Finding magic in my pencil
There are many ways to get to know someone, even someone we haven’t met, and this week I’ve been playing with one that has proved particularly meaningful to me. I draw faces. We live, or at least I do, in a world of judgments, mental constructs, expectations, and prejudices that influence how we see people around […]
Lessons from the Harvest
I love fall with its colors, coolness, beauty, and the poignancy of knowing that winter is coming and the rains will start. It is also the time of harvest. At harvest time, I no longer work in nature. I work for her. Or, specifically for the Harvest. And believe me, the Harvest is one tough […]
Setting Myself on Fire, or the Power of Moments
Some events in our life stand out like none others–so disorienting that they challenge us to know where we are and maybe who we are. I had one of those events this week: I set myself on fire. It wasn’t hard to do. I was fixing my husband Steve a special supper the evening before […]
Sing the Song that Wants to Come Through You
LLast week, a friend thanked me profusely for a two-word expression I shared with her seven years ago: “both/and.” The words helped when, after her husband died, people asked, “How are you?” She didn’t have to choose between “I’m great” and “I’m feeling so sad.” She could be both. “Both/and” is an approach to life. On […]
Finding the Secret to Magic
This week, I had a brief encounter with magic. It came from reading a book, and remembering. When we were children, if we were lucky, magic lived in us. We might have found it when we were playing outdoors, making up stories with a friend, or reading a book. For me, magic was wandering alone through […]
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 don’t go numb while trying to stay informed about what is happening in Ukraine. To allow my heart to feel, I’ve turned to song. The creators of these four pieces turned their strong […]
Using the fire of anger to create beauty
Uncontrolled anger kills. Combined with political motives and manipulation it starts wars. It’s challenging not to be angry and scared by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Yet, I don’t want to forget that anger, with its heat, can also be used to create art. At the Tacoma Art Museum, glassblowers demonstrate the art of glassmaking in […]
How to invite Beauty into your life
[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”] [et_pb_row admin_label=”row”] [et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] I’ve been craving Beauty as we pass through the darkest time of year. Fortunately, she’s everywhere when we seek her, send her love, and move with her in a spirit of relationship. She runs away, though, when we turn her into a thing to be bought and sold, sliced, diced […]
Let your imagination inspire reality
Sometimes what comes out of our imaginations can seem truer than the accurate words the dictionary knows or the facts we’ve held about our lives. When a word, play, or story speaks directly to our experience, it can feel real. I thought about this when I heard a quote at the beginning of the film, tick, tick… BOOM!, the […]
Breaking the grip of self-judgment
Self-judgment is a nasty critter. Under the guise of inviting us to learn, it amplifies any mistakes we’ve made and makes it hard to forgive ourselves when things don’t go as planned. Self-judgment is like tethering ourselves to a heavy weight called the past. With that weight, it’s hard to make a mistake and move […]
