I’ve been a whirlwind of fruitful work this year. It has been exhilarating and sometimes tiring but always, always worth it. I feel I’m using my gifts and I’m helping. I love my students and my days are about my favorite things: songs, stories, poems, and enchantment. What could be better? And yet, I’ve also [...]
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 [...]
Have you noticed that people who have ruled out all possibility of magic are a bit… depressed? And even, dare I say it – depressing? Please note that I didn’t say, “People who don’t believe in magic.” No. What I mean instead is people who have declared either with actual words or with their whole [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Hello, my friend. It’s good of you to “come over” to see me here. Your company is cherished and deeply welcome. Please imagine me now, opening the green, wooden door and beckoning you inside. In our increasingly digitalized and decentralized world, I feel more and more that this site is my online home. Here, I [...]
After many decades of studying Irish proverbs, they have become good friends whose voices speak to me with kindness, with sly wit, and with graceful intelligence. They take the long view. Here, at the beginning of the year with a million hopes, desires, and goals swirling in our minds and the kind of excitement [...]
