Blog Posts by Intent.com

Stinky, sweet smelling air fresheners, cologne, body sprays, and scented shampoo are made with synthetic fragrances, and they're bad for your health…especially children and pregnant women. These factory-made fragrances contain phthalates, which are chemicals that can cause hormonal abnormalities, birth defects and reproductive problems.

I tell my clients not to buy artificially scented products for their home or office because they can also trigger migraine headaches, allergies and asthma attacks. A recent Institute of Medicine study sponsored by the EPA put fragrances in the same category as second hand smoke as a trigger for asthma in school-age children. Also, in homes where aerosol sprays and air fresheners were used frequently, studies found that mothers experienced 25% more headaches, and infants younger than 6 months old had 30% more ear infections.

Scented disinfectants and air fresheners are showing up everywhere! I now call ahead and request no air fresheners in

If you have slackened off your New Year's Resolutions, luckily you get a big boost: March begins the Motivational New Year and you are likely to succeed now. The timing is right because the angle of light and the subtle cues of spring are in the air. There is no seasonal affective disorder to contend with. I look outside my office window and no longer see the Tundra in my Long Island backyard. The grass isn't green, but at least it's visible. Nature's rhythm is energizing and I can feel the difference in the way my dog walks me.

Tap into this vibrant energy and transfer it to your living space. Clean out the clutter; dust the cobwebs; open the windows and rejuvenate your living space. Think of your home as a barometer of personal balance, reflecting the state of your mind and heart. Is your living space a place where you feel stuck with stale energy? Dress your home for emotional success and you will be able to eliminate excuses, complaints and regrets.

Here are 3 questions I

Can one be too happy? Too positive? Too grateful? Too forgiving?

Psychological scientists seldom ask such questions, let alone investigate them empirically. One exception, however, is Shige Oishi and his colleagues Ed Diener and Rich Lucas. These three researchers set out to establish the optimal level of happiness in various domains of life. What they found was intriguing. When it came to social life and social activities - for example, the likelihood that one is in a stable intimate relationship, has a good number of close friends, or does a lot of volunteering - the happier, the better. Those who scored a "10" on a 10-point happiness scale were the ones who reported the most success when it came to their social and romantic lives. However, when it came to how much money people made, how well they did in school, or how politically active they were, it was the moderately happy group (i.e., those who scored approximately an "8") who were the most successful.

So the optimal level

"My intent is to commit to high-quality sleep every night."

When you don't sleep well at night, it compromises your wellbeing for the rest of the day. Not only do you have less physical energy, you are less mentally alert, less receptive to the people in your life and more likely to get in a bad mood.

Do yourself a big favor today and for the rest of your life by renewing your commitment to a good night's sleep.

Here are a few basic tips to get you started:

- Establish a regular sleep schedule. Do your best to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends.

- Exercise regularly.

- Keep your bedroom dark as possible. Or wear a sleep mask.

- Have a relaxing evening ritual that is not too stimulating. Yes, that means no internet. Write in your journal. Meditate. Put together puzzle pieces. De-clutter your bedroom. Speaking of which...

- Make your bedroom a relaxing sanctuary only for sleep. No studying or working in bed. Keep your

A few days ago, while flying back to LA from New Delhi, I sat in the airport lounge at the Dubai airport. On the television in front of us footage of protesters being shoved by authorities in Libya played. Just 8 days before, while flying from LA to Delhi, the same television showed celebration in Tahrir Square as it was announced that Mubarak had stepped down as Prime Minister.

Curious about what voices in the region were saying, I picked up numerous papers and magazines to read local editorials and reports. And several words popped up over and over again - social media, Twitter and Facebook. In an editorial in Arabian Business, editor Damian Reilly pointed out "as Hosni Mubarak found out… no address on state television is a match for the power of Facebook and Twitter."

Social media is proving to be a most powerful tool for social transformation. At the Sages & Scientists conference hosted by my father (Deepak Chopra) this past weekend, eminent scientists and researchers

I recently read about a man who, at 53, believed he had lost almost everything in his life. John Kralik was 40 pounds overweight and his two marriages had ended in painful divorces. His law firm was on the brink of bankruptcy. He slept on an air mattress in a tiny apartment. He had grown distant from his two older children, and desperately feared losing the deep connection he shared with his young daughter. Around Christmas time, his new girlfriend broke up with him, declaring that she couldn't take his noncommittal attitude toward her anymore. He had reached a personal bottom and did not know how he would ever lift his head again.

Then on New Year's Day, while taking a walk in the hills above Pasadena he heard a voice. Inspired by the simple and beautiful thank you note that his ex-girlfriend had sent him for his Christmas gift, the voice told him to send his gratitude and love out into the world by writing a thank you note everyday -- 365 thank yous that next year.

He wrote

If you were to consult with an Ayurvedic therapist, you would likely receive a diagnosis of your doshic imbalances. The practitioner would then provide you with a list of food types that you should and shouldn't eat, possibly prescribe medicinal herbs for you to take, prescribe treatments, and provide a series of other lifestyle modifications and routines such as yoga postures for you to practice.

Ayurvedic science calls upon us to live our lives in a particular way with the intention of bringing as much balance to our doshas as possible. Much of this lifestyle centers on how and what we eat and drink, as one of the most fundamental components of Ayurvedic science states that a strong digestion leads to a healthy body. While we can make sophisticated modifications of diet and lifestyle to resolve imbalances of our doshas, it is more important to understand the attributes of food (hot-cold, dry-oily, heavy-light, and so forth) and what effect they will have on our systems in the

A bomb exploded on MTV, and your teens may have become part of the fallout. The fuse was lit years ago, however. Why didn't we do anything to disarm this bomb or snip the fuse? All of the signs were there since they were infants, on television, newspapers, magazines in the media, then on the internet, My Space, Facebook, Twitter, their cell phones… This fuse burned across all of these media, through your household and your neighbors', on the school bus and in the schools… We never looked to see where the fuse was leading, and now look what happened.

The television show, Skins, debuted on Viacom's MTV with a viewership of 3.3 million viewers, its highest ratings in the 12-34 year-old range. Viacom, by the way, is the same company that brings you Dora the Explorer on Nickelodeon. You don't have to look too far to see the concerns with the show Skins, just watch the trailer; however, I don't want the focus of this to be the show itself, which is concerning enough; the focus should