A therapist once told me of a client who kept her Christmas tree up all year because it made her feel good. The woman brought to my mind Miss Haversham from Dickens’ Great Expectations who from the moment of her abandonment at the altar does the rest of her life in a wedding dress. But… Read More Great Expectations
As passionate as I can be about things, I’ve only just begun to connect with the spectrum of emotions I had buried all my life under the stoicism. When you reflect on your day as you turn out the lights, you are in fact revisiting how you felt about it, not what you thought about… Read More The Tyranny of Feelings
“He told of how the trees had grown in all sorts of conditions, endured lightning strikes and windstorms and infestations. [The boat builder] said the wood taught us about survival, about overcoming difficulty, but it also taught us about the reason for surviving in the first place. Something about infinite beauty, about things larger and… Read More Happy Hard Year
As the last iPhone holdout on the planet and blind without virtual powers, I could only guess that the 91 straight ahead was going to stop up in five miles as usual. Do I move left and hit Fastrak or make my way over to the right for Toll? Which will get me to Orange… Read More The Path You Might Have Taken
It was a summer sun and autumn wind. He felt both awkward and snug in the sweater as the heat bore through and the air blew in tidal breaths about him. He couldn’t help look up as he made his way down the gully using his spade for a walking stick. The sky, a wash… Read More Burial
I had my feet up on the couch, willing the bleeding to stop. I couldn’t find any pads last night but remembered the spare diapers I kept for my nephew’s sleepovers. They were perfect. What a word. Perfect. I suppose I should have this down by now. I changed out the diapers every hour, at… Read More Maybe We Don’t Want to Listen To Your Story
It took me over a quarter of a century to realize beauty isn’t something frivolous. The truth still takes my breath away: we need beauty in our life. With no particular aesthetic gift or impulse, I was for much of my life satisfied if my purchases were functional. They didn’t have to be pretty. And… Read More The Obligation of Beauty
More times than I can name, the wayfaring has been a desperate crawl. This is no metaphor, not when there were days I could not drag my broken body downstairs for the mail. Jan 2003, Meningitis. The virus had taken itself up in my spine and lining of the brain. Journal: At every turn of… Read More The Question of Human Suffering
I learned not to expect anything from anyone – not even my amazing friends – but to give. People have their own burdens. I am grateful that anyone should stop to think of me in some way. Wish I had known earlier not to impose standards in my relationships, to free people in their weakness,… Read More Lessons from My 30s
A Holistic Journey 