This afternoon in the writing group I’ve attended weekly for 26 years, a writer read from a book that none of us knew she’d been writing. And it is terrific! It is splendid! And she has a huge amount of it done. This event is roughly equivalent to discovering that your next-door neighbor of 20+ […] Read More

My psychologist husband tells me I like to create “Great Wall of China projects.” And it’s true that I seem drawn to doing things the hard way. For example, I made a quilt with a needle and thread. But I’d rather not have to do everything the most difficult way, or the high-stress bear-down-hard way, […] Read More

After a couple of days away, back to my list of rediscovered treasures. Number Three (not in order of importance) is <a href=" Julia Cameron's seminal, world-changing, now-classic The Artist's Way. The book is inspiring and encouraging in ways all its own. And at the same time it delivers two ideas that are bold in […] Read More

Wonderful wisdom today from the Daily Om on making decisions: “Before making your choice, release your fear of wrong decisions. Perceived mistakes can lead you down wonderful and unexpected paths that expose you to life-changing insights. If you can let go of the notion that certain choices are utterly right while others are entirely wrong, […] Read More

Women Who Run with the Wolves is Book 2 in my series of rediscovered treasures. I remember well when it came out because I was then in the editing process of the book I co-authored, The Healing Power of Doing Good, and working with the same publisher. And so on the phone one day, I […] Read More

The Jonah Complex is what Abraham Maslow calls the business of turning down our most profound callings: “The evasion of one’s own growth, the setting of low levels of aspiration, the fear of doing what one is capable of doing, voluntary self-crippling, pseudo-stupidity, mock humility.” Personal Confessions: My Own Whale Tale Ten or so years […] Read More

A lot of books arrived at my house last week after psychologist husband Bob‘s office reorganization. Picking through the boxes, I discovered a few selections that I’d recommended to him because I’d found them outstandingly useful, actually practical and effective in improving my life navigation skills. So I decided to glance at these books again […] Read More

Hear me, world: I am ready! This is my announcement that, if offered, I will accept the post of American Idol judge recently vacated by Ms. Paula Abdul. Job Qualifications I bring many assets to the position. At 60, I am of a demographic not currently represented on the panel. Having no musical ability, I […] Read More

We don’t have to stick with whatever comes out of a package. Often, we can change it. I love using things in ways they weren’t intended, or altering them to make them work for my circumstances. Case in point: Husband Bob didn’t like the blue sheets because they “didn’t breathe.” I didn’t like the black […] Read More

I was preaching and theorizing here two days ago about how the health care anger and uproar was coming in part out of the fear of death. Turns out I was projecting: it was me. (And maybe those raging demonstrators as well) The day after that post (yesterday), I worried here about the recession and […] Read More