Posts Tagged: strength

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

Last Minute Gifts of Comfort & Joy

December 22nd, 2017
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It’s the Friday before Christmas and it’s a good bet that you may have finished buying gifts for everyone on your list. But there’s still time to think about buying one more gift. This year you may want to put a special twist on your usual gift giving by buying a present for a loved one or friend who has died. On the face of it, the idea may sound a little strange not really. I saw this wonderful idea recently tweeted by Grief Compass in a series called the 12 Holidays of Grief and thought I would share it… 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

Healing Is Not Linear

August 30th, 2017
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One of the most excellent things about reading is when you discover a fictional character in a book who expresses something you have been feeling but haven’t been able to describe. This happened to me the other night while I was reading the Pulitzer Prize winning book, Olive Kitteridge by the beautiful writer and author Elizabeth Strout. In the book, I am introduced to Angie O’Meara, a middle-aged woman who plays piano in a cocktail lounge in Maine.  She has had a few drinks while playing Christmas carols during her shift and out of the corner of her eye she… Read More

5 Fabulous Ways to Heal

June 8th, 2017
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Healing. What a great word!  When I say it or think about it, I feel warm inside, as though I just ate a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. Our opportunities to find healing are all around us, just waiting for us to reach out.  We can let the passage of time take its own course by hoping, hoping, hoping that healing feelings will eventually wash over us or we can act on trying to heal our inner selves when we feel ready to face the sad or traumatic feelings that we carry in our hearts.  Feeling the pain and talking… 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

5 Purifying Places to Cry

May 16th, 2017
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Emmy Award Winning Actor Jon Hamm as Mad Men’s Don Draper (Yes, Men Do Cry & That’s Okay) Sometimes the feeling starts in my throat. It feels tight.  I try to swallow a few times to see if that will make it go away. The next thing I know a lump has formed as I begin to feel my eyes well up with water.  I try looking up at the ceiling because a good friend told me this is a trick she uses to prevent crying. Or I pinch the bridge of my nose so that I focus on 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

Grief Sucks

April 8th, 2017
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My Dad At A Gonzaga Rally  Dear Faithful Friends: Excuse my French, but as the title of this post suggests, grief does suck. I haven’t been on social media very much lately though it’s not for lack of trying.  Since my Dad’s death in February, I can’t tell you how many times I have tried to sit down and write something but all the words get balled up. I know I am stating the obvious but it needs to be said.  When you call something what it is, you bring it out into the open.  Maybe it just sits in… Read More