Beyond Chocolate Bunnies
Spring has sprung in all its spectacularness. The cherry tree has finished weeping its delicate pink blossoms, and now the crabapple takes […]
Anchoring to steady your life
I find myself teetering on the edge of overwhelm a lot these days, and I suspect I’m not alone. It feels […]
Wither art in times of turmoil
“This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need […]
How to Feel In Control (Even When the World Isn’t)
The Buddha suggested that our need for control leads to suffering. But who, among us less enlightened beings, doesn’t want to feel […]
America 2025: Finding Your Role in the Performance of Our Lifetime
Given the appalling daily news from Washington, D.C., I’ve heard many ask, “What can I do?” and “What’s my role in turning […]
The “Dunno” Card: Your permission to not know
Back in my school days, I was rewarded for knowing things. And the world, as I understood it then, was knowable—even if […]
In Case of Catastrophe—Calm
When the news bombards us with calamity after calamity, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, our minds caught in a never-ending spin […]
Be Subversive: SMILE (and then act)
Given the nightmarish news, you may wonder why I suggest smiling—when the appropriate emotional response might be RAGE. I don’t like for one […]
Balance Out Don’t Tune Out
I did that thing I tell myself not to do: I read an email headline too early in the morning. It […]
Health Alert: Inauguration Despair Virus is Surging
No one needs reminding that it’s been a tough month: fires, bombings, and an inauguration many of us never thought possible. It’s […]
Finding Joy in Baby Gratitudes
As you might know, I’m a big proponent of small steps—even micro ones—that keep us moving toward what matters most. At this […]
The Art of Unknowing
When I was growing up, school rewarded us for what we knew. We were tested on facts and praised for correct answers. […]
If you need a hug—or some light today
This isn’t the blog I intended to write. I’ll skip any analysis of the world or elections and instead offer you my […]
Because it’s complicated
High-end AI systems can now process a gigabyte (billion bits) of data per second. In contrast, human attention spans have declined to […]
We’re in this together
Fear and worry can constrict us, prompting us to hold our energy protectively when we sense danger. These feelings can separate us, […]
Seven Steps for Surviving Election Season
If you’re prone to anxiety, the pre-election period can feel like an endless source of heart-thumping drama. The state of the world […]
Got Anxiety? If not, why not? (with lessons from Inside Out 2)
One great takeaway from Inside Out 2, Pixar’s summer blockbuster, is that we are all entitled to a full range of emotions—from […]
What’s growing now (a pause)
What’s growing in your garden? Not just in your outside garden, which I hope is flourishing, but in your inner garden as […]
A Gift from an Unusual Source
What if you could strengthen the qualities you need by feeling your connections with friends who have died? I know this may sound […]
Playing with Paradox
To be able to hold a paradox requires holding the tension between opposites—seemingly contradictory forces. When the world appears too chaotic it’s tempting to want to […]
When who we are is how we are supposed to be
Last week I received the latest episode in my ongoing series, “Lessons in Loss and Grief.” A close, dear friend died after […]
What’s Age Got to Do with It? (Thank you, Tina Turner)
In 1984, Tina Turner celebrated one of the biggest comebacks in music history. She hit the stage at 44 with her “Private […]
When stuff doesn’t make sense
Sometimes, what I expect to make sense doesn’t. And what feels a little crazy might make most sense of all. As a […]
Changing at the Speed of Slow
Question to a rancher: What’s the fastest way to move cattle? Rancher: Slowly On Monday, Martin Luther King Day, I thought about […]
Set Up Your Day With Morning Rituals and Routines
In these tumultuous times, as I wrote about last week, morning rituals and routines set the direction for our days. They offer a base […]
Fasten your seat belt—it’s 2024!
“Live with skillful nonchalance and ceaseless concern.”~ Prajnaparamita Sutra ~ Fasten your seat belt, it’s 2024 and we’re in for a wild […]
The exquisitely beautiful and difficult
“To me, this is so much of life: holding the really beautiful things and the profoundly hard things in the same palm.” […]
The Gift of Ordinary Kindness
When readers tell me that they are enjoying my book, it makes my heart sing. If it inspires them to expand their […]
Eight ways to help your brain chill (and not be a boiled frog)
Peter Senge taught me the lesson of the boiled frog in his 1990 book, The Fifth Discipline. He described how, if you […]
Growing high/growing low
Most trees and plants grow by reaching upward toward the light while sinking roots into the darkness of the earth. We grow as […]
Beyond Barbie (What would you say in your speech?)
When I was eight, the girls in my neighborhood loved playing with dolls. I didn’t. I preferred to explore the Connecticut woods […]
When things feel out of control—try this
Growth. Time. Change and the idea of flow in nature. When I make a work I often take it to the edge […]
Freedom’s Not Just Another Word
On the Fourth of July in the United States we celebrate freedom. That is if anyone stops to think about it. Our […]
Here Comes the Sun (a solstice pause)
On the Summer Solstice, the longest day in the year, as the sun reached its highest point in the sky, I took […]
Nine Lessons from Grief’s Playbook
First off, thanks to everyone who sent words of condolence and compassion for my sister’s death—which I shared last week. I loved […]
How to be embodied in a world that’s increasingly not—eight simple steps
The signs of disembodiment are everywhere. Our 24-7 culture seems better suited to constantly-turned-on robots than to humans who do better when […]
Message from the Matrix: “You are not creative”
In the movie The Matrix, the hero faces a choice. The blue pill or the red pill. Stay with the known world […]
Give your brain a break—extend your mind
Where does the mind live? In our brains? Our bodies? The environment? Each other? Some mix? Or, as philosophers Andy Clark and […]
Today. This Day. Right Now.
Today as I sat quietly, sort of meditating, preparing to take my husband to physical therapy, five words came to me: Today. […]
Are we crazy?
I’ve had it. Another shooting. And children, for god’s sake. .Let’s call this for what it is. Insanity. We talk about mental […]
Creating “normal”
Years ago, you wouldn’t have heard me craving “normal.” Picturing myself as creative, I’d have called normal too dull, predictable, and routine. […]
Living in Limbo-Land
y husband has Covid, and I may be next. I’m officially in limbo (call it quarantined). Overnight, life changed. I canceled plans and […]
Life as improv–Nine rules for a better performance
In my sixties, I did a number of improvisational theatre classes, until the pandemic hit. I miss the fun, but no matter. […]
To care without despair
How to avoid depair as we continue to care? And create without hate? I’ve had to meter my news so that I […]
Use that anger so that it doesn’t use you
Anger is a natural part of life. It comes and goes, like the wind, unless like a broken fan in the summer, […]
Discover before you plan
“It may be that when we no longer know what to dowe have come to our real work,and that when we no […]
Imagine a new world–through song
“It’s a bold day.Let’s create a world where everyone can thrive.A together day when the joy of one is the joy of […]
Did Darwin Get it Wrong?
At the suggestion of a friend, I recently watched Fantastic Fungi. Normally, a movie about mycelium and mushrooms wouldn’t be my top pick […]
Time for the Turning
Years ago, I loved to listen to Gordon Bok singing “Turning Towards the Morning” on well-worn Folk-Legacy LP. I could listen for hours to […]
Finding our way across choppy seas
“It may be that when we no longer know what to do we have come to our real work” Wendell Berry I […]
Balance continuity and change
In these times of turbulence and rapid change, when areas like the environment, voting rights, and immigration demand immediate, constructive action, why […]
Create the tension for change
When we work in a problem-solving mode, we remain limited. Our energy stays focused on the problem, instead of what we want. […]
To gain perspective, turn upside down
The tragedy of George Floyd invited many of us to wake up, to see the world as it is and not what […]
Is it time to start returning?
It’s time to start talking about APAD: Anticipatory Post-pandemic Apprehension Disorder. Unless it’s just my issue. I was so excited to have […]
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with a fiercer love
I’ve been learning about a new face of love reading Valerie Kaur’s See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love. […]
Let’s sing a new revolution
In Estonia, people sing. An Estonian woman I heard speak in an online singing class talked about Laulupidu, Estonia’s choral song festival. […]
Seeding a new beginning
“Stories are like seeds. It pays to know what you want to harvest from your garden so you can plant the right […]
Stay calm–and vigilant
Last Saturday, as elections results were finally announced. I celebrated. Relaxed. Cried. Then I looked up and knew, “It ain’t over yet.” […]
Time for trust
We hoped it would be over. It’s not over. Maybe over was just a fantasy. The same forces that existed before the […]
As we move through countdown
Are you on countdown this week? I keep ticking away days as if life is being divided into BE (before elections) and AE. […]
This revolution will require love
Is it OK to rage when we’re committed to practicing love? How do we love someone whose words and actions have lead […]
What comes after a “staycation?”
When we were told to shelter-at-home at the beginning of the pandemic, I heard many friends talking about our new lives like […]
Taking time on higher ground: John Lewis
In the Pacific Northwest, I love to go up into the mountains, the Cascades or the Olympics, where I can breathe cool, […]
Resistance, resilience, and great women–a formula for hope
What if women, in this county and around the world, were to link arms across divides, including color, class, faith, sexual preference, […]
To change our systems, remember the body
A post on racism by Resmaa Menakem jumped out at me last week, so much so that I had to immediately read […]
A champion for justice who deserves to be known
Last week was tough, for me, for many, filled with horrific images and the sadness that my country, the United […]
Finding the art of the “new normal”
First of all, it’s OK. Whatever you are feeling, or doing, it’s OK Life today is not normal. How can we hope […]
