Practices for Recovering Resilience
Social Media – Hacking Your Mind
So many friends recommended the film The Social Dilemma, I even bit the bullet and joined Netflix free for one month to watch it. A seriously important, seriously well-documented, seriously frightening expose from within the digital tech industry about: * The attention economy – profiles based on personal data tracked by where we focus our […]
When Solid Ground Turns to Quicksand
Years ago, I jumped out of a rowboat in shallow water into what I thought would be solid ground. Instead I unknowingly jumped into quicksand, and the pull of the muck, pulling me down deeper into the water, with no firm solid ground to push off from, was instantly and completely terrifying. I grabbed the […]
Free Guided Practice – Creating a Coherent Narrative
Sometimes we do have to cope with serious sorrows and struggles that break our hearts and sometimes break our spirits; even find our way through catastrophes that can change our lives forever. This 5.5 minute video leads you in the practice of integrating any previous loss or deeply traumatizing event into the ongoing story of […]
Caring Connections Where You’d Least Expect to Find Them – Wild Animal Friendships
Wildlife biologist Liz Bonnin spent a year traveling all over the world, researching and reporting on the most unusual pairings of friendships across species in the wild: a goat and a hippopotamus, a dog and a tiger, an ocelot and a chimpanzee, a cat and a duck. The hour-long film, The Oddest Animal Friendships, has […]
Stretching Across What Separates Us
I’ve known my neighbor’s boys, Robbie and Nico, since they were born. Robbie now 4, Nico now 2. Before the restrictions of sheltering in place for the pandemic, Robbie especially would climb the crape myrtle tree in my front yard, “mow” my lawn with his toy lawn mower, ride his bike down my driveway because […]
We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know…We Don’t Even Know THAT We Don’t Know
I read Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson as part of my August 2020 sabbatical sort-of. 388 pages of text, another 65 pages of notes and references. Top of the list for its brilliance and comprehensiveness; staggeringly “heavy” in its chronicling the caste system – the intertwining of race-class-gender – that has […]
End the BASHing – Blame, Anger, Shame, Helplessness – in your Most Important Relationships
A client of mine came up with an acronym last week that was so very helpful to her in catching the anger-shame-blame behaviors she could easily get into, about herself, about people close to her. BASH – Blame, Anger (or Anxiety), Shame, Helplessness. The perfect descriptor of a very serious bad habit. This same client […]
Honoring the Light in the Darkness – Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Whatever your religious affiliation or political persuasion or engagement with the current troubles of our world, honoring the life and good work of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court for 25 years and unabashed defender of civil rights for the “outsider” and justice for all, is an excellent way to strengthen and […]
Free Guided Practice – Seeing the Goodness That Others See in You
These days when we get flummoxed or weary or discouraged, we can doubt our own capacities to continue to do what needs to be done to take care of ourselves, our families, our communities. We can lose track of our own strengths, our base of resilience, our own goodness. This 4-minute video leads you in […]
A Time of Reflection, Repentance, Repair
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins tonight at sundown and ushers in the High Holy Days, the most sacred time of reflection, repentance, and renewal of vows in the Jewish tradition. Whatever your own contemplative practice that helps you reflect and re-dedicate yourself to the larger good, now is certainly a time for all […]