Rest-Renewal-Re-Energize
Replenishing the Soil, Replenishing the Soul
My friend Mark, a high school biology teacher, is fond of the adage, “Bad farmers grow weeds; good farmers grow crops; excellent farmers grow soil.” I’ve certainly experienced the wisdom of replenishing the soil from 20+years of composting and mulching in my backyard. And I’ve come to see these Resources for Recovering Resilience as practices […]
Content to Be Without a Bucket List
My official, full retirement is now 12 weeks away. When friends ask me what I plan to do next, I’ve come to realize I really do want to follow the advice of William Bridges Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes. To honor the essential need for a neutral zone, trusting the time of letting go […]
Energy v. Entropy – Another Pandemic Paradox
I consider myself a rather vibrant, eager to engage, passionate about life kind of person. And yet…as it becomes possible to cautiously re-emerge from a year-long shutdown from the pandemic, (see the Emerging S-l-o-w-l-y post), I find myself navigating yet another paradox: energy v. entropy: yes! v. no way. I notice energy and joy quickening […]
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) […]
My Brain: From Pixels to Projects
The Monday morning I began my “sabbatical sort of” two weeks ago, I felt like my brain was operating on pixels, a thousand random thoughts flying through mind all at once. I do not have ADHD of any kind, but I might have watched (or taught) too many webinars for too many months in a […]
Downshifting for an Uplift
Many of us (38 million of us) saw the probing and provocative film The Social Dilemma, the seriously well-documented, seriously frightening expose from top executives and engineers within the digital tech industry about how the technology that connects us also distracts, divides, polarizes, monetizes, manipulates and controls us. Seriously. I had the privilege of watching […]
Sleep Your Way to Health…and Better Coping
I’ve long known and respected the sheer efficacy of a good night’s sleep for being able to face the details, let alone the difficulties, of daily living and coping. Here’s the link to an excellent resource by Emily Alexander on 20 Tips to Fall Asleep Faster and Enjoy Better Sleep. Excellent and clearly outlined research […]
When to Hide Under the Covers: the Skillfulness of Skillful Distraction
Years ago I heard Dr. O. Carl Simonton advise his cancer patients: “Every day do what you need to do to deal with the cancer, keep your doctor’s appointments, take your medications. Do what’s required. Then for the rest of the day, live your life.” All life is lived in a rhythm of activity and […]
Peace in the Best of Times, in the Worst of Times
Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart. -author unknown, on a coffee cup given to Linda by a friend In the northern hemisphere, we’re heading into […]
Taking Charge – Life Off Screens
I saw the film Screenagers Next Chapter: Uncovering Skills for Stress Resilience last week – “screenagers” being the term acknowledging how much time modern teens spend on screens, more time than anything else except sleep, sometimes even more than sleep. The film documents the measurable and rapid rise of stress, anxiety, and depression among American […]