Loss and significant change can have a big effect on your life, particularly when it involves significant bonds such as a partner, parent, child, sibling, even a close friend. It is important to address our human need for intimacy and connection that is triggered by loss. Otherwise, you can get you stuck. Stuck is […]
Last week, I flew up to Seattle with my husband to visit his dying father. He needed only to ask and I went with him. After going through the deaths of my own parents twenty years ago, I understand the importance of pausing, for showing up and being present. Accepting What Is Unfortunately, we did […]
The word motion is contained in the word Emotion. Emotions move us and our emotions move others. Sometimes they draw us together, sometimes they push us apart. It is good to know our emotions. They teach us about ourselves — our wants, our needs, our desires. Sometimes they feel great, other times they are so […]
Human beings are social animals. Community is the biological plan of our species. We need others to survive. This need for social connection and bonding continues throughout our lives. Community has a powerful influence over the way we think, behave and feel about our selves and those around us. This is particularly true when we […]
Valentine’s Day, with its focus on romantic love, can be challenging for those who have lost partners or other dear ones. Even when there is no special memory associated with the day, the promotional hype of the media can worm its way into one’s consciousness and intensify feelings of loss. Below are my 2 best […]
Barb, my mother-in-law, died last Friday. She has been declining for a long time so her death was not unanticipated, just a bit quicker than expected. Her death has given me another opportunity to explore grieving up close. My husband George flew off to Seattle the same day to view her body and pay his […]
What I would like for this New Year is more ease. January is the time to set our intentions, to think about how we would like our lives to be. We paint a picture of what we want and open our minds to this new possibility. Like so many of us in this Western Culture, […]
Darkness is part of the seasonal cycle and also the cycle of life. There are good times and hard times. The secret of happiness is to learn to flow with the rhythm of these cycles. Often this is a lot easier said than done. Everything is going great and then suddenly BAM— your car breaks […]
November is the month of Thanksgiving. This special holiday combines two elements that are essential to human wellbeing — celebration and gratitude. Celebration, from the Latin celebrātiō, means big assembly. In gathering with others for Thanksgiving we affirm the good that we have accomplished, and express gratitude for the results. Gratitude, from the Latin word […]
We are biologically programed to fear death. All animals are. By fear I mean that automatic response of fight, flee or freeze when faced with a threat to survival. A shadow passes over and the lizard freezes. It passes again and the lizard scurries under a rock. If caught, the lizard will struggle and even […]
