This post originally ran April 30, 2022 I raised my kids to follow their hearts; to trust their intuition. I truly believe our gut responses are often the best. So why is it so hard sometimes to just “go with the gut”? Why do our minds feel the need to try to override our intuition?...
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....
When I was a kid, I made up my own language. I wanted to speak in a foreign tongue, but, of course, I didn’t know any, so I just strung some sounds together and pretended. I mostly spoke it to my stuffed animals and sometimes to my little brother, probably to bug him. And occasionally...
I got my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine this week. I was both excited and nervous, which is exactly how I feel about the concept of life going “back to normal.” For a year now, I’ve complained bitterly about pandemic-imposed isolation, boredom, separation, and loss. I’ve longed for the things I miss, like eating...
I’m taking a Spanish class right now. I’ve been meaning to do so for ages. I studied Spanish for five years in junior high and high school but—like most people who only studied in school—I never did get fluent in the language or comfortable with my skills. Our teacher has been encouraging us to turn...
A friend commented on one of my recent blog posts. She said, “I just love how honest you are in your blog.” I took that as a compliment, after all, that’s how she intended it. But her comment caused me pause. See, when I write these posts, I don’t set out to be anything in...
I woke up with a cold today. A very runny nose and a foggy brain: two things you do not want to confront on a day when you’re scheduled to do two interviews, one for a blog, the other for a podcast. I thought about cancelling, but I knew my hosts had deadlines, and after...
Recently, I listened to a speaker list three significant moments in her past when she doubted her ability to move forward, and how a key figure in her life told her each time, she could do it. His confidence propelled her onward. Things have not always been that way for me. At several important junctures...
The other day, a friend told a story of a mentor who once said to her “Why not?” when she doubted she could do something. Two simple words, and yet where do we go from there? Well, typically we launch into a laundry list of excuses. All the reasons why not. And sometimes we can...
The other day, I was meeting with one of my women’s groups. We’re all getting to know each other really well, and one woman asked a pretty deep question. Another said, “Wow. You’re asking us to be pretty vulnerable.” And then we each answered, from the heart, and with faith that we would face no...