Do Your Best
This past weekend I had the pleasure of giving the keynote address at the Women's Wellness Retreat at Camp Arroyo, a YMCA camp operated by the YMCA of the East Bay. 90 women from all walks of life were in attendance taking the weekend as an opportunity relax,...
SUCCESS is the word
Have you heard of this “word of the year” trend? It’s a bit of a substitute for making new year’s resolutions. I haven’t made resolutions for years. Some time ago I realized the process of choosing resolutions and promptly not following through on them was a...
Being “Different”
My high school drama teacher (at one time the sole distributor of life altering wisdom I paid any attention to) said that one of the biggest mistakes most people make is believing they're the only one who feels/thinks the way they do. Time and time again I've found...
The Little Pool
We had a pool in our backyard when I was growing up. I didn't realize until many years later what a privilege that was, but that's beside the point (or maybe it isn't, we'll both find out at the end of this post). The pool was in-ground, not quite kidney shaped, with...
Lenses
As most of you know, I am in love with JH and have been for several years. But as my mother taught me, love isn't enough. And she's right. As much as I want the Beatles song to be true, love isn't all I need. I need love, honesty, trust,...
On Being White…
There may be a time in my life when I am embarrassed by the choice to write this, but right now I'm embarrassed about not having written it sooner, so here we go. The ancestral makeup that generates my skin tone is one half Irish/Scottish (there was some debate among...
New Year, New Vow
I have a history with new year's resolutions. Namely breaking them. And then swearing off them as I prefer not to do things I don't anticipate will be successful. In recent years I've played with intentions instead. Feeling less pressure to do anything other than...
SUCCESS is the word
Have you heard of this “word of the year” trend? It’s a bit of a substitute for making new year’s resolutions. I haven’t made resolutions for years. Some time ago I realized the process of choosing resolutions and promptly not following through on them was a...
Being “Different”
My high school drama teacher (at one time the sole distributor of life altering wisdom I paid any attention to) said that one of the biggest mistakes most people make is believing they're the only one who feels/thinks the way they do. Time and time again I've found...
Give Up Sweating the Small Stuff
I judge people. We all do. It's part of the human experience. And while some might say that the goal of a mindful life is to live free of judgment, I like to remind them (and really, myself) that living free of judgment includes judgment of the judgers. So, I...
See Yourself Ignite
Tonight as I was watching and tending to the fire in my fireplace I sat in quiet contemplation (well, really I sat half listening to an episode of Curious George and zoning out while staring into the flames hoping for an extra dose of prana for my tired body). And...
Give Up: Holding On
Every life story has the moment (or momentS depending on the tragedy level of the cards you were dealt) where everything completely falls apart... Your husband gets sick (and I'm not talking man-cold although we know how devastating that can be), you lose your job,...
Go Ahead and Give Up
If I was a literary figure my tragic flaw would be that I give up too easily. Hopefully without sounding too full of myself I have to tell you that for most of my life I've had enough things come easily to me that I haven't had to work hard for much (I know... I...