A humble, life saving, brain easing tool
While preparing for my about-to-launch art show, a friend helping me (Thanks, Kymm!) created a checklist to guide my work. On it were little boxes with the many tasks before me. My first reaction was, “But, I know this. already.” Then, I realized she’d given me a great gift that would ease my mind as […]
Bringing all our parts to the table
We have “no bad parts,” at least according to Dr. Richard Schwartz, founder of the Internal Family Systems (IFS) approach to psychotherapy. By parts, he means aspects of our personality, some of which evolved to support us, in ways that may not serve us well in our current lives. He teaches that: “Our inner parts contain […]
Learning to see again
Even with the best of eyes, we often don’t see. I discovered this truth while cleaning my office—a historic event that was part of a cleaning blitzkrieg. Now that the pace of “have-to-dos” around my book has slowed, it was time to turn my eyes (with apologies) to the other aspects of life I’ve neglected. […]
Solstice edition: The Light that lives within
Excerpted from “The Light Within” 2023 SJF Last week, I wrote about the darkness and grief many of us felt for the world—pain compounded by personal losses. Then, miraculously, my darkness began to lift, due to no special wisdom on my part. Maybe the Light of the holidays entered the cracks in my heart. A […]
Beauty and the Holidays
I caught up with the Angel of Beauty the other day as she stared into a storefront. “Beauty,” (as she let me call her), “what do you think of all this holiday decorating?” She sighed. “You know the word ‘decorate’ means to adorn, embellish and beautify. Its roots include honor and grace. I hope that’s what people feel when […]
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 […]
Following the trail of “yes”
My husband Steve and I just celebrated the 36th anniversary of our meeting. (We were married 35 years ago.) We said yes to being together then, and we’re still saying yes now. Reflecting on what brought us together made me think about how life is often made up of small yeses. The call that pulled […]
Surviving Mile 19
“Hitting the wall” is the term runners use to describe the moment when the bottom seems to fall out of their stamina, major exhaustion sets in, and doubt may surface about whether it’s even worth continuing. Statistically, it’s most likely to happen around Mile 19. It’s not too different from that moment described by mythologists and […]
Blank is Beautiful
I learned the joy in blankness as I played with my new favorite toy—a “Buddha Board.” The device lets you channel your inner Chinese brush artist as you dip a thick brush into water and paint over the board. Then, as you watch, the water evaporates and the marks fade away. The surface returns to […]
