Closed Minds

Pre, COVID-19, I parked next to a car with this bumper sticker: “A Closed Mind is a wonderful thing to lose.” When I went back, two women were in the car, so I knocked on the driver’s window and shared how much I love that message, which led to a short conversation about life. Closed-mindedness, unreceptive to […]

Choices

Choices; this seven-letter word sets the course for your life. Choosing moves energy, creating change that sets what you want into motion. Choices empower you, so it’s critical to discern what you desire and require in your life. You choose every day by weighing the pros and cons, considering alternatives, and then taking action. A considerable amount of this goes on […]

Moving From Overwhelmed to Serene and Peaceful, Part II

(continued from “Moving From Overwhelmed to Serene and Peaceful, Part I”) When you’re overwhelmed, and life is exhausting, you need to “step aside” for a while by moving away from environments or relationships that impede you from living into your highest self. There are also things you may have to “set aside” like fear, anger, […]

Moving From Overwhelmed to Serene and Peaceful, Part I

Do you ever feel overwhelmed, exhausted, or like you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders? Does it sometimes seem that despite how hard you work, how often you “put yourself out there,” or how much you love, it just isn’t enough? Are you ever on the brink of hopelessness, imagining that if you […]

Life Right Now—Sadness and COVID-19

COVID-19 has infected us not only physically. During the past two days, we talked about spirituality, fear, and superheroes. Today, let’s tackle sadness. There are, obviously, a lot of things to be sad about right now. We can’t help experiencing unhappiness in challenging times. But, we can work to move through it. Sit quietly with […]

Life Right Now—Spirituality and COVID-19

In the midst of COVID-19, it seems like many of us are in one of two camps. Camp 1 is overflowing with people who are overwhelmed, frustrated or exhausted. Camp 2 holds those who are at the other end of the spectrum and feel defeated, sad, bored, or lonely. How are you holding up? Which camp is […]

Finding Light in the Dark

The world looks very different right now. Much that we’ve taken for granted has disappeared, pushing us to rethink our lives and priorities. Many of us have had to recreate day-to-day life. For some, that brings physical solitude that’s punctuated by virtual visits and phone conversations. For others, it means complete isolation or, on the […]

Stream of Consciousness

I go to sleep, thinking. I wake up thinking—a stream of consciousness that rarely stops (yep, am working on that). It’s different every day (of course), but this is what it sounds like on a rainy, Thursday morning with a world infected by COVID-19: Last night I talked to my granddaughter, Lauren. I shared with […]

Poetry Tuesday, April 2020

CHOICES peace, peace, precious peace pain, pain, poignant pain   hope, hope, honored hope hate, hate, horrid hate   love, love, lasting love loss, loss, lonely loss   faith, faith, fervent faith fear, fear, fractious fear   peace, hope, love, faith pain, hate, loss, fear  all of these are part of life which of these […]

Finding Tanquility Now

We usually have some sense of which way our lives are headed, but one of the many lessons, during this time of upheaval is that: when we learn to embrace uncertainty by being present in the moments we have right now, we will have mastered honoring each day as the gift it is. In light of what […]

House Love

During a time of upheaval, it can be tough to remain positive. Uncertainty is unnerving, but we have a responsibility to, now possibly more than ever, live into our highest selves. One way of doing that is by looking through a different lens. Since many of us are out of work, working from home or leaving […]

COVID-19

From The World Health Organization: “Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases. Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. COVID-19 is a new strain that was discovered in 2019 and has not been previously identified in humans.”   As […]

Food, Kitchens, Souls

Creating a space that you can’t wait to get home to­—one that’s peace-full—is a big part of living intentionally. It’s a way to honor your life FOOD You’ve probably heard the expression, “the kitchen is the heart of the home.” That’s because it’s natural for us to gather around food. There’s a common bond when we […]

Empty or Full

“Different Views” their upbringings and lives to this point were very similar; they both knew good and bad, happiness and sorrow but, they chose to walk through life very differently. his house and life were full; overfull really, but he was like an empty vessel; his heart devoid of love, not believing in the possibility of meaningful human […]

Paying Attention

I’m aware, so often, of the fragility of each moment (this one is slipping away as I finish this sentence). Most of us assume so much: that we’ll still be breathing at the end of this day, that our loved ones will continue to be part of our lives, that we’ll have food to eat […]

Whole

The waves crash onto the shore as I walk on the deserted beach not long after the sun has decided to grace us, once again, with her morning majesty. Litter—empty plastic cups, a beat-up cooler, two broken chairs, a few beer bottles—carelessly left behind by fellow humans, stands out hideously in the otherwise perfection of […]

The Shut Up and Deal Dance

Almost every day, I talk with someone about life. Yeah, I know, that’s a really enormous topic but those conversations aren’t usually about tackling “the big picture”; just little clips of it. I realize that what I write about is often insignificant in the grand scheme of our planet (and I never want to lose sight of the […]

A Eulogy of Love

January is the month my Dad passed back to spirit side. He was an amazing man. This is part of the eulogy I wrote for his funeral twenty years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday….. It was Christmas Eve, 1966—a year with a storm so huge we couldn’t open the back door. Dad was […]

Relativity

A teenager doesn’t make the football team. He starts swearing about how wrong and stupid the coaches are. A teenager doesn’t have anyone to sit with at lunch. He remembers how his father always told him he was “unlovable”. A couple sits with a large group, in a restaurant, to celebrate a friend’s birthday. They […]

In Search of Joy

Where do you find joy? Why does joy often seem so elusive? What is joy? “Joy” and “happy” are not the same. Happiness is a response to something you experience—watching a funny movie, playing with a grandchild, taking a great vacation or completing something successfully (a class, an athletic endeavor, an interview, even an organizing […]

Intentional Resolutions

For some, “New Year’s Resolutions” are an annual part of closing one calendar year and moving onto the next. Others never participate in that practice. For many of us, it’s haphazard. Some years we’re “all in”—creating a list of what we want to change or accomplish; what we resolve to do. Other years, we simply roll […]

Twas The Day After Christmas

As I sat drinking my tea, from a cup I gave my Mom before she died, I thought about my twist on “Twas The Night Before Christmas” written what now seems like many years ago when my grandchildren were much younger; I wanted to share this retelling with you. May the end of this calendar […]

Peace & “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”

The antonym for peaceful is “unpeaceful”. Okay, that’s fair but I was thinking of something a little more descriptive like “chaotic”, “tense”, “exhausting” or “stressful.” Are there words you’d add to that list? When you’re stuck, in a place in life, where the world feels loud and tumultuous you need to find shelter from the […]

Dream Chaser

If you had limitless resources and time, what would you pursue? What is your dream? Maybe your dream is moving somewhere warmer, quitting the job you hate and doing something fulfilling, traveling to beautiful places or finding the right person to share life with.  Perhaps it’s hearing someone say, “What can I do for you; […]