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 […]
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 of comfort and security or face a could-be-terrifying unknown. Recently, a new artificial intelligence (AI) program ChatGPT has surfaced that may be able to write better than you can. Coincidentally, a representative from […]
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 David Chalmers asked in 2000, “Where does the mind stop and the rest of the world begin?” While those questions might sound philosophical, they are really super practical. They move us from brain-based thinking […]
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. This Day. Right Now. The words me helped a lot. My small foray into caregiving has, once again, filled me with empathy for caregivers, the often unsung heroes of the world. Not that […]
