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—Fear, Superheroes, and COVID-19

FEAR Discussions about COVID-19 have become part of our daily conversations. I’m not suggesting that we hide from the updates, but we need an awareness of how being bombarded by this news, on every media platform, is affecting us. Fear has become one of our songs, and there’s a good reason for that. Some of […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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; […]

Forgiveness

For some people, “I’m sorry” spills out of their mouths as easily as saying, “hi”. They have a lifetime subscription to: • the “it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than approval club” or • the “I can do whatever I want; then just say, ‘I’m sorry’ club” “I’m sorry” is said so often that it’s effortless. There’s […]

Monday Pondering

PONDERING he has a keen knowing that there is more, but there are times when he feels ill-equipped to change the tide sometimes he stays anchored to the shoreline; afraid to wade out a little deeper, but sometimes he takes a chance and jumps into the ocean and, so, his evolution continues…. sometimes baby-stepping all […]

Sensitivity Training

Disclosure: I am very sensitive, and I can’t even begin to count how many times I’ve been told, “you’re too/so/overly sensitive”. I used to try to defend what was being said as a negative (and as an accusation as opposed to a compliment). Now, I simply say, “Yes, you’re right. I completely own that I’m very […]

Life Quicksand

• Do you ever feel like you’re firmly on solid ground— life is completely stable; everything’s under control; you’re easily putting one foot in front of the other? • Do you ever feel like you’re walking on an uneven path—sometimes you’re on stable ground, but other times you could make just one tiny misstep and fall? • […]

Taking Sides

The guy in a designer suit strolled right past the man sitting on the frayed, and very dirty, piece of blanket on a street corner. It wasn’t as if he didn’t visually see him, it was just that he believed that man wasn’t worth truly seeing. After all, he must be a loser or a drunk […]

Life & Death and Spending Our Money & Time

I know people who spend money purchasing beautiful art, creating memorable experiences and enjoying gastronomic feasts. Some use their income and energy creating homes that feed their souls. Others live frugally so that they can support causes that pull at their heartstrings. I see people, who have very little financially, give much of what they […]

The Workshop

Yesterday, I was downstairs in the shop organizing hardware storage cabinets. Small bins hold everything from nails and screws to plumbing and electrical parts, and they’re all labeled by their contents, so we know where things are. The process is pretty mindless. For example, screws are separated by drives like slotted, Phillips, and hex. Sorting […]

Taking For Grantedness-A Really Short Post

So, for the first time in my life, I locked my keys in my car (in the trunk to be exact). And, it was on a (very) hot summer day. My thoughts in order (yep, I actually wrote them down): “Wow, that was REALLY stupid!” “That’s what you get for rushing!” “Now, I’m going to […]

The Kindness Challenge, Part II

It’s often easy to get so caught up in our realities that we don’t stop to look at the world through another’s eyes. And, when we don’t take the time to see outside our own little universe, our narrow perspective can lead to behavior that can be anything from inconsiderate to downright mean. Yesterday, I offered up […]

The First Day of School

Yesterday marked the first day of a new school year in my area; hopefully a fresh start and an opportunity for new beginnings.  Sometimes this new start is celebratory and exciting. Ideally, students are coming in with a “blank slate”, ready to seize the opportunities in front of them. Hopefully, the experience is positive. Maybe the students […]

Phenomena

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 […]

The Pendulum

THE PENDULUM 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 […]

Falling into Potholes

If you’ve been around children, you’ve likely heard “no fair!” shouted in anger or frustration or whispered with tears running down the child’s face. “No fair” is only six letters, but when uttered in pain reads more like, “why me?” or “why not me?” “why am I the one who’s left out?” “why didn’t I get that chance […]

What’s The Cost?

A “sunk cost” is an investment that can’t be recovered. What if…..you buy a ticket to a movie and, ten minutes into it, know it’s not going to be a film you’ll enjoy? The ticket was already purchased—it’s a  sunk cost. Will you walk out or will you think, “I paid good money to see this, […]