Sleep Sweetly

Two friends of mine have been fighting sleep for weeks. Desperately wanting to drift off as their heads hit the pillow, they just can’t.They’re in misery. Our bodies are designed for rest and quiet to restore, replenish, and recharge. They’ve tried warm baths, herbal tea, SleepWorks (great stuff, normally), and reading. But at 2 a.m. they’re still awake–minds darting to and fro.

Their bleary-eyed tossing leaves me sad. I’ve prayed for their rest and shared with them this little poem, which has been a gentle reminder for me throughout the years when I’ve found myself desperate for sleep but allowing my worries and fears to swirl untethered.  Read more...

List Yourself

If you dream of leisurely, sun-filled afternoons for jotting your thoughts in your journal  but spend more of your time racing from one activity to the next, maybe try “listing yourself” instead. Just like making a grocery list or recording what you have to do today, list making is easy.

You don’t have to pour your heart out, record your days, or pass judgment. Yet you can quickly open the doors to your soul and reveal your deepest thoughts. For starters, try writing down everything that comes to mind with some of these lists:  Read more...

  • the best gifts you’ve ever been given

A Time to Dance

It stared back at me from the glossy pages of the dance costume catalog–a gold lame and sequin-encrusted number with a fitted, bejeweled bodice. Its long sleeves and crystal-edged skirt would be the perfect backdrop (so said my tap dance teacher) for the accompanying feather boa, completing the ensemble. 

He had selected the outfit for our two numbers in the upcoming recital.  Since one was the big production song “Buenos Aires” from Evita, he had made a good choice. I just wasn’t so sure how I’d look in this get-up.  And I still couldn’t believe that this class of adults actually would perform…in a recital.  Aren’t recitals for kids and their camera-toting parents?  Read more...

Talk About a Game

We didn’t watch much football at our house when I was growing up—maybe if the Ohio State Buckeyes played in the New Year’s Day Rose Bowl game or if our family invited friends over to watch the Super Bowl championship. 

So I was like a fish out of water after college when friends gathered to watch the sport. Mainly there for the fun and interaction, I didn’t pay much attention to what was happening on the field.  But everyone was into it, and I was left out. Listening to what my friends said while spectating, I started asking questions about why they said what they did. Not surprisingly I began to learn more about the rules…and actually enjoy the game.  Read more...

Letters to Read on a Bad Day

My first job out of college I worked for gifted entrepreneur Dale Hanson Bourke at her consulting firm, Publishing Directions, Inc. She taught me so many things about running a business, client relationship development, and a brilliant method for proofreading and catching mistakes on a page!

One day in a file drawer, I spotted a folder labeled “Letters to Read on a Bad Day.”  She created it after receiving a nice letter on a bad day and decided to save it.  More than 25 years have passed, and she still has the file and uses it!  Read more...

The Year without a Christmas Tree

January 6. Epiphany—the day I like to wait for before taking down the Christmas tree. Driving around town,  I noticed it seems to be the day for town square trees to come down, too.

I grew up in a family that put up a tree the day after Thanksgiving and left it standing until well into January. The year we got a new, artificial tree (before pre-lit ones came on the scene), my dad spent hours wrapping 21 strands of white lights around each branch (and even in a way—if memory serves—that would allow the tree to be taken apart with the strands still on to be put away for the next year). He lamented that he would never do that again and hoped we would enjoy the illuminated masterpiece.  Read more...

Hello New Year

As the calendar page turns over a new year, the flipping feels as fast as the commercials zipping by for Oprah’s WW, Nutrisystem, Lifetime Fitness, and E-Trade Investments….” A New Year, A New You” we’re promised. Blog posts boast the 5 ways to make resolutions stick and how to kick those recurring bad habits.

Motivating perhaps. Inspiring—maybe. Experience, for me, has borne out that focusing on a few areas and considering what might be possible these next 365 days can have a profound effect on what actually happens throughout, rather than just hoping the new year turns out better than the last. Asking, “What do I/we want this year?” “What are my goals?” “What needs to change?”  Read more...