This post first ran on April 17, 2021 My book club recently reached a full consensus about a book: none of us liked it. In fact, four of the ten chose not to finish reading it. The conversation about the book was entertaining because whenever there’s agreement, people can speak freely, and some of their...
Author: Teresa Funke
What Did Your Favorite Toy Say About You?
Did your favorite toy as a child predict your future? Is it possible we understand our journey in life long before we can even articulate it? I was pondering those questions when I decided to give a stuffed Snoopy to my friend’s daughter for her first birthday. Snoopy was my first love, long before I...
For Heaven’s Sake, People, Lighten Up!
I’ve talked a lot about intention in this blog over the years, mostly trying to figure out how exactly it works. Lately, I’ve been thinking about the only time in my life when I felt like intention was really clear. It was back in college, when I’d meet my friends at the bar on a...
What Change Are You Resisiting?
I’ve been trying a new technique that my holistic lifestyle coach and I have been calling “bookending” my day. As someone who is naturally a bit “wound up,” it’s good for me to ground myself now and then. So, we started by working on a morning routine. Ways to settle into a good mental and...
Knowing Your Full Measure
A few years ago, a lady said to me, “Well, you’re so cute and tiny I could just pick you up and put you in my pocket.” I just stared at her, dumbfounded. I mean, how do you respond to a comment like that? So today, I’m calling out a bit of sexism that affects...
Who Says You Can’t Find Wisdom on TikTok?
My husband adores TikTok. Whenever he finds a short video he thinks I’d like, he texts it to me. During a recent rough patch, he got in the habit of texting me a funny video first thing in the morning. Since he gets up before me, he could do it before I was awake. I’d...
How to Stay Grounded in Your Excitement
I’ve been meeting lately with holistic healer and coach, Brenda Carey, partly because I’ve become interested in Ayurvedic medicine and partly because after a year and a half spent on sabbatical working to get my mental and physical health back on track, I was starting to become busy again. This time, I wanted to be...
Closing Time
My husband is closing out a 33-year career in corporate America. He’s not retiring, he’s moving into a new line of creative work of his choosing. Still, it feels like a huge change. He’s been at the same company his entire career and started there when we were still dating. That company has been our...
How to Find Magic in the Rules
I was gushing on about the Enneagram and feng shui the other day to a friend. I’ve spent a great deal of time in the past two to three years learning about both and applying the knowledge and practice of each to my life in some pretty uplifting ways. “It’s funny,” my friend said. “I...
Quit Retelling Old Hardship Stories About Artists
I caught a snippet of Marketplace on NPR yesterday. They were interviewing a professional ballet dancer about her current earnings, and she said when she tells people she’s a dancer they ask, ‘What else do you do?’” She explained to the interviewer she’s in rehearsals from 9-6 every day, and performing and dancing is her...