Practices for Recovering Resilience
Responding to the Trauma of War
The October 7 Hamas attack on Israel began the day after the 2023 Mill Valley Film Festival began here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I was immersed in watching […]
Retirement Beyond a Comfortable Bubble
Travel. Grandchildren. Gardening. I hear these are what many folks do when they retire, if they are able. I’ve traveled some, mostly to hike in wilderness. I thoroughly enjoy zooming […]
How Quickly Everything We Have Treasured Disappears
Ephemera: something of no lasting significance; paper items that were meant to be discarded after use; lasting one day only. – Webster’s College Dictionary The word ephemera was used by […]
Catastrophic Thinking Can Be So Useful, and Can Run Amok
I know that catastrophic thinking – a sneeze means a cold means missing work means losing my job means financial disaster, all in less than three seconds – is my […]
Resilience Is a Capacity Innate in the Heart as Well as the Brain
One death is a tragedy. One million deaths is a statistic. – Joseph Stalin Perhaps you were struck, as I was, by the contrast in the recent news coverage of […]
Reaching Down into the Center
I’ve been saving the poem below for my penultimate e-post of these Resources for Recovering Resilience. The wrap-up e-post will be sent July 13 after teaching my very last ever […]
Daniel Ellsberg – The Most Heroic (and “Dangerous”) Man in America
I was very familiar with the Vietnam War – friends being drafted to kill or be killed for their country or becoming conscientious objectors. And with the power of the […]
Pushing the Pause Button
Krista Tippett announced this summer’s pause of the On Being project with this quote from John O’Donohue. Your identity is not equivalent to your biography. There is a place in […]
Living Well, Dying Well
Two good friends have died in the last two weeks. Long lives, well lived. Companioned in their passage from living well to dying well by family and friends who loved […]
A Gentle, Gentle Winding Down
May Sarton’s poem The Work of Happiness, included at the end of this post, gives some indication of how my leaning from retirement into Renaissance has landed me more and […]