January 16, 2017 a note to God: Hi God, It’s a New Year. The last one flew by faster than the previous ten, and much faster than the twenty before that. The first thirty—well, they seemed to meander slowly; like a lazy river taking its time, enjoying the scenery. I know, that as we have more […]
Category Archives: Inspirational Writing
Many people—who have never spent a day behind bars—live in self-imposed prisons where they intend to serve out life sentences. Sometimes that’s because they’ve committed a heinous crime and, although not “found out”, they know what they’ve done and choose lifetime penitence. Some have been imprisoned by the words of others, when they’ve been told that […]
It was a quiet house this past weekend and on Saturday evening, my daughter, Erin came up so we could watch a movie together. It was a real tearjerker with an outcome we didn’t immediately anticipate. At the end we were both sobbing; a moment shared as we looked at reality through a different lens. […]
A sisterhood has traditionally been a community of nuns or other religious women. A sisterhood is also a group of women who are bound together through shared experiences, who—with a desire to live fully into their lives—are intentional about creating connections. Today, I’m going to write about the latter. This past weekend my faith community held a […]
Where do you find joy? Why does joy often seem so elusive? What is joy? “Joy” and “happiness” are not the same. Happiness is a response to something. We experience feeling happy when we’re having fun, spending time with people who make us smile, watching a funny movie, taking a vacation in a place we love, or even completing […]
For the past eight days I’ve been almost entirely absent from email, texts and phone calls. For some people, that would be catastrophic. For me, it was a reminder of how life used to be—when connecting with others, not physically with you, required sending mail or using a phone connected to a wall. Obviously, there are […]
I was woken from a deep sleep, in the very early morning, by thunder and lightning. I turned toward the window and watched and listened to the sound of nature. Lying there in the dark, I was fully aware of the gifts of sight and sound. Recently, I saw two video clips. The first was […]
“Love people and use things, not love things and use people.” I’m not sure who first coined this but, sadly, it can’t be said enough. Organization, and the lack of clutter, are an integral part of a calm, joyful home—or organization. It’s tough to get to Peace if you’re surrounded by chaos. That chaos can be created […]
Kintsugi (金継ぎ) is a Japanese word for repairing broken pottery with a special lacquer mixed with gold. The technique recognizes the history of the object, and visibly incorporates the repair into the piece. Rather than trying to disguise what could be considered flaws, attention is brought to them. The item that was broken, and glued […]
Today is Labor Day. This holiday was born out of a desire to celebrate the American labor movement, to honor the economic and social achievements of the worker, and to pay tribute to those whose contributions have helped to make our country prosperous and strong. The Knights of Labor and the Central Labor Union organized the […]
There are meals “big enough to feed the entire family”, books titled “Not Different Enough” and “Good Enough to Be Great”, and songs like “Can’t Get Enough” and “The World Is Not Enough”. We say things like: “I don’t have enough time.” “I’m not rich (powerful, successful, popular, important) enough.” “We didn’t do well enough.” […]
Extraordinary is simply ordinary with “extra” in front of it. Those five little letters change everything! On Friday evening my granddaughter, Lauren, started celebrating her eleventh birthday with eight of her best friends at a sleepover. My daughter, Sara, did a lot of planning, and it was a wonderful event with cake decorating contests, games, jumping on the trampoline, […]
The sky was blue and gray and white as I was driving this morning. Clouds hung in the atmosphere as if suspended by invisible wires. The sight was breathtaking and humbling simultaneously. It truly felt as if I was going to drive right through a giant canvas painted by the hand of God. If we […]
Do you ever feel like you “can’t find your voice”? Our world can be really loud. Right now, in this Presidential election year, it’s almost as if everything else is drowned out by the campaigns being waged. If you reside in a place like New York City, you’re probably used to the noise level. It’s simply part of the background. Even […]
A dear friend reached out to me and asked if I would talk about the fear that many of us are feeling. Jill wrote, “We want to know what’s going on in the world, but what we read and hear scares us, we want to let our kids play outside and explore their world but we […]
It’s 6:23 in the morning as the light comes in from the East. The pines, river birches and oaks reach out to a blue sky, dappled with diaphanous clouds. A rabbit hops through the grass as a chipmunk scurries across the deck. The tomatoes are turning red in the garden. A butterfly dances past my head. A gentle […]
Walking out of the grocery store, I saw an older man with snow-white hair, and a large hump on his back. He was at the end of one of the aisles, hunched over, bagging groceries. Of course, I don’t know why he has that job. Maybe he desperately needs the money grocery bagging brings him. […]
I sat next to an elderly gentleman, named George, in a surgical waiting room this morning. His first comment to me was that the sun outside was a welcome change from the rainy weeks we’ve been experiencing. I agreed and we talked for a few minutes. Then, about a half hour later, a volunteer came over […]
When I teach classes on organization, I start with a dozen goals. Next, we discuss the reasons we get to a place where we’re overwhelmed with “stuff”. If we don’t know why we’re in a situation, it’s tough to change our behavior, and we’re likely to end up back where we started. Once people have an “aha” moment in class it’s […]
Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting my friend Ginny. We met almost nine years ago at the faith community I’m part of. I sensed almost immediately how special Ginny is. It’s not only that she’s very spiritual or that she’s generous, kind and thoughtful—it’s her way of walking through life, which really drew […]
On Thursday I fell. I wasn’t being careful and I slipped on a wet floor. My feet flew out in front of me and bam- there I was flat on my back. My head hit the floor pretty hard, and bounced up and then back down to add insult to injury. I lay there for […]
Last week I was pruning the hollies on one side of the yard. We planted them in the fall of 2013 as evergreen, privacy trees between our property and one that is owned by a utility company. There’s always been a “much less-than-attractive” building on the acre next to ours, but a few years ago a BIG […]
Our dear friends Betsy and Sam recently moved to a beautiful area in Georgia. Larry and I just got back from visiting them for a few days. On the way to the airport, to fly home on Saturday evening, we hit a major traffic jam. By the time we got to the Atlanta airport we […]
peace full home®—intentional living 