Posts Tagged: love

Nothing More — The Alternate Routes

November 29th, 2013
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After a day spent counting our blessings and giving thanks, today we are full of gratitude right?
To keep that warm and fuzzy and wonderful feeling of kindness going, here is a song introduced to me by Hannah Donnelly (a Jesuit Volunteer Corps alumni & my son’s girlfriend) that I know I will be singing or humming to myself today or whenever I feel my patience starting to wear.  It is a beautiful song, offering hope and I think it fosters the spirit of giving.
The song, “Nothing More” was written specifically for Newtown Kindness (www.newtownkindness.org) and is … Read More

A Buddhist Rice Bowl

November 26th, 2013
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Here Is Something To Think About. . . . “In Zen Buddhism, there’s a concept called ‘zen mind,’ or beginner’s mind.’  They say that the mind should be like an empty rice bowl. If it’s already full, then the universe can’t fill it. If it’s empty, it has room to receive. This means that when we think we have things figured out, we’re not teachable.  Genuine insight can’t dawn on a mind that’s not open to receive it. Surrender is a process of emptying the mind.”                                   ~ By Marianne Williamson, “A Return To Love, Reflections on the Principles of A… Read More

No Lifeguard On Duty

November 14th, 2013
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If you had told me ten years ago that it would take me this long to navigate my conflicting feelings of loss and truly come to grips with the fact that my husband died, he’s not coming back and I’ll never see him again, I would have thought you were smoking something and totally out there. In the beginning, I was just trying to survive which meant working a full-time job and raising a thirteen-year-old boy by myself.  I honestly didn’t think beyond the day I was in.  That’s all I could manage.  I constantly told myself that other women… 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

Arlington Cemetary Allows Personal Mementos

October 18th, 2013
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Arlington National Cemetery has a heart. Officials at the cemetery recently talked to families about their months long practice of leaving personal items on soldier’s headstones and Arlington is now compromising on its policies about leaving the personal mementos at gravesites. Today’s post is an update of a story I  wrote about on October 3 discussing how staff at Arlington National Cemetery were collecting and discarding personal mementos left in Section 60 of the cemetery an area where soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried.  This area of the cemetery is where each visitor’s grief is… Read More

Love On A Two Way Street

October 15th, 2013
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I went to Trader Joe’s after work the other evening to pick up some up their fabulous pita chips and instead gained some insight into a different part of life in DC: being a homeless vendor. Near the entrance of the store stood a man, who introduced himself to me as David.  He was selling newspapers called Street Sense which I have previously written about.   This vendor was middle-aged and friendly but not in an aggressive way.  He was just talking to people and smiling, letting them know that his newspaper was for sale and that he was a writer.… Read More

The 64 Untalked About Ways of Grief

October 10th, 2013
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People love to read lists.  I’m not sure why, but it could be because all of the best ideas relating to a particular subject are organized in one place.  Or maybe it’s because people want to see if what they guessed would be on the list is actually on the list. I think that sometimes lists are over used but not in this case. Today’s list comes from a wonderful website I recently discovered called What’s Your Grief? (www.whatsyourgrief.com) and I bet you a million dollars that you probably have never read a list like this one. Titled “64 Things… Read More

Wednesday Beats with Usher

October 9th, 2013
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I don’t have much to say today.  It’s Wednesday and things in DC have been tense with the government shutdown and furloughed workers.  Unfortunately, I know a handful of people who are working but unsure as to when they will get paid. And that is why is it time for some uplifting music.  Did you know that music is a quick stress reliever?  I believe we can always make time for the beats and music makes almost everything bearable. I was lucky enough to see Usher perform live earlier this year at the Inaugural Ball this past January (that seems… Read More