I’m With You

Waking up to a blank slate in 2024, I couldn’t think of a better way to start the year than to connect with my WordPress community. I’ve been tracking many of you with your post notifications, and cheering you on from afar. I have no excuse for not commenting and supporting all the lovely endeavors Read More

Pushing Back to Move Forward

I consider myself an easygoing person, sometimes to a fault. I tend to be a peacemaker, and don’t like conflict. Speaking up, pushing back and going against the flow are necessary for me to grow and thrive. But because this is against my nature, I have to remind myself that the easy way is often Read More

Weekend Book Review: Bewilderment

Bewilderment by Richard Powers My rating: 4 of 5 stars Genre: Fiction, Dystopian Fiction Edition Reviewed: Audiobook, Unabridged Published September 21st 2021 by Random House Audio “The laws that govern the light from a firefly in my backyard as I write these words tonight also govern the light emitted from an exploding star one billion light-years Read More

Small Steps

Happy new year! I’ve noticed that a year has a cycle of its own: The hopeful, verdant productivity of spring; the hot, leisurely lull of summer; the nostalgic, fire-colored winding down of fall; the final determined frosty push of winter. After December, though winter has still some proving to do, we turn to a new Read More

Weekend Book Review: Mountain Song

Mountain Song: A Journey to Finding Quiet in the Swiss Alps by Lucy Fuggle My rating: 4 of 5 stars Mountain Song: A Journey to Finding Quiet in the Swiss Alps by Lucy Fuggle opens with the author turning a familiar wish into reality, as she rents a quaint house, in a tiny village called Read More

Self-Destruction

It’s amazing to me that, while our bodies possess hundreds of survival adaptations, we also carry within us tendencies to self destruct. Physiological and biological processes, along with instinctual behaviors, increase our longevity or help us adapt to changing circumstances. A flight or flight response is triggered when the body senses threat. Fat storage commences Read More

Weekend Book Review: Crossroads

Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen My rating: 5 of 5 stars Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction Edition Reviewed: Hardcover, 592 pages Published October 5th 2021 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux “It’s like there are these words, they’re out there in the world, and you start wondering what it would be like to say them. Words have their own Read More

Weekend Book Review: The Gospel of Wellness

The Gospel of Wellness: Gyms, Gurus, Goop, and the False Promise of Self-Care by Rina Raphael My rating: 4 of 5 starsGenre: Nonfiction, Health, Self-help Edition Reviewed: Hardcover, 352 pages Published September 20th 2022 by Henry Holt and Co. The Gospel of Wellness by journalist Rina Raphael is a much-needed close up look at the $4.4 Read More

Who’s in Control?

I come to you today, humbled, after having my grand plans for the month subdued by, you guessed it, Covid. My daughter came down with it the day after I declared my intention to awaken and join the world. Within days I found myself miserable and dormant. I am surprised at the extent to which Read More

September’s Word of the Month: Awaken

Washing dishes at the kitchen sink, mind wandering, my gaze falls on a healthy potted hydrangea offering up the last of its fading blooms. But this isn’t a sad sight; it’s amazing. I had long since given up on this plant, as the past few years all it could muster were a few leggy leaves Read More