As I back the car out of the garage, I realize how very fortunate I am to have a garage to “house” my car. Obviously (or maybe not?), most people don’t own cars. We often simply accept (or take for granted) our realities making it easy to forget how much we have. There are […]
Category Archives: Peace Full Home/Intentional Living
I was pulling weeds, outside my front porch, on a beautiful summer night before the dark swept away the light. I had a purpose—remove the weeds in order to allow the plants I want there to have a chance to grow. Larry (my husband) sat with me, weeding too. He (a significantly more structured person than me) is pretty methodical. […]
One morning, I was talking to someone who said, “I just can’t get out of the teacup.” What I heard was, “I’m stuck in this really small space and when I try to climb out, I just slide back down to the bottom.” The teacup felt like heartache to me, and not knowing how to […]
LOST what have we lost between our youth and where we are now? have we given up our collective, universal desire to feel important, to be loved, to matter? what have we left behind because we thought we “outgrew” those child-like, innocent things? have we stopped being hypnotized by the flames of a fire or […]
It seems like we expend an awful lot of energy trying to “fit in”, which can mean a lot of different things depending on where you are right now. It changes significantly depending on who you’re with and is often fueled by the winds of just a few. I’m also aware that many of us […]
Constant Change Most of us understand, at least from a big picture perspective, that Change is Constant. When it impacts our lives personally, however (in relationships, lifestyles, abilities), it often terrorizes us. Most of us don’t like change throwing itself at us without invitation! When stuck in patterns of the past—whether that’s “woe is me” or “whoa, […]
Today is Memorial Day in The United States of America—a day for formally remembering the men and women who died while serving in our armed forces. This special day of remembrance began after The America Civil War to honor the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in that armed conflict. There were over 625,000 (almost […]
Many times, in order to live into our best selves, we have to start a change process—ridding ourselves of old habits that no longer serve us, traditions that bring us down instead of up, and memories that tell a story filled with woe. But, that change, even though it’s necessary, can be work. It’s easy […]
Growing up, I didn’t have a lot of “things”, so what I did have mattered—including my plastic doll named Sharon. The first time she started falling apart, my Dad put her back together with electrical tape. Over the next couple of years, she required quite a bit of that black tape. Did I think that made Sharon […]
Seven years ago, I was encouraged by my dear friend, Betsy, to join a Habitat For Humanity, “Women Build” committee. Our group was brainstorming fund-raising ideas and Annie, a member of our team (and now a close friend), came up with the concept for “She Nailed It!”—an all women, relay nail-hammering competition, that not only […]
Phenomenon—a fact or circumstance that’s observed, but sometimes difficult to explain or even understand. It’s about consciousness and what we experience and how that affects us. What we “feel” exists because we’re experiencing it. Psychological Phenomena refers to mental processes, like: • The Placebo Effect—if a patient believes that he’s taking something that’s supposed to heal him (even […]
“stop! in the name of love before you break my heart think it over” (The Supremes, 1965) Asking someone to “stop” before you’re heartbroken may not work, because another person is making that decision. But, “stopping” and “thinking it over” when you’re able to make choices is very different. Many of us don’t physically slow down, let […]
Have you ever felt overwhelmed, defeated or exhausted because, in spite of how hard you love, work or “put yourself out there” it doesn’t seem to be enough? Have you ever stood at the door of hopelessness, believing that if you take one more step you could “walk off the edge?” I’ve felt that way. […]
Scenario 1: You’ve had a really stressful day: You worked overtime (or over-volunteered), got drenched in a downpour running into the grocery store for dinner because everyone’s screaming,” what’s for dinner?” and, when you finally get home, walk into a house that’s a mess, disorganized, in disrepair and just plain sad. You think, “what the heck am I […]
On Saturday, as my daughter was driving home, she saw a small, older woman standing on a street corner holding a sign saying, “I need help. Can you spare any money?” She drove past, stopped at the traffic light, then went back. She gave the woman the $20 she had in her wallet. The woman […]
Five Really Short Stories 1. While I waited for a friend, I sat at a tiny bistro table, with a cup of cinnamon-plum tea. Two women sitting close to me were talking. One of them said to the other, “you really have a servant heart.” It was expressed so simply. She didn’t say, “you give so […]
Have you ever spontaneously boarded a shiny railroad car (encouraged by people yelling “come on, join us, it’s going to be fun!”), thinking, “this will be a great adventure” only to learn, too late, that the final destination isn’t anywhere near where you thought you’d end up? When that happens, you have choices: 1. jump off at […]
she tries to ignore it, but the desolation demands attention. it won’t let her wander outside its constrictive boundaries; to simply be. it taunts her, saying, “you’ve failed in so many ways”, “do you know how often you’ve screwed up?”, “listen to me tell you about your weaknesses, your shortcomings, your pain”, “let me hold […]
Singing As the sun rose, I sat facing the garden. The trunk of the majestic locust tree was on the right, the branches of the stately pines, heavy with newly fallen snow were on the left. Nature was singing. I felt small—not only physically. I felt my incorporeal smallness. I thought about an evening when […]
hurrier and hurrier i run, racing through daylight, before twilight dances on our earth the pendulum swings… i used to try to give the right answers now i remember to ask the right questions fueled by the knowledge that the light will fade, that the dark will come, that my days will be numbered, i […]
During a flight to Florida, I sat between two women. The one on my left was 77 years old. She and her husband were traveling from Quebec. She asked to borrow my wrap because she was cold (she also had her right arm pretty much on my lap the entire time) and she told me about her […]
Clouds are amazing, but we often miss them, caught up in our fast-paced (often frenzied) lives. We see only what’s right in front of us—myopia blocking out all else. Last week, I was driving down the road and just had to pull into the parking lot of “closed for the season” ice cream parlor because […]
When I think of courage, the first thing that comes to mind is bravery—military personnel in war zones protecting our freedom; firefighters running into burning buildings carrying out those who are trapped; donors giving a kidney or bone marrow to someone they’ve never met; teenagers standing up to bullies who, once again, are going to terrorize […]
The bright day turned suddenly, with total abandon, handing her reins over to the sky; moving from bright to dark in just a few moments. As rain crashed against windows, lights flickered then went off, thunder rolled, and temperatures plummeted 20°. Tumultuous, screaming nature dances without restraint, reminding me of a human displaying every emotion in one day: […]
In the quest for peace full living, we have to embrace all of life—not just the parts that are amazing or delightful or make us happy. For some of us that awareness can be a tough pill to swallow. For a long time I believed that if I just shoved the bad away—then buried it […]
