Create the life you want.

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

Happy Monday. It's a new day. A new week. A new month at the beginning of the holiday season of the end of the year. A time of gathering, beginning to enjoy the harvest of the past two months, and a quieting, darkening time of solace and reflection. You know what to do. You know that complaining doesn't get you very far but living intentionally, living with compassion for yourself and others, is the way to make the changes you want to see in the world. It's not easy. It's nev

In times of worry or stress, the fundamental question often boils down to “Why me?” Or, “Why this?” Or, “Why now?” For answers, many people turn to prayer or to scriptural readings in holy books like the Bible, the Qur’an or the Torah for solace and answers. Others look to poetry, theater, art or music for guidance. Philosophy, comedy and movement are alternatives. But all these methods have been around for thousands of years and, still, nothing changes. Or does it? In the fa

I’m a lot less busy than I used to be but I still rely on my calendar to make sure I get things done. Whether you keep a paper record, a mental record or, like millions of smartphone users, an electronic one, you probably have some sense of your schedule and appointments for the upcoming week. Meetings for work, doctors’ appointments, coffee or dinner with friends – whatever you obligate yourself to, a calendar is probably the handiest, most useful tool you use for short-term

From 2015.   I've been reading Scientific American's special collector's edition, A Matter of Time. What a fascinating read!...