Create the life you want.

From January 2013: Remember the old joke about the aspiring musician who stopped a man on the street in New York City and asked, “Excuse me, sir. Can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall”? To which the stranger replied, “Practice, practice, practice.” Wherever you are in your practice, whatever your practice is, if you want to improve, keep at it. It can be hard to resist comparison with others – teachers, friends, celebrities, strangers, neighbors, siblings – but resist y

My hand hurts so I thought I would try to exercise it more – more than typing on my computer, anyway; so, I decided to return to crocheting. It was something I did 50 years ago. I made afghans, sweaters, hats, scarves, decorations for the home and more. It was a pastime in the literal sense – I would pass the time spent in front of football games my husband watched on TV which interested me only mildly. Times changed and my habits along with them. And my interests. And then,

It’s here again. The turn of the year. A time when our attention is drawn to numbers. Twenty twenty-five becomes 2026. The first quarter of the century is over (remember the excitement and fuss over Y2K, the turn of the millennium?). We go from the twelfth month to the first. We count down the seconds in celebration of what was and what will be. This is a season for looking back; we remember people who mattered to us and brought us joy, either personally or professionally. We

With apologies to those of you who are also on my mailing list for my weekly contemplative practice Lectio 360. Last Friday, I read this poem to a small group of fellow practitioners. In respect of the wonder of the year-end holidays -- Hannukah, solstice celebrations, Christmas, and many others -- I offer you this startlingly beautiful poem called Just Now by W.S. Merwin. I hope it touches the beauty, the mystery and the miracle of this transition time of year. May your days

I’m very late getting to my letter this week. Often, I lament that there’s nothing left to say but that’s never true, is it? This past week, on two sides of the planet, we’ve seen senseless acts of gun violence, and this on the heels of the 13 th  anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Sandy Hook is nearby. My high school classmate was the school nurse there the day it happened. I have friends who lived in the town. So, there’s plenty to say about the hard

For decades, I’ve decorated my Christmas tree, just as I have again this year, with angels. It’s a tradition. Well, it’s my tradition. My parents never did it and my adult children don’t do it. Just me. As I put up all the other decorations, some from my early years as an adult, a few from my husband’s past, some gained and cherished through the years from family and friends, I began thinking about the idea of tradition in all areas – holidays, family patterns, cultural and

As November rolls away and daylight shifts to the other side of the planet, we enter our annual transition into winter. The year-end holidays Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and others offer us a distraction from the lengthening nights. We cheerfully and eagerly exhaust ourselves with shared meals, colorful lights and seasonal foods, decorations and songs. And right at the peak of all that activity, we enter wintertime. For some, it’s an easy transition. But not fo

Accusing a party of “zero gratitude” for help given entirely perverts the concept of gratitude. During this week of our national holiday of giving thanks, of being grateful, of speaking our gratitude – silently in prayer or contemplation or publicly as many do at the Thanksgiving dinner table – let us look at the idea of gratitude. Before 1447, gratitude meant good will. Later, in 1565, we have the first recorded text where the word means thankfulness or a kindly feeling beca

When I heard that the US mint struck the last penny, I was nonplussed. Does this mean I can’t ask someone, “A penny for your thoughts”? Can I no longer be penny-wise, pound-foolish or register when a penny drops? What about pricing things at $9.99 – will that become $9.95? And when we eliminate the penny from our spending or pricing, aren’t we also eliminating the other four cents that we ordinarily count up to the next coin, the nickel? Where do those four cents go? I’m sure

It has been a busy week for me and one of the great pleasures I had was being asked to read poetry to a group. This is a contemplative practice that I lead weekly on Zoom so being in person was a real treat. I chose The Cure for It All  by Julia Fehrenbacher, and I’m sharing it with you. Read it through slowly. Read it again, even slower. Let the words wash over you and notice what word or phrase taps you lightly on the arm and whispers to you, “Pay attention to me.” Then, do