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Photographer Juliet Jarmosco, Career Mom of Six, Finds Dream Job and Inner Peace

A few years ago, Juliet Biros Jarmosco was a corporate working mom in her 30s living a fast-paced life.

“It all looked perfect from the outside, like my husband, Darryl, and I were living the American Dream,” she says. At that time the Jarmoscos had four beautiful children under the age of seven (now they have six), were spending time in Hawaii, and lived in a 4000-square-foot house on an acre of land a mile from Lake Michigan.

It’s a Win-Win: Top Achievers on Not Conceding Life

There doesn’t have to be a trade-off between performance and actually tapping into a place of peace, strength and wisdom within. – Arianna Huffington. Everyone is so exhausted these days. And yet many women I

College 101: Major in Yourself

With schools opening across the US this month, parents and kids are scrambling to get ready with the right books, clothes and skills. If you’re preparing for your first year in college, the planning part

Lola Kirke, Katy Perry, Lena Dunham Talk Meditation

Lola Kirke is a rising star. She’s best known for her leading role in the popular Amazon original series Mozart in the Jungle and her acclaimed performance in Gone Girl. I asked Lola recently what personal benefits she has experienced since learning how to do Transcendental Meditation through the TM organization for women. She wrote:

In the two plus years that I have been practicing TM, both my inner and outer life has changed radically. TM helps me take care of myself: it helps me feel centered and be in touch with myself and my feelings in a world that sometimes seems to insist that we feel otherwise. Ultimately the practice has helped me to feel at home even when I am far away from my home and that is a true gift. I am tremendously grateful for the practice and would recommend it to anyone.

Discovering Greatness: The Luster of Integrity

“Being great has to mean being true to yourself. Real integrity comes with living this truthfulness in everyday life….” ~ Dr. Melanie Brown, educator and author of Attaining Personal Greatness, One Book for Life1

A friend of mine, Ellen, told me about a formative experience she had in the fourth grade. She was one of a group of friends who played a ball game called four square during school recess. This was the so-called popular kids group, and whenever other children would ask if they could join in, they were invariably told no. Each time this happened Ellen felt bad, but she only meekly tried to get her friends to include them. Finally one day, seeing a shy boy’s crumpled look of disappointment, she couldn’t stand it anymore. Ellen insisted that he be allowed to join the game. “No way!” was the response from all the others.

How to Create an Empowering Work Environment

A leader’s job is to create an empowering environment where the best ideas can surface. – Maria Contreras-Sweet, Administrator of the Small Business Administration, member of President Obama’s cabinet, champion of women-owned and family-owned businesses

To Live a Creative Life

If you Google the words “creative life,” you will come face to face with a quote which— even though it has become a popular meme (infographic that has gone viral)—is still startling in its message: “To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.”

Although he’s rarely given credit, these words were written by contemporary author Joseph Chilton Pearce, whose fan page you can “like” on Facebook. Pearce is the author of groundbreaking parenting books such as The Crack in the Cosmic Egg and The Magical Child, which I might write about in the future, but here I want to talk about his statement about creativity.

On Beauty

I must admit that it’s a pleasure to hear someone say that I look beautiful—despite my conviction that it’s purely a subjective judgement. But it’s a fragile compliment when it pertains to my features alone,

Nurses Need Nourishing Too

I just learned a new term: “compassion fatigue.” This is what nurses, professional caregivers and first responders experience when they’re too tired, too sad and too stressed to feel normal compassion for their patients. It’s also known as secondary traumatic stress (STS) and is characterized by a gradual lessening of compassion over time.

Having watched many nurses in action during my parents’ multiple short hospital stays for stroke and pneumonia, I’ve been amazed at the quality of care and comfort that most hospital staff give every day, 24/7.

Awakening to Me

In 2011, I woke up and realized everything I thought I knew was wrong.

For as long as I can remember, I have been running. Waking up in the morning and running to the gym. Running to the hospital to support my mother, who battled cancer for 13 years. Running to my job, managing an extremely busy Chicago restaurant/bar. Running from boyfriend to boyfriend. Running from one social event to another. Running to deal with the pressures modern women face to be perfect, to get the job done right, to be a caretaker, to look good—let’s face it: to be Wonder Woman.