Posts Tagged: hope

True Blue Hope

August 20th, 2014
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Just a quiet thought today…….

Much effort has gone into looking for life

elsewhere in the solar system and beyond,

always preceded by the question: “Where’s the water?”

With water,  there could be life,

no blue, no life.

                                         ~     Sylvia Earle

 

Download / By Nick West… Read More

Malala Day – #StrongerThan

July 14th, 2014
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Today is not just any Monday in July. It is July 14:  Malala Day.  A day of celebrating inner strength and courage. I find strength through my connections with my family, friends and my faith and I hope you too have figured out your own emotional support system that helps you sustain a spirit of hope and get to the other side of those tough and challenging times that life sends our way. Malala Yousafzai Besides those core resources, I also draw strength from other people that I have never met and don’t know personally at all.  Other people that… Read More

Louis Zamperini

July 9th, 2014
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It is worth noting the recent and sad passing of 97-year-old Louis Zamperini, a man whose life story was defined by his spirit of resilience. Everyone encounters challenges and traumas in their lives but Zamperini’s were of a sort that would have crushed most people.  No matter what came his way — imprisonment during World War II, torture, substance abuse, he never gave up. To me, his life is a unique resource.  When the Japanese capture him, and he is held captive and tortured, he digs deep within himself and finds a way to go on, even though he is… Read More

Getting Back In The Groove

May 22nd, 2014
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Oh My Goodness!  Have I missed you guys or what? I am so happy to be back and writing my heart out for Cry Laugh Heal.  I have to give a huge shout out to two fantastic, truly helpful guys: Chris Yoko of Yoko Co. in Fairfax, Virginia and Nico Dodd of Washington, DC!!!! YOU GUYS ROCK AND ARE TRULY THE BEST!!!!!!  Thank you doesn’t even begin to cover what you did to bring Cry Laugh Heal back into business. I have had my head down for at least the past month, slogging my way through some kind of Word… Read More

Farmer In The Dell

April 7th, 2014
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I love farmer’s markets. Everything about them fascinates me.  I slow down and totally lose track of time as I enjoy walking from vendor to vendor and talking to each one of them about the unique products they are selling whether it’s veggies, fruits, honey, cheeses, breads, soaps or food being cooked to order. Yesterday it truly felt as if the weather had turned a corner and while it was a bit chilly the sun was bright and increasingly warm as the day progressed.  People with their children and dogs and friends and neighbors strolled and chatted each other up… 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

Strength Through Sharing

February 10th, 2014
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Sharing my stories, and those of others, can entertain, offer strength and inspiration and sometimes minimize the isolation that is felt in relationships or personal crisis.  I share to bond, to reach out, to reveal that I am vulnerable just like you. No one knows when someone else’s story will unexpectedly touch a life and help another person gain a new perspective on grief, a subject people they know about but in fact they don’t.  Someone else’s words can bring new understanding to the issues of life and death,  of physical and emotional survival and help you see things differently.… Read More

Pulling Together

January 29th, 2014
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I began writing Cry Laugh Heal in December 2010 to start an online discussion about grief and resilience, in particular to talk about the many ways we process it and how we can arrive at the realization that we can find strength and a different kind of future through our pain. My husband died in 2003 and I found that grief was not a topic most people wanted to talk about.  What a surprise right?  Of course, it was a subject I could go on and on about but in general it really makes people feel very uncomfortable and they… Read More

Compassionate Care

November 6th, 2013
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I write about the subject of hospice care today because November is National Hospice Care month.  I don’t usually pay attention to the themes of specific months but in this case I saw a tweet about it and wanted to draw attention to the incredible people who do this important work. I have the greatest respect for the people who do hospice work.  The time and endless amounts of energy poured into this work of providing compassionate care to those diagnosed as terminally ill is critical to the patient and the families trying to do their best as a loved… Read More