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Finding Meaning in Life’s Turning Points

Shutterstock, Andy Dean Photography Life events are the situations; the insight we gain is our story. What meaning do you make of the turning points in your life? Have you ever waited for something that seemed to take forever to happen or get resolved? And after all that waiting, the outcome wasn’t guaranteed or might not be what you expected? I’m still lying in bed 20 hours a day, waiting for the pain to lessen and my spine to heal on its own from two compression fractures. The neurosurgeon’s PA says to give it 12 weeks. It’s been almost 6 weeks since I fractured the second vertebra (bending over [...]

2023-04-30T11:43:31-04:00April 30th, 2023|Categories: Chronic illness, Expectations, Health, Life Lessons, Perspective, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , |
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How Are Your New Year’s Resolutions Going?

Did you make New Year's resolutions? Here’s one way to empower yourself to reach your goals. Resolutions and Intentions I wrote in my January newsletter that I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, but I do set intentions. And then I wondered what the difference was and why resolutions didn’t work for me. Somewhere over the years, I stopped making resolutions to get more exercise and eat healthier and set self-imposed deadlines for work and writing projects. The goals felt more like something I should do or would do anyway, without a specific outcome, rather than what I wanted to work on. Instead, I started setting intentions for my emotional well-being and spiritual growth and that [...]

2023-02-06T23:08:44-05:00February 6th, 2023|Categories: 2023, Expectations, Goals, Life Lessons, Motivation, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , |
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How Ready Are You for Change?

The switch to standard time last night ushered in a blustery fall day here in Minnesota. It’s an hour before sunset and the dry leaves rip off the trees in a fury and shape-shift patterns in the yard. The squirrels search beneath the piles and scurry off to bury their treasures. The cardinals and blue jays descend as a team as soon as the wild turkey and feral cat run off for the night. Last night after dark the opossum snapped his razor-sharp teeth into the nose of a hefty raccoon twice his size, both vying for the single can of leftover shredded chicken cat food and turkey breast trimmings. Winter in Minnesota fosters competition [...]

2022-11-06T22:57:35-05:00November 6th, 2022|Categories: Change, Expectations, Health and Wellness, Reflections, Resilience|Tags: , , |
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Finding Balance by Letting Go

The fall equinox and a new moon in Libra invite us to find harmony and balance by letting go of thoughts that no longer bring peace and joy. Happy fall equinox for those of us in the northern hemisphere (happy glorious spring equinox for our southern companions). For one day (Sept 22), the earth was in perfect balance on its 23.5º axis with the sun pointed directly at the equator. Everyone around the globe had 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of darkness. Balance. Global synchrony. Did you notice? What does balance even feel like? For me, it’s not an outcome to achieve (how would I know when I’ve found it?) but an ongoing [...]

2022-09-25T15:45:20-04:00September 25th, 2022|Categories: Expectations, Health, Letting Go, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , |
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I Try Not to Have Any (As Many) Expectations

I try not to have expectations for the book’s success, but authors write to be read. I have learned, however, to let go of outcomes I can’t control. Letting go of expectations allows us to be present in the moment. Friends ask me how my book, Standing at Water’s Edge, is selling now that it has been out in the world for a few months. “I don’t really know,” I say. And it’s true. From what I understand, publishers share sales data (through royalty checks) once or twice a year. Amazon shares ranking data, but you can’t put a number on that. I have a paid subscription to NPD BookScan through Publishers Marketplace, so I can [...]

2022-03-26T21:32:02-04:00March 26th, 2022|Categories: Books, Expectations, Health, Letting Go|Tags: , , , , |
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Looking Back, Moving Forward; Cleaning Out, Letting Go

Shutterstock by Maren Winter; Desperate woman behind stacks of binders and flying papers           What clutters your office or basement? Are your files electronic or paper? Letting go of the past creates space for the new.    Cleaning out my office was one of my summer goals. After twenty years of working from home, I want to paint, get a new desk, and be able to navigate my space without assaulting my fragile shins on file boxes stacked three deep. I don’t mind organized clutter; I know where everything is; I just can’t access it easily. And now that my memoir is coming out (date still pending), I want space—in [...]

2021-07-30T15:32:17-04:00July 30th, 2021|Categories: Expectations, Letting Go, Psychology|Tags: , , , , |
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When Life Interferes with Expectations

Photo by Anoir Chafik on Unsplash When life interferes with expectations, reflect and regroup, and then put one foot in front of the other with purpose and direction. Trust that you will find your way. Expectations After almost four months of not walking outside, I spontaneously slip out of my sheepskin-lined slippers and into my tennis shoes, grab a windbreaker and my house key, and confidently walk out the door. As I carefully step up onto the parkway trail across the street from my house, I take a deep breath and inhale the damp spring air. The trees bordering the spring-fed pond are just starting to bud; polka dots of green splatter the barren, [...]

2021-04-30T19:26:07-04:00April 30th, 2021|Categories: COVID-19, Expectations, Health, Life Lessons, Psychology, Resilience|Tags: , , , , |
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