“One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover
creative solitude.”
Carl Sandburg
________
Reflections
“One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover creative solitude.”
Carl Sandburg
________
Reflections
How You See Changes What You See
As a man is, so he sees. --William Blake, 1799* I think you can switch this quotation to read, “As a man sees, so he is.” Of course, if I were writing this, I would replace man with person. I often use the phrase, “How we see changes what we see.” It’s a cornerstone...
Butterflies are Lucky
My husband passed away a few months ago after a long illness. On the outside, I don’t seem much different. Friends are telling me I look more rested now; I’m getting out more. I’m back at work. But on an interior level, I feel as though I’m going through a...
Tough Old Broads
"If you want a thing well done, get a couple of old broads to do it." -- Bette Davis The other night I had dinner with two long-time friends that I hadn’t seen for a while and we were catching up. To anyone listening to us, you’d think we’d be horribly...
Infinite Possibilities
“Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.” --Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz I had cataract surgery on my right eye yesterday. I’ll have my left eye done in a couple of weeks. They replaced my cloudy lens with a multi-focal lens that also corrects my...
Gloriousness and Wretchedness
I have been reading Pema Chodron’s book, Start Where You Are, and the above quote jumped off the page at me. What followed was a beautiful description of gloriousness and wretchedness and the necessity of both in our lives. “Appreciating the gloriousness inspires us,...
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
Do you ever read a book and find yourself highlighting interesting lines on almost every page? That was me as I was reading “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone,” by Lori Gottlieb. The book was recommended to me by another coach. She said the author was very good at...
Happy Administrative Professionals Day
Sometimes not often enough We reflect upon the good things And those thoughts always center around those we love And I think about those people who mean so much to me And for so many years have made me so very happy And I count the times I have forgotten to say "thank...
House vs. Home
“There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort” Jane Austen We have a vacation home in the mountains of Colorado and my daughter has been living there during the pandemic. Well, the fires got a little too close, so she packed up and moved to our home in...
Is Cliche the Cynic’s Word for Universal?
If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal John Lennon Years ago, when I was teaching English, I was asked to judge the National Scholastic Writing Contest with a...
“Takes a licking and keeps on ticking.”
I was awake this morning from 3:00 am on (not an unusual occurrence since the pandemic.) It’s at this time that personal, professional and global anxieties arrive unbidden and settle in for a few cozy hours of certain insomnia. After an hour of tossing, turning and...
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Yesterday, I visited my mother’s grave. It was the first time in 20 years. She died 45 years ago. I may sound like an unfeeling daughter, but my mother hated all the rituals surrounding death. There was no funeral (she was buried by cemetery staff); we had a memorial...
Anticipation – Are These the Good Old Days?
This old song by Carly Simon has been running through my head for a few days, especially the refrain, and the last lines, “These are the good old days.” We can never know about the days to come But we think about them anyway And I wonder if I'm really with you now Or...
