Busyness vs. Rest

I like to keep busy. Over the course of my life, I’ve held several jobs simultaneously and once it was up to four. The reasons are the same two for most people: debt and bills. Even when my main focus was homeschooling my daughter, I worked odd jobs and threw pots in my ceramics studio….

Feeling the Heat

I hope your summer is going better than planned. With longer days, the workload has been ramping up here – but that isn’t a complaint. With extended hours of daylight, I’m inclined to go out and enjoy the company of others. Last week I overheard someone say that though it’s just now July, for them,…

When the Wave Crashes Over You

When the day to day becomes like a tidal wave threatening to pull you under how do you cope? This occasionally happens to all of us sooner or later, that overwhelm engulfs even the most self-aware among us. I wanted to be “on” for the people I was meeting for the first time and the…

The Tail of A Year

I’m not big into new year resolutions. I find that turning over a new leaf does hold a lot of promise, but without an actionable plan, most new endeavors fall flat fairly fast. I think about the recently passed NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) as an example. While a great many people are able to…

Beautiful Things

There are times I’ve looked at my life and seen only lost opportunities, broken relationships, and devastating mistakes. My attempts to move forward in different careers or straighten out finances were tripped up by numerous setbacks and delays. Even now, I can point to others who raised their children better, found their perfect mate and lived…

Setbacks and Silver Linings

Do you have the perspective that we don’t always get what we want in this life and that’s just the way it is? What if there’s really more to it than that? I seem to find a lot more silver linings these days. Maybe because I’m always watching for them. While reading Dean Graziosi’s book, Millionaire…

Is Resistance Blocking Your Destiny?

All summer I’ve read while grounding. Grounding (or Earthing) is where you stick your bare feet in the grass and effortlessly absorb earth’s electrons from the ground in through your soles. Also by sitting, working, or sleeping just let natural vibration of the earth balance out your vibration. I feel calmer and sleep better. It’s almost the same…

Are You Making Room for Big Rocks?

Priorities determine how far we get in life. Imagine with me if you will, an empty glass jar. Next to it are three fist-sized rocks, river stones, pebbles, sand, and a cup of tea. The jar represents our day. If we pour into our jar a lot of sand, which represents all the small stuff,…

Are You Up to the Challenge?

We can never know what is going on in another person’s life at any given moment. If someone is on your mind or crosses your path and you feel compelled to reach out, or speak to them or say a kind word, I challenge you to act. It may be the perfect time for someone to…

Can You Beat Rejection?

The Question: Have you ever noticed that a certain amount of fear goes with just about any change?  Whether it’s asking for a raise, quitting an old job or starting a new one, buying a home, beginning a new relationship, selling a car, or bringing home a new baby. There’s that “What have I done?”…

What a Dull Knife Taught Me

An acquaintance of mine once found herself in a jam. An art show was to be in town and she needed to chop a bushel of tomatoes for her sandwich wagon by the next day. I wanted to help out and offered to chop tomatoes. “Show me your knife.” I pulled one from a drawer….

Paying attention to people around you

Whatever you’re working on, keep going.   I talk a lot about showing up to the page. It’s kind of like a train going from station to station. It runs a course, stays on track, gets to destinations. Of course, sometimes they get derailed and so do we. But if you don’t show up, you…