At their core, winter holidays are about celebrating the returning of the light. Candles, luminarias, fireworks and Christmas lights are potent reminders of this. It is a time of hope and promise when darkness is at its greatest. Both the physical and spiritual are included in the meaning. In nature, winter is a time of […]
Over the last few decades, advances in medical technology have dramatically changed the way we die. In the good ole days (not always so good), families waited patiently at the bedside of dying loved ones while nature took its course. With the wide array of medical drugs, procedures and devices that are now available, it […]
As the saying goes: Nothing in life is certain except death and taxes. Taxes, however, come due at predictable times, which forces us to prepare, even if we hate doing it. Death, on the other had, is completely unpredictable and so much easier to put it out of our minds until it is too late. […]
My sister Kip and her husband Richard had two adorable brown sable Burmese kitties — Mina and Clovis. They were litter mates, housemate, and playmates. Last November, during that terrible Sandy storm that left parts of Lower Manhattan without power, Mina stopped eating. At first they assumed it was the stress of the storm. But […]
A few weeks ago, I wrote down the words “blogtalk radio” on a to-do list. I had just finished listening to an interview about near-death experiences and thought it might be a good venue for my own work. The very next day, I received an invitation from Uma Girish to speak on her blogtalk show […]
Some people seem particularly gifted in the art of manifesting. While the rest of us work hard, struggle, and often show small results for our efforts, these magical beings seem capable of getting whatever they want with surprising ease. They inspire our envy, often our dismissal — Some people have all the luck! But inside, don’t […]
I read the letter in my faculty mailbox a second time. I could not believe it. St. Mary’s College was offering me a one-year renewal of my teaching position — a terminal contract. It was December 1977, just before Christmas break. Merry Christmas! I was sure there was some mistake, certainly a misunderstanding. I had […]
The word “vacation” comes from the Latin word vacare, which means to be empty, free. This is a very Zen concept that few of us, I suspect, would apply to our vacations. Often we are as busy and occupied during our vacation time as we are doing our work. This because we are a culture […]
My father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a few days after his eightieth birthday. His dementia was fairly advanced. We ignored the signs as long as we could. After his diagnosis my father deteriorated rapidly. It seemed that now that we knew the truth, he could stop pretending and let nature take its course. His participation […]
This is a re-post of a blog that was posted on Google Blog in 2011. In the film Julie and Julia, we are provide with an interesting contrast between the story of Julia Child and her start in the cooking profession and New York blogger Julie Powell and her one year self-challenge to cook every […]
