Body Voice

People tend to listen to their bodies when the message is so loud that it drowns out everything else or when the body decides to taken everything offline and stop the car.  Injuries, chronic illness, chronic pain, repeated issues like migraines, we listen to that.  Anything else the body has to say is steadfastly ignored. …

Fear Goggles

You’ve heard of rose-colored glasses.  They tint everything with a rosy glow so that it all looks positive and upbeat.  I’m all for it other than the fact that it’s a false experience of reality and it hides as much as it enhances.  Personally I’d rather have the technicolor truth in all its gritty gloriousness…

Swimming In Themes

I don’t know if this happens to other people, but as a writer when I’m working on (or through) a project I sometimes find myself swimming in a flow of themes that are all converging.  Right now I’m starting to write out the section of my Kabbalah class which talks about Shekinah, the indwelling human…

Life In All Caps

There is so much shouting going on. You know how the more people you add to a space, the louder the conversations get because each person is trying to be heard. The sound will crescendo until it’s uncomfortable or annoying or someone draws everyone’s attention to it. Then the volume goes down but it will…

However Improbable

Ever just get to the point where you’ve tried everything and you’re pulling your hair out and you don’t know what else to do? It’s not that you can see the answer and can’t get there from here, it’s not that you aren’t willing to do whatever it takes, it’s just that nothing has worked…

The 1/3 Rule

A rule of thumb that comes in handy when resetting priorities is the 1/3 rule.  Our lives, in general, should be divided into these thirds: personal, family/friends, goals/path/profession.  The most common response to my talking about this rule is laughter because such a thing is obviously impossible for a great many reasons which they can…

The Many Sides of Mother’s Day

Blessings to all the wonderful mothers out there who are doing the amazing job of mothering the people they love. We need more of you.  Ever considered being cloned?  No… well keep doing what you’re doing so others can learn from your example. My love and support and reverence for those who have survived mother’s…

Your Truth is Not Your Truth

One of the things that abuse survivors have to deal with is warping of their fundamental sense of reality. For children who had abusive families, whatever form that took, one of the mainstays of that abuse is to be told that black is white and white is black.  They are told that what they see…

Selective Priorities

It’s fun watching people take the time they have in any given day and the energy they have to expend in that given day and try to make it into something other than what it is.  You know, making coffee convert into sleep, trying to multitask what will take 3 hours into a 30 minute…

Kick Up Your Heels

It’s the year of the Goat and one of the things this year is meant to remind us of is that we should be kicking up our heels.  You know how kids (kids-baby goats) see something and decide it needs to be climbed on, sat on, moved or played with in all kinds of ways? …