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Use your super powers for good
Fear is human, and the acknowledgement of fear is essential. But it’s the choices we make while feeling fear that define our humanity.
Find What Fits
When things don’t fit we need to trust that there is not one way. What is true for you can only be felt by you. What you decide to do with it can only be your choice.
Practicing Contentment
Searching outside of ourselves for contentment will disappoint. It’s not a thing we can “have”. Instead, it’s a practice of paying attention, appreciating, refocusing. No one promised us contentment. It’s nobody’s job to give us contentment. Instead it’s an individual responsibility, a lifetime commitment. Sometimes it’s easy. Things flow, birds sing, life has rhythm. Sometimes it’s elusive. We feel worry, …
Feeling afraid? Create light.
I told my girls about the Paris tragedy. I explained that a few very angry people chose to harm and create fear, but their actions actually led to compassionate solidarity all over the world. They thought they were spreading hate, but instead they ignited togetherness and love. In an instant people remembered what mattered most. They stopped, became silent, prayed. …
You look much better in person than you do on paper
My dad fell and has been in the hospital. Actually he’s fallen several times over the last few weeks, but this big fall led to him being taken away in an ambulance. In the emergency room the attending physician walked in and said to my dad, “You look much better in person than you do on paper.” Which made me …
You are wired for connection
Over the years I’ve become geeky about neurological development and brain-wiring, and my absolute favorite wires are mirror neurons. These lovely links allow us the capacity to feel and experience what others are feeling and experiencing – we are literally wired to understand and help each other. Sometimes I feel like my brain is a house of mirrors because I …
Letting go of our junk
Deep down our inner workings are good. What’s not good is all the junk piled on top of the good. The history, defensive mechanisms, trauma, judgmental thinking, biases, prejudices, and pain that blocks the good. Life is not a process of “becoming” better, we are good as we are. But we do have to commit to a consistent junk-removal process …
The Party
As long as I can remember, I’ve been at the party. As a kid, I loved the party. The new stuff, the swirling ideas, the workings of the imagination. I played with all of it, I was the center of attention. Joy and dancing, ideas and beauty. As I grew, so did the party. So many guests and conversations, conflicting …
Overthinking What People Think
Too often we pull back from an innovative idea, allow ourselves to be treated poorly or decide to not try something new because we find ourselves thinking, “I don’t want people to think that I’m…” What? Too successful? Too outspoken? Too self-loving? Instead of believing that it’s OK to do what feels good or right to us, we prioritize what …
Roots and Wings
The definition of love requires constant re-examination. It means one thing when we are young, one thing as we look for a partner, another when we find work that speaks to us. It especially requires re-examination when we have children. We fall in love with the idea of parenting so we decide to have a baby, and then once we …
These are the things that terrify me…
Fear – because it’s irrational Fear wakes me up to misconceptions, untrue stories about myself or others, untrue stories about the world. Fear makes me stop and think, fear pushes me to breathe and contemplate. Fear can feel brutal, but I believe it’s meant to be a healer. The energy of fear has encouraged (pushed? forced?) me to purge old …
Love what we see
I have met people who make poor choices, people who act out of fear, people who demonstrate the negativity they feel. They aren’t inherently bad. They’ve just forgotten who they are. Pieces of themselves have been harmed, shamed, or forgotten. They are no longer whole, they act from brokenness. They carry unexpressed experiences and stories. They believe untrue fears that …
Losing Greeley
As I held my bunny for the last time, I couldn’t help but think about Will Gardner. I read that when the writers of The Good Wife decided to have Will die, they didn’t want it to be a typical television death, they wanted it to be abrupt, like real life. Real life is shocking. It takes you by …
Want Change? Then Rethink
It’s been a tough week. How do we process what we feel? How do we change circumstances? Dialogue and posts are great, but they tend to fade away once we accept what has occurred. I don’t want to oversimplify the complexity of the week’s events, or the challenges of our unique lives. But even the most complex issues necessitate …
Back to school: The normalcy of anxiety
Kids are heading back to school in the next couple of weeks and they are feeling it. We parents are feeling it, too. We all have different feelings and experiences when it comes to school, but the word I am hearing the most right now is “anxiety”. Well, of course. We are all feeling a little nervous, scared, and maybe …
Are you meeting your obligation?
This weekend one of my dear friends said something I can’t get out of my head. She said, “My dad taught me that we are obligated to live a good life, to give back in some way.” This resonated so strongly, I literally felt the words when she said them. I know that some will get caught up in the …
Throw away the litter, find the goodness
I took a walk with my almost-done-with-Kindergarten-6-year-old today. At her suggestion we took a garbage bag with us because she wanted it to be a “litter walk”. She explained that we pick up litter as we move and talk. And that we did. We walked through the whole park and found so much junk to throw away – this created …
A No-Clock Day
I have to work really hard to create a no-clock day. I have to say no to a lot of things, sometimes I even have to reschedule a thing or two. But it’s worth it, it’s always worth it. Having one day a month, or preferably one day a week, when there is no need for a clock feels like …
Living with turtle energy
I love the energy of the turtle. The real turtle, but also the cartoon turtle that lives in my head – he slowly glides through the water, smiling at everyone he sees. He gets to where he needs to go at his own pace. I have a picture of this turtle on my vision board. As a human it’s not …
Crying is real, crying is strong
I used to be uncomfortable in emotional movies because I’m a crier. I am moved very easily, I have always been moved very easily. So during a movie, or when witnessing an act of kindness, or when hearing a touching story, I would hold my breath, or wipe my eyes quickly, or blink fast – whatever needed to be done …
