My Sparkly Brain

November 6th, 2015
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sparkles

 

Hey there my Resilient Friends!

Any project that the multi-talented Amy Poehler gets involved in always catches my interest.

Besides being hysterically funny, she is an authentically original entertainer who isn’t afraid to go against popular trends; especially the trend of superficiality that young girls can sometimes fall into.  I love her dedication to helping and healing young people by encouraging them to “change the world by being yourself.”

Getting involved in your community is one way of giving back, and Poehler says, volunteering for that kind of activism also helps young people get comfortable with their true selves … Read More

Grief And Honest Conversations

October 23rd, 2015
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Just as we all grieve differently, we all heal differently. Healing is a personal search for hope; a trial and error process of looking for a new purpose; a way to feel a little more centered again as you try to make sense of what life is about for you and perhaps your children after a loved one’s death. I think it took me about eight to ten months after my husband’s death to realize that I couldn’t figure it all out on my own and I had to find help. Unfortunately, as much as family and friends try to… Read More

One Groovy Lavender Road Trip

October 16th, 2015
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  Road trips are part of the American way of life. Maybe this weekend you, your friends or family have a road trip planned to take advantage of this transitional time of year: picking out your special pumpkins, checking out the leaves turning glorious reds and yellows or just visiting a new destination. Road trips can help us recharge our inner selves.  You know.  That inner voice.  That oh so precious deep core of ourselves that keeps us one with the horizon and helps us process the ups and downs of this beautiful and crazy trip called life. I know… Read More

The Martian and Grief

October 12th, 2015
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Actor Matt Damon Plays An Astronaut In the newly released movie, The Martian My 25-year-old son went to see the new Matt Damon movie, The Martian, the other night and he was telling me that he enjoyed it a lot because it made him think about his deceased father. The Martian is a new movie about an astronaut who is mistakenly left on Mars, presumed to be dead after a fierce storm.  It’s a warm science fiction, adventure techie kind of movie that pokes fun at the geekier side of life. My son’s Dad was an award-winning journalist who covered… Read More

A Whale of A Baby

October 5th, 2015
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Baby Shower Table Scape Notice the whale as centerpiece   My Mom and I hosted a baby shower for my niece yesterday and it was healing in a fun way to pause with my other sisters and close relatives to celebrate the arrival of a new family member. I think it’s always good news when a baby is on the way; beginnings are always exciting and so full of hope! At the shower we had an advice jar where people wrote their tips on slips of paper for my helping my niece transition to motherhood.  Here are a few examples… Read More

A Cup Of Healing

September 2nd, 2015
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  A wonderful friend recently gave me the hand made ceramic cup pictured above. Sometimes I keep it on my kitchen counter or the desk where I work on my computer.  And then sometimes I put it on my bedroom chest of drawers.  I like to move it around the house because there is something comforting about it’s handmade texture and it brings to mind the simple yet special things about life. Things that ease my frantic feelings when I am stressed.  Such as receiving an unexpected telephone call from someone I haven’t heard from in a long time or… Read More

The Glass Castle — Memoir

August 27th, 2015
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Author Jeannette Walls   I became aware of this amazing book in the same way that I learn about lots of good things: through my friends. I’m not sure how I missed this powerful story because The Glass Castle was published in 2005, received numerous awards and was a New York Times Bestseller for three years. But the important thing is that I did find out about it.  And once I started reading it, I couldn’t stop. The Glass Castle is a revealing story that I came to think of as Resilience 101.  I say this because when I read… Read More

Beautiful Kindness

August 3rd, 2015
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    When you live by yourself as I do, you learn how to do a lot of things for yourself. It just becomes second nature. I don’t like to bug people to ask for help, so my first instinct is see if I can do it on my own. When my husband was alive he was not really handy around the house so I took over some of the outside chores and I also took over the bills as his illness took away much of his energy. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining; just explaining how a shifting… Read More

Silence is Golden

June 26th, 2015
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Every day, in small ways, I now try to disconnect myself from electronic devices for short periods of time. That may sound ironic since I am writing this post on a computer and will later talk about it on social media but as much as I enjoy using a computer or an iPhone, I also see that they distract me from participating in the quieter moments of life. This light bulb moment came to me recently this summer during a couple of visits to our family farm in southern Maryland.  When I was a young child, it was more of… Read More