Posts Tagged: grief

Take A Deep Breath

January 29th, 2017
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Breathe Deeply

 

Dear Resilient Friends:

I have been away for awhile but have not forgotten about you.  2017 started off in a difficult direction for my family.  Both of our parents have been ill, requiring hospitalization and additional involvement from me and my five siblings.  We are striving every day to do our best to give loving care and attention to both parents, splitting our time between the hospital and our parents house often amidst a swirl of new medical terms and medicines while we carry on with our jobs and other personal responsibilities.

We are trying to ease their pain … Read More

Give Yourself A Break

December 11th, 2016
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Giving is fun. Whether it’s something you meticulously made with your own hands or something you spent a long time searching for, giving to others is a wonderful feeling. I sometimes feel that giving a present to someone is more exciting than receiving. Watching the other person’s reaction while they are opening your gift is part of the fun and contributes to that good feeling of giving and letting them know they are special. During this holiday season, which can easily turn frantic as we get closer to the time of celebration, I think it is also important to give… Read More

Still Life With Bread Crumbs – Fiction

December 4th, 2016
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I recently finished reading Anna Quindlen’s amazing book, Still Life With Bread Crumbs, and I can’t stop thinking about the unexpected plot that Quindlen beautifully develops and weaves into the touching story about an older woman, Rebecca Winter, who discovers through various hardships that it is never too late to change up your life when you feel it isn’t working. Rebecca, like the rest of us, thinks she has an idea of where life is taking her but then life throws a number of unexpected changes her way and things don’t work out the way she thought it initially would.… Read More

Thankful Hearts

November 24th, 2016
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Wherever you happen to be gathering today, may you be with people who have thankful hearts and giving spirits. The diversity of Thanksgiving menus offered today reflects the healing powers of food, love, family and friends gathering with one celebration in mind.  Lasagna, Vietnamese soup or a traditional roasted turkey with all of the imaginable sides.  Today has been set aside on the national calendar to give thanks for the food and other gifts that are served and shared as a sign of gratitude for the many blessings we have received. While I recognize our desire to be thankful today,… Read More

Let’s Rise Up

November 12th, 2016
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  My late husband, Tom O’Toole, as a young boy   Good Morning Friends: So how was your week? I’m not trying to be flip.  I am genuinely concerned. We live in a topsy turvy world and you would have to be stationed in some unbelievably remote part of the globe not to be aware of the election results in this week’s U.S. presidential contest.  Seriously, it has been quite a freaking week and everyone I know (including myself) is still absorbing what happened. On top of the surprising election results, my family received some sad personal news that I … Read More

Simple Moments To Moment

October 27th, 2016
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Dear Friends, I recently found the below inspiration on one of my Instagram accounts and it really jumped off the screen for me: Just for today, keep it simple. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Look at your life for all you have gained rather than lost. Look at your path for everything you have got through rather than everywhere you think you should be. Celebrate rather than criticize. Experience rather than expect. See how that goes. Just for today.                 ~ by S.C. Lourie Keeping things simple is another way to show respect to your resilient body, mind and spirit.… Read More

A Bit of Hairspray Wisdom

October 14th, 2016
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Magical things happen to me in hair salons. My gray hair disappears, splint ends fall to the floor and I love watching clients and hairdressers exchange confidences that make each of them feel a little bit better about what is happening in their lives. This past weekend I experienced a different kind of magic; the magic of connecting and going with the flow of the moment. As I entered my tried and true hair salon, I was looking forward to a much needed hairdo transformation.  It was probably closer to a hair color intervention because the summer sun had bonded… Read More

Hard Days Kind Actions

October 7th, 2016
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I was having one of those days recently when I was doing my best to think positively but it didn’t seem to be working out. My thoughts felt powerless as things disintegrated around me.  Stuck in traffic.  Rescheduled deadlines. Unscheduled meetings.  Extra phone calls to untangle things that had been screwed up.  No matter how hard I tried to stay calm and focused on turning things around, I couldn’t change it. While the meltdown continued to happen throughout my day, I tried to figure out how things started to go south.  I was trying to see in my mind’s eye… Read More

Finding Your Community

September 23rd, 2016
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    You’re in the mood to go out.  Maybe go see a movie.  Maybe get a drink. But as a suddenly single, widowed or recently divorced person you might find that your usual go-to friends are busy and you aren’t enthusiastic about going out by yourself. It’s not that you can’t do it because you’ve done it before.  You’ve done it because you hate to think that you won’t do something just because you don’t have anyone to do it with. You went out by yourself to prove that you could and it was okay but not great.  It … Read More