Growth rarely arrives in one triumphant leap. More often, it sneaks in one book at a time — a paragraph that rearranges how you see a familiar street, a sentence that turns a tree into a small miracle you'd been walking past for years. These five books did that for me this year. Consider this less a syllabus and more an invitation: pick one, sit somewhere comfortable, and let it quietly rearrange something. How the Word Is Passed — Clint Smith history, memory, and the stories

Dementia risk is lower in people who are more optimistic, a large new study has found. Harvard researchers followed more than 9,000 older adults for up to 14 years and found that higher levels of optimism were associated with about a 15% reduction in the risk of developing dementia.

By Gayle Scroggs, PhD, PCC People can care about you, and still not really know you. And when that happens, you don’t feel loved. You may be partnered, friended, texted, relied upon, admired, included—and still move through each day without ever quite feeling deeply known or emotionally held. Over time, you may stop expecting to feel deeply loved at all. That is the heartache that How to Feel Loved takes seriously, a new book with a surprising take on a perennial theme. Th

© 2026 By Gayle Scroggs, PhD, PCC Many writers assume that when progress slows, something must be wrong with them. They tell themselves things like: Maybe I just don’t have the talent for this. Perhaps I’m not really cut out to be a writer. Why can’t I seem to stay motivated? If only I had more discipline . Most people call this writer’s block . But that label hides the real problem: friction in the writing process. When the Wheels Lose Traction Think about drivin