Hello and welcome to Conscious Friends, a community of The Conscious Living Foundation!

As you know, our site was created to support those interested in spiritual and personal growth. Along the way, many of us have realized that relationships are an important part of creating and maintaining a harmonious and uplifting life.

To that end, The Conscious Living Foundation is pleased to offer these pages on our site in the hope that we all can find new like-minded friends and perhaps develop deeper relationships.

There are several ways to visit these pages.  As a...more

Recipe for Simplicity
May 6, 2008

"Simplify, Simplify…" More than a century after Henry David Thoreau uttered these words, his plea for simplicity has more significance now than ever before.

We work hard and play hard, filling nearly every moment with activity. Most families believe they need two incomes to pay for a standard of living that has doubled in the last 50 years. But do we?

Based on my three-year study of over 200 people who have simplified their lives, I found that we can work less, want less, and spend less, and be happier and more fulfilled in the process.

Here are ten...more

Spiritual Diversity
April 29, 2008

To our pre-Christian spiritual ancestors, spirituality was both contemporary and relevant. In cultures where polytheism (the belief in many gods) was the rule, rather than the exception, individuals were given the ability to find their own beliefs and to choose their own spiritual paths based upon their personal needs and the calling of their own hearts. Households had specific deities that represented the prosperity and protection that the family hoped for their home. Agricultural festivals had gods that watched over the planting, the growing crops, and the harvest. This diverse pantheon of deities created a culture where a person would draw closest to the god...more

How to Argue...and Actually Improve Your Health
April 19, 2008

Is being nice bad for your health?

A recent study in the July report of Psychosomatic Medicine found that married women who bottled up their feelings after an argument were four times as likely to experience declining health as women who expressed their feelings openly.

This reluctance to express emotions and communicate openly is referred to as "self-silencing," and it has a devastating effect on our physical and emotional health. In fact, self-silencing has been linked to depression, eating disorders, and heart disease.

Despite these negative side effects, many couples still refrain...more

Spirituality Can Soothe Body and Soul
April 13, 2008

To stay healthy, you probably know that you need to eat right, get plenty of exercise and rest, and avoid bad habits such as smoking.

But, it might surprise you to learn that what you believe in can have a big impact on your health and longevity.

"There have been a lot of studies, and more are coming out all of the time, that show how patients with strong spirituality can improve their health from a variety of chronic conditions, like hypertension, heart disease, recovery from surgery and more," said Dr. Michael Torosian, a surgical oncologist at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, and...more

Get Physical and Get Happy
April 10, 2008

Scrubbing the tub and other forms of housework may clean your house and boost your mood.

In fact, as little as 20 minutes of any kind of physical activity a week helped mental health, although the more vigorous the activity, the greater the benefit, said the authors of a study published online Thursday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

"There's such a pervasive feeling in this country that, if there's a problem, there's always a pill to fix it," said Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of Women...more