Posts Tagged: emotional resilience

Dorothy Flies Over Kansas

March 11th, 2014
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If I live to be 92 years young, I hope I am as adventurous and free spirited as Dorothy Ellis!
She is fearless!
Dorothy was in hospice care when she told her family that she wanted to fly over her home in Kansas in a powered parachute that she had watched many times in the open sky as she gazed from her window.
Her family and her hospice nurse put their worries about her age and her health aside and to their credit they made Dorothy’s wish come true!  I love her reaction at the end of the flight!  Sadly, … Read More

Lea Michele & Cory Monteith

March 10th, 2014
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Songs are touchstones; expressions of personal thoughts, emotions or memories.  An outpouring of experiences.  Songs can transport and inspire and also energize.  Songs can also help the writer and the listener process emotions of loss or grief. Actress and singer Lea Michele had been working on her new album, Louder, many months before the tragic and sudden death of her boyfriend, actor Cory Monteith, who died from a toxic mixture of heroin and alcohol.  Michele and Monteith also connected professionally, playing high school sweethearts on Fox’s award winning series, Glee.With the recent release of Louder, Michele is giving candid interviews … Read More

Giving Comfort

March 4th, 2014
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Yesterday was a snow day in Washington, DC with the local and federal governments shut down and people resigning themselves to once again bundle up and go out and shove and clear their cars of winter’s one two punch: ice and snow. Before I braved the outdoors, I indulgently hung out in my pajamas and worked on the computer, answering emails and checking out Twitter for Oscar gossip.  I also made use of my snow day by tackling a large stack of magazines in my home office and in hopes of ridding myself of some unnecessary clutter. I came upon… Read More

Freezing Friday

January 24th, 2014
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Wow!! What a week! Between the snow, the ice and the polar vortex of winds hitting the Washington, DC area, it’s seems as though it’s been a battle of the elements every day.  Fashion has definitely gone by the wayside and staying warm is the priority.  Sometimes the sun is out but I’m not feeling too much difference in the temperature. I am not really a winter person at all but this chilly cold season does teach me to be comfortable with the uncomfortable.  I can’t change it so I’ve got to go with it and get on the other… Read More

Summertime Music In December

December 18th, 2013
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Baby, it’s cold outside isn’t it? Weather predictions of flurries, dropping temperatures and possible black ice bring with it winter’s outer armor of boots, scarves, gloves and woolen hats.  Meanwhile, kids around the nation are praying for snowstorms to arrive for Santa Claus and Christmas and extra days off from school. And in the midst of all this Winterness, a friend tweeted this rockin’ new video (see below) titled “Keep This In” by Phillip Noss that transports me to one of my favorite places: THE BEACH!!!! Santa Delivers To The Beach Doesn’t He? I love the warm, breezy feel to… 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