Good parents are artists

One thing I really like about Facebook is seeing photos of families. Photos of anticipated births and of newborn babies, of children, of parents with children, of families in their daily lives, of families on vacation and at holidays. And one of the things I like most about that is watching people I know - especially …

Surgery: Fear and Trust

Next Tuesday I'm set for surgery. A complete hysterectomy. And what I'm feeling is paradoxical. I feel both fear and trust. Both swirl in my thoughts and feelings. How to be present to that? I know that being present is essential. The last big surgery I had was a little over five years ago, a …

Intuition and Fear: How synchronicity stepped in to make things clear for me

Although I try to follow my intuition (because I know it's very wise), sometimes I confuse myself and don't know what to do - or not to do. This is a story of just that: I was scheduled for a biopsy last month, one that could be very painful. I had not felt comfortable with this …

Hey, Hypocrite!

If you are brave and read comments after articles on the internet, you see a lot of people calling each other "hypocrite." You yourself might have - once or twice in your lifetime - called someone a hypocrite. Or maybe you're one to think it without saying it out loud. And someone might have even …

Letting a word for 2017 find me

I like to begin my new year with an exercise that Abbey of the Arts shared several years ago - and shares again each year. It involves letting a word choose you. In ancient times, wise men and women fled out into the desert to find a place where they could be fully present to …

A birthday lesson on letting go of expectations

The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men / Gang aft agley (The best-laid plans of mice and men / Go oft awry) - Robert Burns Today is my 58th birthday, the one that matches my birth year of 1958. And for the first time since I was 17, I'm in the Coastal Empire on my birthday, specifically, …

Choosing to avoid psychic punches

And I wonder about those psychic punches. What actually happens when we share negative thoughts and feelings? Do we literally put out negative energy that others can feel?