May You Have Many Worries
“I vow to let go of all worries and anxiety in order to be light and free.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh My mother was what you might call a “professional worrier.” She worried with skill, power, and acumen. She could incisively hone in on the most seemingly benign situation and find within it some kernel of [...]
Be Courageous: There’s more than one way to do it . . .
Courage doesn’t always mean rushing into a burning building to save a life. Courage can be asking forgiveness. Or courage can mean offering it. Courage can mean honoring your true feelings or openly accepting the feelings of another (no matter how uncomfortable those feelings are). Courage can mean walking into a gym. Or a [...]
Be Grateful: You are never as alone as you imagine
There is solace in every breeze. Support in the ground below you. Nurturance in every raindrop. In gratitude for these we will find connection and healing. We are never as alone as we imagine. There is compassion within the warmth of sunlight. Openness in the sky above you. Peace in the drift of the clouds. [...]
How to be Appreciative: Appreciating Appreciation
Today’s Reverb10 prompt from Victoria Klein asks: “What’s the one thing you have come to appreciate most in the past year? How do you express gratitude for it?” Here is my answer: Kids are naturally like miniature lawyers. They are always on the lookout for a good loophole. So (for example) if you were to [...]
How To Be Connected: A Class Reunion in Cyberspace
During the month of December, I’ll be participating in a project called Reverb 10. Reverb 10 is “an open online initiative that encourages participants to reflect on this year and manifest what’s next. It’s an opportunity to retreat and consider the reverberations of your year past, and those that you’d like to create in the year ahead.” Each day [...]
How To Be Grateful: “One of these days” … My philosophy of parenting
One of these days . . . One of these days my house will be clean. I will not find dirty socks stuffed between the couch cushions because it is apparently too far to walk to the hamper. I will not have to muffle a cry of pain in the middle of the night because [...]
How To Be Real: Be Present to Life’s Sweetness
I have a bad habit of knitting my brow when I am lost in thought. One day, a few years ago, I was sitting and watching my son playing Legos in the living room. I was gazing absently at his play, but my mind was lost in some tangled problem I was trying to [...]
How to Be Aware: Take note of what goes right
“So, how was your day?” It’s a question my husband James and I have asked of one another every evening for seventeen years. I am sure it is a question that’s asked millions of times every day. Spouses and partners ask one another as they cook their evening meals. Friends check in with each other. [...]
How To Be Transformative: Turn your troubles into treasure
Our troubles are like compost. From all outward appearances, they’re unsightly and smelly. We’d like to shove them away into a dark place where we’ll never have to look at them again. But just as compost will yield rich soil if we are willing to let it be — if we are willing to care [...]
How To Be Celebratory: The release of our new video, “Sticky Notes”
I saw this video in my head long before it made it’s premier on YouTube. The actors. The expressions. The movements. I knew just how it would unfold. Just how it would be paced. I wanted to make a short film that would illustrate what it means to have a “To Be List.” And with [...]