Yesterday I finished listening to the BBC podcast, “The New Gurus” – or rather, almost finished listening because when the host began to cover things I’d rather not think about, I turned it off. Same with a book I began reading recently. About twenty pages in, I set it down. “Nope,” I thought. “Three hundred [...]
I'm very inspired by the idea of the "thought store"* and on a grumpy, anxious day recently, wrote this little piece in my journal and changed my whole day: I closed my eyes and entered The Thought Store. I carried my needless anxiety - a black garment with scratchy lace - and marched up [...]
Sir Paul McCartney is an honorary member of The Bardic Academy! In a recent interview, he claimed his bardic lineage: “My excuse (for not reading music) is that I have a Celtic background and they never wrote anything down. It’s all BARDS and you’ve got to remember it all… We just make it all up, and [...]
Like everyone else, I do my fair share of typing, both on laptops and in the tiny text box on my phone. But here’s why I write by hand every single day and why I honestly believe it’s in everyone’s best interest to do so, too: It’s calming. It’s a human-paced activity in a [...]
In Irish, one way to indicate an improvement in one’s health is teacht ar ais chugat féin – literally, “to come back to yourself.” I love that. It implies that feeling better is a homecoming of sorts – a return to the self we regard as truest, the one that engages with life in the [...]
This morning I came across this entry in a journal from 2021: "Watching a squirrel in the hemlock, grooming her long tail." I felt a rush of gladness. A moment later, I asked myself: Why? From this brief note in an old journal, a bouquet of reflections. ♥A tiny moment like this plants a [...]
How do we really change our lives? What defines the moments when we leave behind one stage of life and enter another? While it’s comforting to think that we achieve a desired change by making a well-considered plan and calmly executing it, in my own life, the biggest changes have followed from the words, [...]
We had a wonderful time this April, making poems, learning from Wes McNair and our other poetry guides, and feeling connected with our poetry community through laughter and enjoyment. This was our fourth annual Poetry Celebration sponsored by the marvelous journal makers, Jumping Fox Design. Each year's Celebration contains sparks (writing prompts) and dares [...]
One thing I love in this life is to make a good thing even better. I’ve written before about my belief that a thermos of tea can turn an ordinary trip into an adventure. Add a snack, add a book, add music, add time outdoors, add a friend: instant improvement to anything. I love to [...]
OK, is it just me or is anyone else completely addicted to the New York Times daily games? Like many, I'm besotted with Wordle, but the one that really has my heart is the SpellingBee. Words + puzzles: my jam! I'm now going to contravene every bit of maternal advice ever drummed into my [...]
