This past week I hosted one of my Bursts of Brilliance® Art Salons at our local museum of art. Our discussion topic for the evening centered around the fantasies that pull us into our art careers and keep us going when things get tough. I brought up this quote by Louisa May Alcott: “Far away...
My friend apologized the other day for not stopping by my event that morning. “I meant to come,” she said, “But I woke up grumpy. I know that’s not an excuse because I don’t even know why.” “Do you need a reason?” I asked. “You woke up grumpy and you skipped something you weren’t obligated...
My friend, Franklin, and I were bonding over shared memories of getting in trouble for “daydreaming” or “not paying attention” in class. He mentioned he wasn’t really daydreaming, he was processing, and that struck a chord with me. I always felt like an imposter when someone accused me of daydreaming. The dictionary definition of daydreaming...
When our kids were growing up, we never used the word “allowance” in our house. I made that decision partly because the concept of an allowance sounded to me like entitlement, on the one hand, and loss of agency on the other. If you get an allowance simply for being someone’s offspring, that sends a...
The other night, I attended an “evening of creation” designed to help us access our “practical spirituality.” One of the presenters, Jonathan, played music for us on a handpan drum. I wasn’t familiar with the instrument, and the sound was ethereal and relaxing. Jonathan was one of those splendid individuals who manage to come across...
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...
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...
For most of my life, I avoided invitations to join book clubs. I had way too many books on my “to read” list already. Not to mention all the reading I was doing as research for my work. Then along came the pandemic, and I accidentally found myself in 3.5 book clubs. The first started...
Several years ago, a friend was staying at my house. She decided to give her little boy a bath but I hadn’t set out enough towels, so she reached into the linen closet and grabbed one. Later, I noticed she had chosen an old ratty towel with holes in it that I keep off to...
On his podcast, Your Own Best Company, my friend Franklin Taggart invited us to reframe this busy season as a time of abundance. To remember that all this chaos is really proof of a bountiful harvest. That our focus on friendships, jobs, and families has paid off, and we are surrounded by people and things we...