We celebrated my daughter’s Sweet Sixteen birthday with a weekend in New York City for just the two of us. One plan of many, squeezed into a short 48 hours, was to grab a cup of coffee and have breakfast near (instead of at) Tiffany’s. We got rained out, though. The rain poured down in buckets, pounding at our umbrellas as we waded down the street to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Around us, those that didn’t have umbrellas ran for cover. Looking at someone splashing by us, my daughter said, “Mom, do you know you get wetter running through the rain than just walking?”

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What polar bears and mammoths share with us…

We all have the tendency to express anger about certain things. Some things just push our ‘buttons’, making us want to react with angry words or outbursts of loud and aggressive behaviour. This anger usually feels justified. It feels as if we have the ‘right’ to be angry about whatever it is that has triggered our anger. And it also feels as if taking a ‘stand’ on the issue will solve whatever the problem is.

I saw this from an interesting perspective this week.
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As mentioned in my previous blog, there have been slow but sure changes in Mumsie lately.

I guess I didn’t really realize how stressful it was until, after one particularly tiring day mostly spent bickering with Mumsie, I snapped poor Hubby’s head off after he made an innocuous statement. He didn’t say a word at the time, bless him, but he did bring it up again that night when Mumsie had gone upstairs to her room. (more…)

What does healing mean to you?

We all want to feel whole. We desire a sense of completeness. This is a sensation of being all right within our bodies, our minds and our lives.

There are relationships and events that seem to reflect a lack of resonance, or seem to suggest that there is something out of alignment within us. Sometimes it simply feels as if we don’t belong and are not welcome within a group of people, or even at home. We might be uncomfortable with ourselves. (more…)

She said it herself, but it bears repeating: Felicia Marie Tomasko’s workshop, Ingest, Digest, Rest – Ayurvedic Tips for Healthy Digestion was perfectly timed for the evening of the last day of the conference. After five days of constant wisdom ingesting, I think we all needed to hear about how to take time and let things settle. And Felicia, being a yoga and Ayurveda expert, had tons of helpful advice about how we can take simple steps to aid our digestion, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. (more…)

So last week I hit the proverbial brick wall – BAM. I’m still not sure what happened. One minute I felt fine, and the next I felt totally drained and “zoned out”. (more…)

Last week, I went to my hairdresser’s for a long overdue haircut. The first thing my hairdresser did was muss up my hair. The second thing she did was point out a large bald patch on my crown.

“I think you need to see your doctor right away because you may have alopecia”, she said. She went on to explain that alopecia is a condition where some or – in worst cases – all of your hair falls out. It could be due to menopause or stress or many other factors. But the gist of it was that I had that bald patch on my head. Oh joy. (more…)

Traveling with my mother is a great experience after so many years of long- distance living.

The one thing that I had been contemplating for months was how my child was going to handle his mother being away for so long. I had not been apart from him for more than 20 hours since his birth. What was this going to be like for a 3-1/2-year old? (more…)

I was in Boston last week for the Boston Book Festival and I had a lovely time. Books and Boston – my idea of a perfect combination!

Getting there and back, however, was not as much fun. I detest flying at the best of times, and having to drag myself out of bed at 4 in the morning to catch a four+-hour flight to Denver and then change planes for another two+-hour flight escalated my stress level. Even though Hubby had gone with me to Boston, he stayed on for a few days on business so I was on my own. (more…)

Okay, I’ll admit it. I hold grudges. If I want to, I can cling on to a grudge like you wouldn’t believe – barnacles on rocks have nothing on me.

I know, I know – we can all get upset about things said or not said at any given time, but some people manage to shrug it off and forget about it. Me? Not so much. I mean, I remember something insignificant that my sister did to me when we were kids, for goodness sake, and I still feel that twinge of a grudge… (more…)