Craig Ruvere

Mary Nhin is the author of a new children’s book series called Ninja Life Hacks. In it, she teaches children valuable life skills about anger, positivity, kindness, perfection and anxiety to name but a few. Although they were written for young girls and boys ages 3-11, I can assure you their lessons are just as valuable for adults. As was the case during a recent reading of Compassionate Ninja. My 8-year-old nephew received the entire Ninja Life Hacks series as a Christmas present this year and has been eagerly devouring each book and its messages. When visiting my wife and I, my nephew often brings a stack of books with him for us to read out loud together. It’s so inspiring to watch him develop his reading skills, getting better…

As we usher in another calendar year, many of us will resolve to change the current trajectory of our lives. From health and wellness, to prioritizing our to-do-lists (both personally and professionally). I’m not exempt in such attempts, though I’ve repeatedly resolved to do the same thing year after year and somehow always manage to fail. My resolution? To set low expectations. Douglas Adams, an English author and screenwriter, one remarked that, “A life that is burdened with expectations is a heavy life. Its fruit is sorrow and disappointment.” I can attest to the accuracy of that statement as I’ve spent much of my life setting high expectations for relationships, situations and occasions, which oftentimes resulted in nothing more than loneliness, and as Adams stated above, disappointment. For instance, how…