I left a phone message today for a truly lovely person who closed out their voicemail greeting with the popular saying, “Make it a great day.” Am I the only one who cringes when I hear that directive? Or maybe you’ve read it on a bumper sticker or seen it on a sign? Sometimes it’s...
This Post Was First Published on January 16, 2016 I have a tendency to work too much. My friends tell me to slow down, take more naps, spend more time outdoors, and so on. So, I do. I drop some projects, step back from some roles, say no to some opportunities. And for the first...
This post originally ran on August 27, 2016 We are bombarded daily with tips for how to live longer, healthier lives. How to treat our bodies better, bolster our minds and nourish our souls. We’re supposed to drink eight glasses of water a day, get eight hours of sleep per night, eat our greens, meditate,...
When my kids were little, I taught them to say the words “Stop, please” if anyone in the family was doing something that bothered or upset them. I made it clear they had to say the exact words in the exact order. They couldn’t just yell, “Stop it.” Because the words themselves were the cue...
There was a time in my life when I longed for the kind of good friends I have now. I mean true kindred spirits. Soulmates. People who care for me and allow me to care for them. People who are at once vulnerable and wise. People who make me feel safe and who welcome my...
I was listening to an episode of Poetry Unbound, a podcast hosted by Padraig O Tuama who is definitely a person I’d love to have at my dinner party. He mentioned that in Irish when you talk about emotion, you don’t say, “I am sad.” You say, “sadness is on me.” You don’t become the...
I’ve been failing at my sabbatical. That’s the word I’ve been choosing to describe this period of stepping back from the work for which I once felt such devotion. It sounded like a more romantic word than “break” and a less confusing term than “gap year” and a less dramatic designation than “mid-life crisis.” It...
I was chatting with a woman at a fundraiser about her career at our local university. She described several roles she’d played. “Wow,” I said. “You must have been there quite a while.” “Thirty-one years,” she said. By the tone in her voice, it was clear she felt that amount of time was significant, meaningful,...
My blog posts are created and stored in one long Word document. When I reopen the document to write a new post, I receive a prompt that says, “Pick up where you left off.” If I click that prompt, it scrolls down to the last post I edited. All I have to do is hit...
This week marks the seventh anniversary of this blog. Someone asked me how I had maintained the stamina for such an endeavor and how I came up with new ideas every week. I told her it all comes down to passion and permission. In 2014, friends had been urging me to start a blog for...