Marika, Mabel and I spent last weekend at a friend’s cabin out of the heat of the desert. What a gift to drive two short hours north and be surrounded by tall, sweet pines, where the daytime temperature peaks in the mid-80’s and at night, it’s cool enough, with the windows open, to pull a blanket over my shoulders. We arrived in the dark on Friday night,...
Read MoreThe Gifts of a Setback
You may be tired of hearing about my sciatica, but I’m learning so much about myself through this experience. And folks have written, thanking me for verbalizing what they’ve experienced with their own chronic pain. I was so happy to return to work last week, driving to a client’s house, sitting for two hours and then driving home. I iced between...
Read MoreWhat’s Next?
Like with any behavior, thought or pattern we’re trying to release, if we focus on it, it continues to manifest. But if we shift our thought and attention to what is NEXT, even AND ESPECIALLY if we don’t know what that is, then that first thing loses energy, lessens its hold on us and it eventually releases. For the last four weeks...
Read MoreThat Attitude of Gratitude
It is springtime in the Arizona desert and, as I drive the streets that line the bases of the mountains, it is as if the whole earth is lit up with the yellows of poppies and brittle bush and marigolds. Bursts of orange African daisies and purple lupine and verbena appear on the roadsides between stretches of sidewalk and graveled hiking trails. I...
Read MoreThe Friend Who Knew Me
Several weeks ago I found out that my very first childhood friend had suddenly died. Though we hadn’t seen each other since we were thirteen, we’d recently connected on Facebook and the loss struck me deep and hard. She was one of the last friends who knew me as a child, before my brother died. I met Ellen in nursery school. She had a playhouse fort...
Read MorePostcards from Paradise
I am back in California and I am so grateful for this freedom that I have created for myself to be able to move between places and appreciate the joys of each of them. As I drove back with the strong intention of focusing these next three months on writing my book, I realized that I have long dreamed of spending a winter at the beach and writing. For years...
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