You Can’t Sit Back & Wait

December 16th, 2013
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Did you ever complain about something you thought was going to be a great experience but then it turned out to be terribly disappointing?
If you happened to complain to my mother about such a thing, then she would probably tell you that you have no one to blame but yourself because everyone knows that you have to emotionally invest to get a joyous return.  Or put another way, you get out of it what you put into it.
Which is also another way of saying that you can’t sit on your butt and wait for stuff to come to … Read More

Newtown One Year Anniversary

December 14th, 2013
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Today we pause and pray for the community of Newtown, Connecticut and in particular for the families of the 26 victims shot in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  At a press conference earlier this week, the families asked that people remember the 6 adults and 20 children on this tragic one year anniversary by performing an act of kindness or volunteering with a community group. You can visit their new website at www.mysandyhookfamily.org… Read More

Bridget’s Affirmation

December 13th, 2013
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When one of my nieces was three years old, she started going to nursery school for part of the day a few times a week.  Her mother (my sister) knew that while she was at school she would start to miss Mommy at some point so she taught her daughter to say to herself, “There is no need to cry.  Everything will be all right.  Mommy will be right back.” My sister was ahead of her time because she was teaching my niece to say an affirmation to herself even though she didn’t know what an affirmation was or what… Read More

Congratulations Pope Francis!

December 12th, 2013
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Yesterday’s news that Time magazine selected Pope Francis as their Person Of The Year surprised me just as much as when the College of Cardinals elected him to become Pope. I didn’t think it would really happen but I am ecstatic that it did! I knew Pope Francis was a finalist for the annual honor but I really thought that Time magazine was going to go with former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who this year released hundreds of thousands of classified government documents revealing the depth of the U.S. government’s surveillance on phone and internet communications. But spiritual… Read More

The Quiet Gift

December 11th, 2013
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“Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention […] a loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than most well-intentioned words.”             ~ Rachel Naomi Remen… Read More

Davina’s Holiday Help

December 10th, 2013
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Hershey’s chocolate kisses.  Creamy party dips.  Fried finger foods. Temptation seems to be everywhere during the holidays, especially food that is unhealthy yet oh-so- delicious.  And precisely because it’s the holidays, I always start out with good intentions but then end up giving myself permission to eat those sweet, creamy and fatty foods, don’t you?                             Basically, I need all the help I can get to keep my willpower strong while hanging out during the holidays.  Trust me when I tell you that I will find my… Read More

Developing A Grief Pill

December 9th, 2013
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I just read that the pharmaceutical industry is researching the development an anti-depressant pill for people who are grieving. Hmmmmm…. My gut feeling when I first read this story about the availability of a so-called grief pill in The Washington Post was that it seemed rather predatory of the pharmaceutical industry to be focusing its scientific expertise and vast financial resources on people when they are at the most vulnerable and sometimes lowest points in their lives. I vividly remember the competing emotions I felt after my husband died.  Raw pain and numbness.  Exhaustion and adrenaline.  On top of all… Read More

Nelson Mandela

December 6th, 2013
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Rest In Peace Nelson Mandela. For you used your precious life and your healing nature to change the world and make it a much better place for generations to come. Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.                             ~ Nelson Mandela… Read More

Oh Those Tacky Christmas Lights!

December 5th, 2013
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Christmas lights take me back to the innocence of my childhood, to a time when my parents would gather me and my five siblings and put us in the station wagon with winter coats over our pajamas and we would ride around the neighborhood and look at the Christmas lights displayed on other people’s houses. Did you do that too? One of the houses on the Richmond Tacky Lights Christmas tour Photo courtesy of Richmond.com                                         Those were the days when… Read More