A couple of days ago, my instructor explained how we’d be doing things differently “because of Covid.” “Ah, ‘because of Covid’,” I said. “The crappiest words in the English language.” “Are they really, though?” another student asked. “I could think of worst things we could say.” She was right, of course. Words are just words...
Let me see if I can articulate this correctly: Feel into this phrase, “I don’t care anymore.” Did you experience tension or relief? Most of us associate this declaration with something “bad.” When someone says it, we immediately jump into nurturing mode. “Oh, you don’t mean that,” we say. We search for ways to cheer...
Since rewatching the broadcast of Come From Away—the Broadway musical now streaming on Apple TV— I’ve had the song “Make Me a Channel of Your Peace” stuck in my head. We sang it often at mass when I was growing up, and I found it to be not only a beautiful melody, but wonderfully aspirational...
Not long ago, 14-year-old Russell Horning, a.k.a. “The Backpack Kid”, originated a dance called “The Floss.” It’s a catchy little move sequence in which your straightened arms swing back and forth across your body while your hips move in a quick pendulum motion. When the dance first got popular, I asked my daughter to teach...
A friend of mine was telling me she’d heard that creativity was one of the great casualties of the pandemic (my words, not hers). She noted how she’d stopped doing any of the creative things she’d previously loved to do, like quilting, and even now was struggling to find the energy to return to those...
A friend loaned me the DVD, Evolve Your Brain: the Science of Changing Your Mind, by Dr. Joe Dispenza. I’m aware of Dr. Joe and have read one of his books, so I knew to expect some interesting science around how our minds and emotions create our lives, but about halfway through the lecture, he...
I was chatting with a good friend the other day about how much I feel I’ve changed since the pandemic. I’ve realized how many of my previous life decisions were dictated by FOMO (fear of missing out). Now, I’m making my decisions by taking a moment to lean in and decide whether my energy is...
This post originally ran Jan 26, 2020 I’ve noticed when things are going well, we lose our right to grumble or complain. No one wants to hear it, what’s more, they can’t even fathom why you would want or dare to complain. Let’s say, for example, you just got that big commission you’ve been hoping...
The historian in me thinks it’s important to mark the one-year anniversary of the pandemic. The writer in me would rather not. Maybe it’s insecurity – there are far better writers than me sharing their thoughts right now. Maybe it’s sensitivity – I’ve just started to bounce back from a really hard year and I...
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...