I've had nightmares for as long as I can remember. My mother says I whimpered and cried in my sleep as a little girl. By the time I was in my early 20's I was so afraid to go to sleep that I developed insomnia.

But over the past year, they've been worse than ever. I've woken up screaming, flailing, kicking (I once punched my poor sleeping boyfriend right in the nose). 

Maybe I needed to talk to somebody about my nightmares, he suggested, probably fearing a future of similarly rude awakenings. I had to agree. Luckily I knew exactly who that somebody was: Karen Hollis, a professional intuitive and psychic medium. I was fortunate enough to work with Karen before (she did an amazing reading with Kurt Cobain for me), and I remembered that she also offered Dream Interpretation with the Tarot.

I was in for another amazing experience.

When I sit back and ponder northern Europe as I often do, Robyn, dragon tattoos, and Elin Nordegren come to mind. But after reading this latest little tidbit out of Sweden, dance parties will surely dominate my Nordic daydreams going forward. Word on the Internets is that instead of lunch breaks, Swedes are taking dance breaks. While most of us Americans eat our six-inch Subway sandwiches in front of our computers, the Swedes take an hour to shake their grove thing in the middle of the day.

Lunch Beat, as it's called, has been around since 2010 and its popularity is only growing. The founders say their aim is to encourage workers to embody "playfulness, participation, and community." After peeps blow off some steam and get their dance on for 60 minutes, they're supposedly more energized and enthusiastic when they get back to work. 

Everybody dance now!

Why are some people sooooo draining?

We all have at least a couple of those super high-maintenance types in our lives, and because the energy-sucking vampires tend to be either relatives or co-workers or in-laws, simply cutting ties usually isn't an option.

So how do we deal with these people on a regular basis without losing our minds? Is it even possible?

Apparently, yes -- there are a few methods for staying sane when the crazy train comes crashing into town.

Of course I'm not naming any names, but let's say you know one or more of these (completely fictitious) people ...

The concept of "alone time" takes on such a radically different meaning once you're a mom. Before baby, taking time to yourself meant spending the night at home with a book instead of on the town with your girlfriends or going on a weekend yoga retreat without your spouse. After baby, alone time can mean anything from a 10-minute shower to a quick diaper run (without the wee one strapped to your chest).

When my kids were babies, anytime I left the house without them, I felt like like I was missing something. Did I forget my wallet? My phone? Walking down the street without a kid in a sling and/or stroller was nothing short of bizarre. I felt so ... light.

But not always in a good way. At first, those rare child-free moments were both disorienting and guilt-inducing. Not only had I forgotten how to function as an individual, I felt like I'd abandoned the tiny creature who, until recently, actually lived inside my body.

You really can dance the blues away, something actress Angela Trimbur definitely believes: In her "Dance Like Nobody's Watching" YouTube videos, Trimbur films herself unabashedly busting a move in a series of public places -- the mall, a laundromat. And she looks pretty dang happy (as do many of the surprised onlookers).

Dance as a mood-booster isn't just a theory, though:

Studies have shown that dancing can significantly lower levels of stress hormones and depression.

Cancer is scary business, no two ways about it.

Making gratitude lists is something I try to do whenever I’m feeling scared or angry or bored or, well, grateful. (An alphabetical gratitude list is also a great way for me to fall asleep when monkey brain is keeping me awake.) For me, listing the many things for which I am thankful has always helped me get back to center and put the less important things into their proper perspective.

Let me tell you, with a cancer diagnosis, the list of what’s really important gets real short, real quick.

I was flipping through a magazine the other day and came across an article featuring a roundup of fashion picks for a girls' night out. I lingered over the photos of cute dresses and chunky necklaces and thought about how my typical wardrobe consists of yoga pants and a Humane Society t-shirt featuring an unfortunately boob-centric cartoon hamster design on the front.

I also thought about how my last girls' night out was seven months ago, when I went to BlogHer in San Diego. The girls' night out before that? BlogHer 2010, I think.

I don't get out very often, is what I'm saying. Or more accurately, I don't socialize much outside of my family. Or more (humiliatingly) accurately still, I have virtually no local friends whatsoever.

Ever feel like you're having deja vu, or you go with your gut when making a decision and it turns out you followed the perfect path? We all have. There are even amazing, open-minded docs out there encouraging patients to self-heal using medical intuition. There are definitely people who are naturally gifted with these skills, but I believe just about anyone can be "psychic."

But a new study says, "Hell no." University of Edinburgh psychologist Stuart Ritchie and colleagues set out to refute a previous study done at Cornell University that examined the idea that our brain has the ability to anticipate future events and claimed to find evidence of psi phenomena (or the brain's ability to "see into the future"). Ritchie wasn't able to replicate the first study's results, so he's basically concluding that psychic ability doesn't exist.