While I tremendously enjoyed our last trip (see HERE) and I’m looking forward to the two other big road trips we have planned for this summer, today my soul is rejoicing in some time spent alone.

We all need to make room for quiet in our lives (see HERE).  Whether it’s taking a walk alone (see HERE), taking a relaxing bath (see HERE), spending time reading a good book (see HERE), snuggling with your little one (see HERE), or simply pausing for a minute of purposeful quiet in the morning before you step into the business of the day, it’s those moments when we can reconnect with our better selves.… Continue reading

I believe that love can conquer fear, hatred, and heartache.

I look forward to a day when human kind can live in peace.  Let us work together, love one another, and leave a legacy of kindness and compassion wherever we go.

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.… Continue reading

In the midst of a book full of fun and silly poems, lies this message of truth.  Who are we to say what is impossible for someone else?  Or to let someone else say what is impossible for us?

“Listen to the MUSTN’TS, child,

Listen to the DON’TS

Listen to the SHOULDN’TS

The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON’TS

Listen to the NEVER HAVES

Then listen close to me –

Anything can happen, child,

ANYTHING can be.”… Continue reading

We each have many opportunities to do good within our day-to-day lives.  Each morning, we awaken to a fresh opportunity to sustain this practice.  In this way, through the continued doing of good, we change our lives, we change the lives of those around us, and we change the world.

Even things as simple as saying a genuine thank you, meeting a person’s eye when you speak to them, or smiling at the people you walk past can touch the lives of others with kindness. … Continue reading

So often, my responses to situations seem to be on auto-pilot.  I don’t really think about my response, I simply respond.

Part of my interest in mindfulness is an attraction to being fully present in each moment, and being able to decide within that moment what would be an appropriate way to respond.  This is not to discount the wisdom that often comes from a gut response, it’s simply taking a moment to check in and be sure that whatever my particular reflexive response happens to be is how I truly want to respond in this given instance.… Continue reading

If we seek joy, we will certainly find it.  We all have joy that lives in our hearts and lives, sometimes we simply need to make an effort to invite it into the open.

“Keep knocking, and the joy inside will eventually open a window and look out to see who’s there.”

Rumi (translated by Coleman Barks), The Essential Rumi

Where are you finding joy today?… Continue reading

How wonderful that we can choose how our days will unfold.  We can choose our attitude.  We can choose our interpretation of events.  We can choose how we view the world in which we live.  And in this way, we can choose our daily lives.

Let us choose to live fully, and to enjoy the full measure of each day. … Continue reading

This week has been one of big passions.  While they’re not the sort of thing I normally think of as passion, I like Whedon’s use of the term to encompass all huge feelings.  Truly, they are the varied passions of our hearts.

To feel is part of what makes life grand, even when the feelings are difficult and laced with tremendous grief.… Continue reading

As we travel down life’s road, there are a myriad of possible lives before us.  Each choice we make influences which possibilities lie ahead.  But the life we are given to live is the life that we are in right now.  The future paths we envision may or may not come to fruition.  Now is the time to live our lives, without too much fret for the future. … Continue reading