The holidays can be particularly challenging for introverts and empaths.

If you are exhausted by large groups or tend to pick up other people’s energy easily, parties can be a real drag.

You may have heard of compassion fatigue as a condition used to describe the stress associated with working with people who are in crisis, trauma or suffering. Think of people in caregiving or helping professions like nurses, doctors, therapists, veterinarians and animal welfare, child protection workers, journalists, EMTs, police officers and anyone who works with people in trauma or crisis, like natural disasters or crisis workers.

Apparently I have a hard time keeping quiet.

Back at the beginning of summer, I said I'd be stepping back to work on my writing project. And while I have been working on that project, I've also been doing a bunch of other stuff -- fun stuff! -- and engaging, busy, social stuff.

FEELING SAFE ISN'T JUST AN EMOTIONAL NICETY.

When we feel threatened, our biology steps in. Hormones are released that increase the heart rate, blood pressure and blood flow, small airways in the lungs expand, our vision narrows as our other senses sharpen. We can't control any of this. This response is millions of years old and happens without thought.

Social contagion is the well-researched idea that we "catch" emotions and behaviors from other people. We unconsciously start wanting things other people want or normalizing behaviors we previously would not have engaged in.

That's some powerful suggestive influence.

So what can we do to stay aligned with our own deeply held values and not be unconsciously swayed by the actions of other people?

New York City is a wonderful example of how no system works in isolation.

The city of Manhattan, like all cities, has main systems that keep things running smoothly -- water, garbage, sewer, electricity, import/export, and traffic, to name a few. It may seem that these systems are separate and autonomous.

But consider this: if any one of those systems gets clogged or shut down, it will affect many if not most of the other systems.

I love biscuits. My mom used to make biscuits like these, free form and oversized, for breakfast and we'd slather them with butter and honey.

There are for sure things that I just have to accept are going to be "different" in vegan form.

Ice cream. Angel Food Cake.

Different meaning not as good. And I'm ok with that.

Because honestly, anything you can make, I can make vegan. And it's almost always just as good or better. (If that hasn't been true for you, let me give you some better recipes!)

In the past, I've tried describing Teacher Training as Life Training (as many past students have called it). I make the language as welcoming and permissive as I can to those who don't want to teach. This program is for everyone.

But why should they have to pay the same amount and have the same intensive homework and requirements? I created a yearlong program (The Daily Craft) with the intention of giving a similar opportunity to non-teachers. But nothing is like the 5-month immersion of TT.

"Monster Cookies" generally have a bunch of goodies in them with a base of a nut butter and oatmeal. According to a quick google search, they are "the Frankenstein's monster of the cookie world - a mashup of different components."

What I love about these -- besides the super moist texture and perfectly balanced flavor -- is how simple they are to make. Even for the "non-bakers," this one is doable.

Many of us consider every day to be "earth day." Still, it's good to have an even brighter spotlight on ways we can improve. It's easy to get down about the state of the environment, so I go back to a trusty mantra and tell myself again and again, What You Do Matters. It's all a drop in the bucket. And if we all believe that and do even a little bit, together it makes a difference. In that spirit, here are 7 ideas for Earth Month.

It's not a pesto, it's not a chimichurri, it's a magic sauce perfectly suited for spring.

Make it and put it on everything. Roasted veggies, toast, pasta, burritos or tacos, a veggie burger -- I mean, anything.

No need to be super precise in measuring...personalize it according to your flavor preferences.

It's like we're all a little bit in the closet about poetry, but once we know we're in safe company of fellow lovers, we can pull the tattered paper out of our wallets and compare notes (I carry a few hand-written lines of Rumi, gifted long ago by a friend).

Poetry is delicious medicine that has helped me make sense of life since high school. I have many old poetry collections published by Hallmark that were my grandmother's, one of which is in the Favorite Four below.

What is this? is not a question in search of an answer. It is intended to help us penetrate the mystery more deeply so that it becomes more mysterious. Where every situation and experience becomes truly surprising. A place outside of our habitual views and conditioned responses.