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 can invite you in to sit on a big, squashy couch (watch your trousers because there’s a big helping of cat hair on it), set a plate of cookies and tea before you, ask you how you are, and share with you all my favorite things.

What are those favorite things, you ask?

I’m passionate about:

+CREATIVITY in every form, especially poetry, writing, music, and singing; feeling part of a worldwide creative tribe; overcoming creative obstacles and hurts; keeping going no matter what; artistry and being an artist

+JOY IN LEARNING, teaching, building warm communities of learners, applying what we learn in beautiful, satisfying ways

+The cultivation of ENLIVENING INTELLIGENCE, building frames of reference, turning on the beam of aliveness and interest, integrating different kinds of knowing; books and reading

+IRISH TRADITION as a resource, inspiration, treasure house, and guide – and especially: Fáilte: the Irish art of Welcome – so necessary and efficacious for creating connection

+The BARDIC LIFE which integrates all of the above with magic which we can simply call “the ineffable” or “synchronicity” or just “Mystery.”

Those are the big areas I love to think and write about. That’s mainly what you’ll find here in this online home.

I’ve been here in this house for eight years now and I decided recently that it’s time for a renewal – a lick of paint and some sprucing up to make the place brighter and more welcoming to you. I want to do more with this space to make it lively and interesting and full of warmth and ideas.

As I re-launch this blog, please imagine me approaching you with a big tray of my best gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, warm out of the oven. Let’s see ourselves in a fabulous living room, stuffed with fascinating books and ensouled by an adorable and mythic cat: I’m looking at you, Mish.

And let’s raise a steaming mug of tea to toast that we have met in this place of words and stories, songs and poems, traditions and kindness, the quickening of intelligence and interest, the softness and courage of the heart, the vital spark of creativity, learning, loving, enchantment, and joy.

You are welcome here any time.

Please share your thoughts and questions.

And please, my friend: make yourself right at home!

PS – That is, of course, the bold Mish in the picture above, lounging in the middle of my books and papers and generally presiding over the reading and tea that happen regularly on this old couch.

Are you enchanted by Irishy things? Would you like to learn more about the beautiful, life-giving practice of Fáilte: the Irish art of Welcome?

I have a gift for you! Just click HERE, share your name and address, and you’ll receive it instantly with my compliments and warmest good wishes.