First Birthday In Heaven

May 25th, 2015
Posted By:

Today may be your first Memorial Day without a loved one.

My heart goes out to you and your family as you try to process the overwhelming feelings of loss while also trying to figure out how to go on with your lives.  How can you make your way down this long, winding and sometimes brutal path?  It’s a path you do not want and yet, even as you try to reject it, you find it is one you are slowly learning to walk.

headstones

ou may feel alone but you are not.  You are loved and many want to offer … Read More

Ways of Encouragement

May 21st, 2015
Posted By:

You’re having a day. Guess what?  So am I! Let’s join each other in encouragement. We know it’s hard.  It’s stressful and sometimes it’s even lonely and painful. And yet I know I don’t want to give up.  And I know you don’t want to either.  Because right around that corner or even the next time we try to go at a problem and process those feelings of frustration, there is the possibility that it could go away. Right? What is the purpose of always being in a position of trying to solve something?  Sometimes I’m not sure.  Sometimes, I… Read More

Monday Calm & Renewal

May 18th, 2015
Posted By:

It’s Monday.  I know.  I hear myself joining you in a collective groan. But instead of immediately thinking of all the things I need to accomplish this week, I am going to pause.  And breathe.  Deeply.  Closing my eyes again (not to go back to sleep) and letting my neck slowly drop as I breathe in and remain still. I am determined not to be in a hurry.  I don’t want to rush and I don’t want to be late but I also need to fill my emotional reserves with a feeling of inner calm before I tackle a new… Read More

Being A Fruit Loop

May 13th, 2015
Posted By:

When I make a decision that doesn’t turn out the way I expect, I tend to mull it over, pull it apart and generally run thinking about it into the ground until I come to peace with the fact that the results weren’t too bad and that everyone does something at some point that they wish they had done a different way. I feel like I’m out there all by myself because most of the time I am the decision maker for things involving my life. In other words, I can feel like a Fruit Loop in a world full… Read More

Are You My Mommy?

May 10th, 2015
Posted By:

Thank goodness that mothers come in all shapes, sizes, ages and cultures! There are all kinds of mothers, each healing and loving in their own way and trying to do what they think is best for their precious children.  Today we celebrate the many wondrous things our mothers do for us out of the goodness of their huge loving hearts. Everyone has some kind of a Mom: traditional, surrogate, birth mother, step mother and adopted mother.  No matter what the silly label, mothering a child is one of the most important jobs in the world.  I have loved every minute… Read More

5 Things Money Can’t Buy

May 5th, 2015
Posted By:

Hi there Resilient Readers: I’ve been off the grid for a while and am happy to be back.  I needed to take a bit of break but I missed you A LOT and hope your life is currently full of some magical mixture of love, laughter and vibrant health. While I have been juggling some challenging issues affecting my family and friends, it has pushed me into having some spirited conversations and lots of quiet thought about what really makes life go ’round. I think it pretty much comes down to five things, and for me, the following five things… Read More

Straight Up Healthy

April 17th, 2015
Posted By:

There’s something about a farmer’s market that makes me feel healthy right away. I don’t have to buy or eat anything, even though I usually do.  Just standing in the midst of the farmers and their stands overflowing with fresh organic food reflecting their hard work and the bounty of the season fills me with happiness. And yesterday I was one happy lady when I walked from my office in downtown Washington, DC to the FRESHFARM Market that is set up every year about a block from the White House (www.freshfarmmarkets.org).  Last week marked the opening of a new farmer’s… Read More

Those Confounding Gremlins

April 10th, 2015
Posted By:

Off and on for about the last month, I have had what the awesome Dr. Brene Brown (author of the New York Times bestselling book Daring Greatly) calls “gremlins” in my head, talking to me in a way that makes me occasionally question the validity of some of my decisions and personal projects. You know those gremlins.  The inner voices which can cause you to second guess what you’re doing and how you’re doing it.  Or they make you feel uncomfortable or afraid about life in general.  Sometimes I let the gremlins in and sometimes I don’t.  I try really… Read More

Hooray! The Cake is Gone!

April 7th, 2015
Posted By:

While cleaning up my kitchen from a family Easter party, the leftovers were talking to me.  Specifically, a delicious cake in the shape of an Easter Egg that a guest had brought from a local eatery called Wagshal’s.  I couldn’t resist and as I stood there with a fork in hand pushing away the icing and eating only the cake, I knew that this was not a good thing to be doing.  But I didn’t care. I was feeling stressed and I wanted immediate relief.  And I got it.  After about four or five bites, I got mad at myself… Read More