February 2024 Am I the only one who looks around in amazement (and maybe with some healthy skepticism) at life as it is, wondering “Is this who I am? How did I get so blessed?” (And the skepticism chiming in “Are you gonna be able to make this last?”) I have an insane amount of and insanely wonderful people in my life.  Sometimes I wonder if I am dreaming. As a child, connection, community and friendship were absent. A big part of this was due to location and familial circumstances. When you only have so many people physically living around…

February 2024 I’m currently reading “The History of Coined Words” by Ralph Keyes where he tells the stories about words we use today. Some were meant as jokes that then turned into fields we know today (ie. scientist). Some were meant for degradation and then used by others to empower themselves (ie. suffragette). Some were words used to explain a whole different idea that turned into worldwide phenomenons themselves (ie. paradigm).  It’s freeing – we made ALL of this up and we can remake ALL of it up again. And it’s petrifying – we DO have the responsibility to make…

Unless you are a rose in the arctic… March 2024 Our desire for one liners that can support YOU to fix everything and change your life NOW is vast and never-ending. This month I’m digging into a few I see the most. I want to show that 1) yes,they can be supportive (at times) but they can also 2) do serious damage and harm when used incorrectly. Bloom where you are planted. The visual on this statement makes it instantly understandable and recognizable. We can see and understand the limitations and rules of nature surrounding us. No study or internet…

March 2024 I have become a tea person.  If you knew me a few years ago, I was NOT a tea person (or a coffee person or a drink person or any type of person that way.)  But I wanted to be a tea person. So bad. For some reason. I had so many (seemingly) failed attempts. I didn’t know why I kept trying. Why I wanted to have tea. For some reason I kept insisting on trying over and over, buying things, and donating them away.   I would take a break. Tell myself that this was crazy, silly. A…

This is THE mountain I will die on. March 2024 Interrupting my normal schedule because we aren’t even two weeks into this and I’m miserable. Yes, it’s Spring in the Northern Hemisphere but I hate every moment of it EVERY year. It feels so disjointed and false. I write this same thing to myself EVERY year as a reminder to myself. My least favorite time of year…where my body wants it to be earlier and the clock says it is later. And the sun definitely does NOT match the number on the clock. I am NOT a fan of Daylight Savings…

If only… March 2024 This month is all about WHY you feel so weird and creepy when you see some of these “positive inspirational quotes” on social media or listen to a friend or co-worker quote it while trying to “coach” others through their stuff. This week’s quote:  “The worst thing that can happen is a feeling.” I have heard this one A LOT. I’ve been told it. I’ve heard it said to friends and family. I’ve seen it all over. The whole “It’s just your thoughts. You are holding yourself back.” And my response is, “Well, yeah, maybe…” It…

Maybe… March 2024 Photo Chris Molloy: https://www.pexels.com/photo/brooklyn-bridge-new-york-944690/ The last in this series, this phrase kept popping up in my mind. It frustrated me when I was a kid. Is this a locality thing? Did kids growing up in California hear “If everyone jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge would you?” Am I in the last generation to have heard this phrase? I am suddenly very concerned about this. This week’s phrase: “If everyone jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you?” Maybe I was the recipient of this line.  If I was, I don’t remember. It sounds quaint now. Ridiculous even.…

April 2024 Spring makes me a ball of anxiety. Always has. Likely always will. I find myself out of sorts, off my schedule, and feeling like I don’t have a handle on anything. It feels as if everything is up in the air. I know my words, thoughts and feelings run counter to the society I live in – yet that seems to be the way. And I don’t think that I am alone in it. I have never heard a bad word about Spring. Or even a questioning word. Spring doesn’t have any bad PR. Spring is good. Spring…

April 2024 Spring brings anxiety for me but it’s just a microcosm of a larger concern within my life. There is the pull of the “do, do, do” when I want to be (if I’m moving at all) slower and more exploratory. I know that this anxiety comes not just in Spring but in the whole of life. Gratefully, I am feeling more confident in being motivated by Nature (and less by the world) as I get older. I have found throughout my lifetime that my thresholds for burnout seem unusually low. And as I get older they become lower…