New Year Resilient You

December 31st, 2018
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beach candle

If it is dark outside when I wake up, I will light a candle, close my eyes and slowly gather my thoughts before the day gets away from me.

There is something about the quiet of the morning that I cherish.  The day is still fresh and lighting a candle in the dark fills me with hope.

It fills me with the notion that today is full of possibilities and I can feel whole and valued.

It reinforces the idea that yesterday is past and today is a fresh start.

It is uplifting to feel the warmth and light from … Read More

The Comfort of A Snowy Street

March 24th, 2018
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Mother Nature delivered a surprising day of snow last week. On the second day of Spring, she decided to ignore the calendar and do what she wanted. The nation’s Capital received about 5 inches of wet, slushy and heavy to shovel snow that initially was magical but then quickly became work. In my neighborhood, I am lucky.  As soon as the snow flakes stop falling, everyone comes outside to shovel and when they are finished shoveling their property, they look to see who they can help in clearing away winter’s wonder. As you can imagine, the men are very serious… Read More

Buh Bye 2017!

December 31st, 2017
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Today, the last day of 2017, tends to be a day when most of us mentally review events that happened to us during the past year and I’ve concluded, that for me, 2017 was a year of feeling it all. 2017 took me on a most bumpy and unexpected ride and I must say I am happy to say Buh Bye to one rollercoaster of a year. From the beginning of January to the end of December, 2017 was 12 months of experiencing pretty much every emotion that there is to feel as a human being.  This unpredictability of course… Read More

Having A Thankful Heart

November 20th, 2017
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As we slide into this holiday week of Thanksgiving, my thoughts turn to the simple idea of setting aside a day to show gratitude. Yes life is crazy, messy and unpredictable. Yes the holiday season can be painful and a stinging reminder of a terrible loss or a difficult family situation. But you can sit yourself down and listen to your heart and acknowledge your limits.  Be aware of what you need before you join family and friends for any holiday event.  Express your thoughts and feelings to a trusted person.  Change up your expectations and instead focus on one… Read More

Momentum Of The Day

September 21st, 2017
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My car has been in the repair shop for the past 24 hours so public transportation is my way to get home for awhile. When I got off the Metro last night, I decided to do without riding the bus and instead walk the rest of the way home. It’s a little over a mile from the Metro stop to my home but it was a warm evening and I wasn’t in a hurry and I thought the walk would be good for me after sitting at a desk most of the day. Right away it felt good to move… Read More

Hold On For One More Day

September 15th, 2017
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Today being Friday, I think we deserve to listen to an outstanding song to celebrate its arrival. You may know the song Hold On from the fabulous and hysterical movie, Bridesmaids. In the movie, Hold On is performed by Wilson Phillips, the original group which cut the record in 1990, and we watch as they sing their classic harmony and then we see the uber-talented actresses/writers/entertainers Maya Rudolph and Kristin Wiig lipsynch the words to the song and dance along to its catchy beat. If you listen to the lyrics you hear that Hold On is about personal empowerment and… Read More

September 11, 2017

September 11th, 2017
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National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York City “The tears of the world are a constant quantity. For each one who begins to weep somewhere else another stops. The same is true of the laugh.” ~ Samuel Beckett, Waiting For Godot All of us carry images in our minds that will stay with us for the rest of our lives. I think it is safe to say that some of the images we will never forget include the events of September 11, 2001. While this horrific event and the thousands of lives lost during that tragic day happened… Read More

Finding Your Light

May 25th, 2017
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    Each of us has a unique set of skills that are nestled within us. Maybe you are fabulous listener.  Maybe you always have a positive outlook.  Perhaps you have a way of organizing your thoughts or possessions in a way that helps others.  Or it could be that you own the priceless gift for making people laugh. We all have our strengths and today’s post is about those amazing people who have the skill set that enables them to read a situation and then put themselves out there to help other people feel relieved and renewed in the… Read More

Hillbilly Elegy — A Resilient Memoir

April 21st, 2017
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Friends and colleagues told me Hillbilly Elegy was the book to read if I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of white working class voter participation in the 2016 Presidential election. Yes Hillbilly Elegy, a New York Times best selling memoir, does deliver compelling first person thoughts and experiences about how it feels to be white and poor and growing up in rust-belt Ohio but more importantly, it gave me unexpected insights into the ability of a young child to find the inner strength to keep going while living in trauma. If read from that point of view, Hillbilly Elegy… Read More