Posts Tagged: emotions

Lessons from the Spin Cycle

September 24th, 2014
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Photo via Pinterest

Photo via Pinterest

 

Whoa Nelly!! I know what this feels like, don’t you?

It feels unexpected, awkward, a little uncontrollable and intense.

As though at any moment, what you thought was stable becomes unstable.

What you thought was predictable become unpredictable.

Mood swings, spontaneous crying and having feelings change very quickly.

I think of experiencing this mixture of feelings as being in a spin cycle if you will. When you are unsure of what is coming next.  It truly feels this way when grief has you on the run or a life changing trauma has taken your breath away.… Read More

The Ever-Changing Game of Life

September 22nd, 2014
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A Quote By Mary Oliver The wise quote above, written by Mary Oliver, seems on the surface to be expressing a rather obvious idea. Right? When I first read it, I almost dismissed it for I had brought Oliver’s thought into my mind too quickly and didn’t really let the underlying message sink in. Then I read it again and let it float around in my mind while I began to apply it to my own life. How many times do I go through the day rereading the chapter I read the day before?  In other words, if I keep… Read More

Someone by Alice McDermott

September 4th, 2014
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Someone  by Alice McDermott was given to me as a Christmas gift but I purposely set it aside because I knew that I wanted to savor every word of this novel.  I knew it was going to be special and I was right. I thoroughly enjoyed reading McDermott’s award-winning book, Charming Billy, and so I was familiar with McDermott’s incredible gift of creating characters that you feel you know, sentences that make you stop and go back and reread them several times and her mastery of quietly leading you into her magical stories. Someone is set in Brooklyn in the… Read More

6 Unbreakable Sibling Bonds

September 2nd, 2014
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Today is a post giving you a little slice of my family life.  A shout-out to my brothers and sisters if you will. I am the oldest of six children.  We are four girls and two boys and are incredibly close in age: there is only seven years between me and my youngest siblings who are twins. I have written a lot about the healing gift of friendship and the important role that my friends play in my life but I haven’t said much about the healing gift of my siblings mainly because I know they don’t want to read… Read More

3 Irresistible Healing Summer Songs

August 4th, 2014
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This may sound weird but listening to songs about summer is a refuge for me. It’s a total sensory gut reaction.  As in when I hear a summer song that clicks within me, I mentally escape reality for a short time and my inner self begins to calm and heal.  It’s musical magic and for a few minutes the world full of noise is blocked out as I play my summer song over and over and over. You would think I was a teenager who just developed her first crush because I just won’t let go of it.  The winning… Read More

Family Time

March 31st, 2014
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It’s that time of year in my family. Time to celebrate the birthdays of my parents who are in their 80’s.  My Mom and Dad’s birthdays land on the calendar exactly a week apart so in the last few years my siblings and I have started celebrating their birthdays together in the interest of harmony, world peace and all that is holy. We know we are blessed to have our parents still with us and we definitely don’t take it for granted.  Not for one minute.  But sometimes it can be tricky in making sure that each birthday receives the… Read More

Commiting To Heal

March 18th, 2014
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When committing yourself to begin healing, you are taking an important step.  You are in effect looking around yourself and saying that today’s situation isn’t working well for you and you are choosing to change. I have found that it’s a decision that can make you feel two contradictory emotions at the same time. On the one hand, you are feeling brave to decide to open yourself up to change but on the other hand, the act of opening yourself up to something new is scary and nerve wracking because it’s unpredictable. We all react differently to the loss of… Read More

40 Ways To Lose The Clutter

March 7th, 2014
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No matter how hard I try to keep my stuff under control somehow it doesn’t behave. Day by day I try to throw out papers, mail, and other stuff that has outlived its welcome but still there is always more stuff to deal with or organize.  Not all of it is important stuff, but still it’s stuff that I don’t want to buy again.  Here’s my fear and maybe you can identify with it: once I throw out certain things, I’ll find I immediately need it. Sweet readers, what is a person to do?  How do you deal with your… Read More

In Honor Of The Oscars

March 3rd, 2014
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In honor of the Oscars last night, I’d like to give out a personal award.Last night’s Academy Awards speeches seemed to me to be particularly emotional, expressing the gratitude of recognition, the fulfillment of dreams and deep thanks for the years of incredible support that people received while working on their ground breaking film projects.It brought to mind for me the role that others play in our lives during difficult times and reminded me that support groups around the country are on the front lines of our communities, doing the nitty gritty, down and dirty and painful work of helping… Read More