. Last year, the trees bloomed pink and white in March, and Patriots …

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Seven ways to Bring Yoga into Your Relationships

Practicing yoga is great but how can we bring the lessons of yoga off the mat into our relationships to strengthen them too?

Yoga as a practice is a way to strengthen, stretch, balance and relax in our bodies. But there are many benefits of a yoga practice that can apply off the mat as well. One of the areas where yoga can be helpful is in relationships. Not just the romantic kind, but all relationships: those we have at work, with friends, with family and of course, with our romantic partners. What are some of these lessons and how do you relate each to yoga? Build a strong foundation. Every yoga pose starts with the foundation. If the foundation is unsteady, the whole pose falls apart. “Foundation” also refers to what is at the floor, so it speaks to things like “feet” in standing postures and the chest, or the shoulders, perhaps, in a pose on the floor.   In …

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Through a Teacher's Eyes

In a tribute to everyday kids and teachers, Amika Kemmler-Ernst takes her camera into Boston's classrooms to make images of kids hard at work.

“A student has to be a valedictorian – or bring a gun to school – in order to be considered newsworthy,” says Amika Kemmler-Ernst.   An educator for more than 40 years, she’s talking about our tendency to focus on either the great or the horrible, while paying less attention to everything in between. A teacher of children and a mentor to teachers, Dr. Kemmler-Ernst is now officially retired. But in an ongoing visual ethnography project, she’s been visiting Boston Public Schools (BPS) and taking pictures of normal kids in action, learning at school. It’s a passion she’s indulged in throughout a career teaching in Brookline, Boston, around Africa, and in Italy.  Shelved at her Jamaica Plain home, bulging albums hold photos of kids at work, …

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How Would You Rate Brookline's Plowing During the Winter of 2013 So Far?

Are you satisfied or frustrated with how the town handled the area’s 5th largest snowstorm in history? Let us know by posting a comment below.

Now that the snow has fallen, and started to melt, it’s your time to rate how the town’s plows handled the more than two feet of snow that fell last weekend in the Blizzard of 2013 and then the storm this past weekend. The DPW Commissioner gave a report to the Board of Selectmen, saying that the Blizzard of 2013 cleanup took 30 hours.  Feel free to give praise or thanks, express frustrations or offer up constructive criticism in the comments below, and keep in mind, the blizzard was the 5th largest snowstorm in New England history.

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What Do You Think About Gov. Patrick’s Travel Ban?

Do you agree with the governor's decision or was it too drastic?

All non-emergency drivers were ordered off the roads on Friday when Gov. Deval Patrick issued an executive order banning travel during the blizzard. (Editor's note: The ban is lifted statewide as of 4 p.m. Saturday.) Patrick's executive order is being praised by some and bashed by others, reported The Boston Globe. While former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, who was in charge of the commonwealth during the Blizzard of ’78, praised the governor’s move, others called the order “tyrannical” and say the strict ban and hefty fines were too much, according to The Globe. Those caught violating the ban would face up to a year in jail and a $500 fine. What do you think? Do you agree with the governor’s decision or do you think the travel ban …

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Did T Problems Leave You in the Cold This Morning?

Share your comments on Wednesday's snarly commute.

On the coldest morning of the season so far, hundreds of Boston commuters were forced to wait outside for bus shuttles after two separate issues closed down portions of both the Green and Red MBTA lines. Service had resumed by 11 a.m. on Wednesday, soon enough for the afternoon commuters, but not soon enough for those traveling in the morning.  So Patch wants to know: Were you left out in the cold this morning? How did the breakdowns affect your morning commute? What did you see, what was the mood (we can guess) and what alternate plans did you take? What do you think the MBTA should have done differently? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below. 

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The Brookline Parent

The Mommy Blogging Question

Privacy in the Age of the Internet

When Nomi and I were first approached by Brookline Patch to write a parenting column, it seemed to us an obvious fit. We were new parents, surrounded by many other new parents in town, and we fell into a few demographics that were either already well represented in our world or growing. Our experiences as parents could help illuminate this part of our culture and maybe serve as helpful advice to others, and so we eagerly became members of the Patch team. The one issue that concerned us, though, was privacy. When Nomi was pregnant, we had made a point of not talking about her pregnancy on our blogs, and it worked. Once our kids were born, friends of ours who didn’t see us regularly were actually surprised to discover that Nomi had been …

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The Brookline Parent

My, How We've Grown

A Look Back at 2012

As we sit here in the first days of 2013, we can't help but think about where we were at the beginning of 2012 and what has happened in the past year. Last year at this time, Muffin and Squeaker were not quite two-and-a-half years old. They were going to a playgroup in Brighton, and they were learning how to socialize with kids other than each other. It wasn't the easiest thing for them to learn; while most kids their age have just started to learn about collaborative play, Muffin and Squeaker had learned about playing together at an early age. The issue was convincing them that they could play with kids outside the family. Play dates early last year often consisted of Muffin and Squeaker playing together and ignoring the third child who …

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