Practices for Recovering Resilience
From Heartache to Hope – How to Dig Deeper for Meaning
When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry. A sea we must wade. We braved the belly of the beast. We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace, and the norms and notions of what “just” is isn’t always justice. And yet the dawn is […]
In This Place – Another Timely Offering from Amanda Gorman
This poem by our Inaugural poet Amanda Gorman showed up in my inbox from Larry Robinson at the very moment I was creating the post Poetry Trumps Politics. For the timing and the truth of it, I’m delighted to pass it on to you. In This Place (An American Lyric) There’s a poem in this […]
My Evolution of Resilience
I used to believe that life was somewhat linear, unfolding steadily toward growing up, becoming wise, finding fulfillment. If a big bump derailed a life from that path – “bad things happen to good people” – then resilience played an important role in helping us bounce back. Recovering what had been working well before, progressing […]
Poetry Trumps Politics
Just as hope can be more powerful than heartache, and truth triumph over lies and deception, poetry can stir the heart and inspire a nation far more than political tirades and buzz words. By the time you read this, Joe Biden will have been inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States and Kamala […]
Shit Happens. Shift Happens, Too. New Resilience Program for the New Year
You could say 2020 was one shit storm after another. Shutdowns from the pandemic that have not yet truly opened up again. Hostilities along racial, class and political lines that still fester. And folks everywhere, doing their best, day after day, to deal with the angst and uncertainty of maybe losing their health, maybe losing […]
Joyful Movement as Shoulder Heals
This joyful, playful, energizing (4 minute) video was sent to me by friends when they learned my shoulder is healing well and was released from its sling three days ago after being immobilized 24/7 for 6 weeks. While I may not dance as exuberantly as the folks of all ages and races in this video, and […]
Meaningful, Mundane, and Murky
I landed on the title of this post last week, the day we learned that the cliff-hanging results of the runoff elections in Georgia for the US Senate returned the Senate to a semblance of balance and power in a democracy, and the current can’t-be-too-soon outgoing president of United States brought disgrace to himself and […]
You Might Want to Forget 2020; This Short Film Reminds You Why You Shouldn’t
My gourmet poets society met via zoom on New Year’s Eve, sharing music and poetry to honor the heartache of 2020 and the hope for 2021. We sang the traditional Auld Lang Syne together, and Dina shared the link to this beautiful, very untraditional version, For the Sake of Old Times, released by NPR December […]
New Year’s Blessing – Belated but Wise and Timely
I learned of this New Year’s Blessing by Larry Robinson the day after New Year’s. It holds the many contradictions and heartaches of 2020 with wisdom and grace. May it enlighten and inspire. New Year’s Blessing By Larry Robinson A year of loss and chaos draws to a close. Stories from a thousand cultures remind […]
Welcoming 2021 with a Bang… or a Whimper?
Paraphrasing T.S. Eliot from his 1925 poem the Hollow Man, 2020 has ended “not with a bang but with a whimper.” Many of us are limping rather than leaping into 2021. No boisterous New Year’s Eve gatherings with friends at home or dining out. Whether out of prudence or paranoia, no travel (or cautious travel) […]