Author Archives: Musings

I love making lists. Food shopping lists. Packing lists. To do lists. How to organize my life lists. Lists are my happy place; they bring calm to a very active (overactive?) mind. They are a kind of meditation; they take all that is spinning at light speed inside my mind and give me permission toContinue reading “Whose Light Then Do You Reflect?”

I have been a beginner many times. As have we all…first day of school, first moments leaving home and fooling ourselves into believing we are already adults, first love, first days of parenthood, first day of a new job, and moving…to a new city or neighborhood or country or continent… And there is always thisContinue reading “Beginnings…”

I had a friend whose lawyer husband’s real passion was music. And while nursing cups of coffee one afternoon, she shared with me a particular upsetting incident, the details of which (now 25 years later) I can’t recall. But I do remember asking if everything was ok and she smiled and said of course andContinue reading “The Languages We Speak…”

There are songs that are like Rorschach Tests. Sometimes in a whisper, sometimes in a scream…they reach out and reveal the truth of the moment, of your inner world. One such song for me is Patty Griffin’s Up to the Mountain. Which streamed through my airpods this morning while I walked past my alma mater.Continue reading “Peaceful Valley”

I will take with me the emptiness of my hands What you do not have you find everywhere I read and reread these final lines of WS Merwin’s poem “Provision” a few dozen times this morning. Merwin reached out from the grave, as so many dead poets do, to speak to me this morning, asContinue reading “The Emptiness of Hands”

I’ve been thinking lately about ideas, thoughts, feelings and where they come from. Whether they are the monkey-mind type that erode our sense of well-being or the creative inspired ones that produce art. Poems. Books or juicy letters. Philosopher and spiritual teacher Krishnamurti once said, You might think you are thinking your own thoughts. You’reContinue reading “Planting Seeds”

The word synchronicity keeps appearing. In dreams. Conversations. In synchronicity itself, things just happening. I did a personality test this morning and apparently I resist facing difficult emotions. And I loathe criticism. What? Me? Little ol’ diplomatic get along with everyone me? Or so I thought…till an hour later, when out on my morning SanContinue reading “Dance with what is emerging…”

There was always St. Louis, my husband said the other day, as we were reflecting on our upcoming home. Though we’ve only lived here for the past almost eight years, we’ve spent a good chunk of our marriage here. We got married here, had a baby naming here, spent summers and spring breaks here. TheContinue reading “Living Fully”

I am almost finished reading Brene Brown’s Atlas of the Heart; actually I am listening to the audiobook, narrated by Brown herself, and let me just say—feels like Brene is talking directly to me, like we are having a conversation and she is revealing to me the secrets of my heart. When she got toContinue reading “One Step at a Time”

I am very affected by sunlight. I favor summer over winter, prefer tank tops to scarves and gloves, and love late spring and summer fruits like cherries and watermelon. And dark grey autumn days, cold that gets in your bones—not really to my liking. Yet, (strangely perhaps?) I find the early morning hours, before theContinue reading “Soothing the Soul”