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 […]
Today is “The Fourth of July”. Independence Day, in The United States of America, celebrates the signing of “The Declaration of Independence” from the United Kingdom. Some years we go to an amazing fireworks display, in a little town near our home. There’s a sing-a-long with music representing all branches of our Armed Forces and then fireworks are set off […]
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. […]
Do you dream? I’m not asking about the images and thoughts that occur while you’re asleep—although that subject is fascinating. Do you dream during your waking hours; imagine possibilities that are different from your current reality; think about places you’d like to see; entertain “what ifs”? Or, have you given up on dreaming; instead choosing […]
It’s 3:40 on Monday morning. The wind is howling outside and I’m sitting at my computer typing away. I tossed and turned for a while before finally deciding that I wasn’t going to quiet my brain, so I’m up. My mind is filled with so much. Today is the last day of grade school for […]
Last night, as I sat in the hot tub under my beautiful locust tree, I thought about the week that passed too quickly. The sky was sprinkled with stars and the air was still. This is my favorite season—the one where I can wear Birkenstocks and sleeveless tops, when the sun warms the ground we […]
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 […]
Over the weekend, we worked on the vegetable garden. Ours is about 300 square feet—not too small, not too large—as Goldilocks would say, “it’s just right”. Just like there are different varieties of gardens, there are limitless ways to plan, plant and maintain them. There have been years when I’ve spent hours planning exactly how I […]
Most of us invest a fair amount of energy on how we engage with others, but give a lot less thought to how we engage with ourselves. Why is that? If we can’t make the time to take care of, nurture and give attention to ourselves in loving, kind ways, we’re a lot less likely […]
In the 1830s, American inventor and painter, Samuel Morse, began perfecting an electric telegraph. In 1844 he transmitted the short biblical phrase, “what hath God wrought”, by wire from Washington, DC to Baltimore, Maryland. SOS is a Morse code international distress signal, and the only nine element symbol—making it easily recognizable. It’s also an ambigram, which means […]
I woke up this morning to the sound of birds chirping outside my bedroom window—how wonderful. Spring is my favorite season of the year because, in my area of our country, everything that’s been dormant is springing back to life. Even in years where I have experienced “winters of discontent”—as Shakespeare’s Richard III said—spring has given […]
Yesterday, I started the conversation about getting to the end of our lives with no regrets. How are we experiencing the time we do have? Many of us run through life. We don’t use our time to do what, at the end of our lives, we’ll probably consider “important”—to make the things that truly matter the priority. We can’t turn back […]
peace full home®—intentional living 