My recent spontaneous hike to the floor of the Grand Canyon kicked my ___. It has been something I have wanted to do for the past few years. I tried hard to get a permit early this year but ended…
Reflections on a Big Year
Professionally and personally, there have been many lessons I’ve learned throughout 2019. Shedding light on what I’ve gleaned and where I want to go is a regular dialog that I have with myself in those quiet moments while I’m walking…
Painting from Memory
This is a place that lives so deeply in my being that I painted it from my imagination about 5 years ago. I spent a lot of time here fishing, sitting on the edge of the water finding salamanders and…
Memory Lane
It had been 28 years since I was back in the town where I spent many winter weekends and holidays in my youth. I spent the last week orienting to my sense of place and my sense of purpose while…
Lifting Up Your Inner Child
I’m human, scared at times. Fear has taken me on many a ride! This montage image reminds me of the mothering that I need to and can give myself. Being able to look back on myself as a little girl…
My Father
My father passed away on January 13th of this year. It feels strange not to pick up the phone and hear his voice, send him the latest updates on his grandchildren, get his solicited and sometimes unsolicited yet loving financial…
Going Home
“No man ever steps in the same river twice for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.”— Heraclitus That quote pretty much summed it up for me on my recent time being back in…
Death Study for Deeper Listening Skills
I sat in a contemplative mindfulness meditation practice the past two weekends to explore and deepen my relationship to the “great” transition of death. I entered the Willow Farm Zendo last Saturday morning a little late (had to stop for…
Grief, Loss and the Holiday Season
I struggle at this time of year to be happy when deep inside I am not. The days are shorter, dark and cold, and for a melancholic/choleric like me, that can spell trouble. I lost my mom on the day…
Unencumbered
Unencumbered– the witnessing of my Dad’s dance with the “things” in his life he had valued at one point and the necessity and urgency he has to clear them out with the point of a finger… NOW! He is in…