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.” —Suleika Jaouad I just finished watching the new Netflix documentary, American Symphony, featuring two of my heroes, writer Suleika Jaoud and her musician husband, Jon Batiste. They exemplify living in the both/and of […]
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 creative adventures, I’m doubly delighted. Last week, I received an email with the subject “Brava” that brightened my day. The content made me even happier. Not only did the sender like my book, but he […]
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 want to boil a frog, you put him in cold water and gradually turn up the heat. The frog won’t notice the incremental changes until it’s too late. He offered us the principles […]
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 we look upward and let our hearts expand with light and joy. And it feels good to feel rooted as well. But there’s another growth path that’s not much fun. It’s the downward path. […]
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 and ride around on my Schwinn bicycle. As the girls down the street were unwrapping their first Barbies on a sunny fall day, I cruised the area, wind in my hair, not knowing […]
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 of its collapse and that’s a very beautiful balance.” Andy Goldsworthy Do you ever feel as if life is like piling rocks? You build a solid foundation and things feel stable and under […]
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 “Independence Day” is mostly a time of picnics and fireworks, and too often, a lot of noise. I call it the “National Day of Terror” for animals and usually skip the fireworks to […]
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 a pause to reflect. I found words online that seemed timely to me—as well as a musical treat I share below. But first, I quote: Thanks for traveling with me through the thoughts […]
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 each email, even as a message occasionally triggered a wave of sadness. Support beats silence any day. I’ll remember this lesson the next time a friend faces a loss or diagnosis, and I don’t […]
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 they live by the rhythms of nature and their bodies. Many of us need to practice what came naturally to us as children: embodiment. It’s the practice of being fully connected to our […]
