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...
Hold On to the Arrogance of Youth
When I was a kid, I talked my little brother into going around the neighborhood with me knocking on doors and offering to sing a Christmas carol for a tip. It could be any song the person wanted to hear as long as we knew it, and I think they could tip in any amount....
Is Exposure Really a Fair Trade?
While I’m on a roll, I’m just going to keep going. Last week, I implored artists of all kinds to stop compromising themselves in order to serve others. In other words: stop being afraid to justifiably raise your prices out of a false sense of doing good. Now I’d like to take a look at...