Embracing Balance, Harmony and the Holiday Spirit December 18, 2013 • 4 Comments Unfortunately, most of my childhood holidays were steeped in tension. Every year, there were a lot of expectations wrapped up under the flocked Christmas tree that held explosive power when things went even slightly askew. One fateful Christmas Eve, we arrived home from the annual neighborhood party to the unfortunate discovery that my brother had eaten the tub of cottage…
Being Present: One Thousand Healing Moments December 16, 2013 • 2 Comments I heard a statistic that, on average, people look at their cell phones a thousand times a day and I find this fascinating. It makes me wonder what we are looking for on our phones: Validation? Connection? Belonging? A way to look busy or feel important? I’m part of the generation that grew up pre-cell phone, and I’m trying to…
Healing Yoga and ‘The Promise’ by Mark Whitwell December 11, 2013 • 2 Comments Yoga has been an integral part of my healing, and I’ve found tremendous solace on a mat, in the middle of a room of sweaty people. I prefer heated yoga because I feel like I have wrung myself out. It’s not for everyone, but it has worked for me. Although I have practiced yoga off and on for many years,…
Stress Neutralizing Daily Green Smoothie Recipe December 6, 2013 • 3 Comments There is a certain pulse to the holiday season that seems to summon stress, and it is very easy to get caught up in the pressure to buy more and put on a happy face. It requires a very concerted effort to protect the precious resources of our mental and physical eco-systems. “We need to mount a stress response in…
Thanksgiving Stories & Conscious Parenting December 4, 2013 • 6 Comments I dropped off my son at the Park-N-Ride Sunday morning so he could travel back up to college for finals, and then I headed out for my morning walk. All along the streets, parents were engaged in similar endeavors: getting kids into their cars, hugging and slinging suitcases into the trunk. As I walked along, I was overwhelmed with gratitude…
Holiday Stress: Cause Beauty Instead on Black Friday November 29, 2013 • 1 Comment I am sending Black Friday blessings to those of you out there braving the crowds. You won’t find me anywhere near a store or a mall for a variety of reasons. For one thing, I value my peace of mind more than any consumer good, half price or not. And another, after you are forced to offload most of your…
Conscious Healing Through Mind Mapping November 27, 2013 • 5 Comments Although healing is an organic process, it requires a pro-active mindset. And, making the choice to heal is the only way for it to begin. Let’s face it, being a victim is powerful stuff and you can get a lot of mileage out of it. But, it limits your range because you will be driving the same stretch of highway…
Hybrid Holidays: Finding Peace Amidst the Season November 25, 2013 • 1 Comment I wonder if you are experiencing this hybrid-holiday conundrum. Here it is a few days before Thanksgiving and I have already (I hate to admit this) broken my Christmas décor out of the boxes. This is new for me. I have always been a strict adherer to the one-holiday-at-a-time rule, however, I now have a blended holiday going on in…
JFK 50th Anniversary: Memories of John F. Kennedy November 22, 2013 • 1 Comment I was born just four months before the fateful day of JFK’s assassination and grew up surrounded by his story through my school years. I vividly recall the grainy images of him and his family in the history books, which made them seem an otherworldly fairy tale to me. Today, on the fiftieth anniversary of his death at the age…
A Writer’s Retreat with Jennifer Louden November 18, 2013 • 0 Comments I originally posted this a year ago, and as I was reviewing the last twelve months as a blogger, this retreat stands out as one of the hallmark experiences in my healing and writing process. The week spent under Jen’s tender guidance gave me the permission I needed to start exploring what I wanted in life, and write it down…