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Happy Thanksgiving!
Whether you are hosting, traveling, or taking a break to care for yourself and your loved ones, I want to take this opportunity to wish you all an enjoyable and heartfelt Thanksgiving. I hope you can find goodness, gratitude, and grace as you prepare for your Thanksgiving celebration. May you connect with all that is yours to love, care, and cherish. May you find comfort in warm memories and create new ones, and may your heart be full as you linger around the Thanksgiving table with your loved ones. Today, I thought I would share some of my favorite quotes and an excerpt from a poem I wrote about Gratitude. Anxiety…
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Finding Goodness, Gratitude, and Grace
Happy Thanksgiving week! November is moving faster than I remember it in previous years. I feel caught between wanting time to slow down and wishing for a different kind of days in which chaos, uncertainty, fear, and anxiety do not lurk behind every news headline. Still, Thanksgiving is upon us, gently reminding us that even in the darkest days, there is light, hope, and much to be grateful for. Maybe this stark contrast between chaos and celebration is what makes us pause, look closely at everything we can be grateful for, and not take it for granted. Thanksgiving is a seasonal ritual. It allows us to celebrate the end of the…
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How to Navigate This Season of Change and Possibilities
There is a vast difference between willingness and willfulness. Most often willfulness is based on fear. We try to make the world the way we want it by forcing solutions. Compensating for the uncertainty inside us, we become motivated by power instead of participation. Then we find struggles instead of solutions because force is often met with resistance. We stay emotionally hungry yet cannot be fed. We ask for more and more and receive less. Willingness, on the other hand, allows life to show us the way. Gunilla Norris from Becoming Bread It is late October, and the glorious rituals of Fall are in full display. Living in New England means…
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The Storms That Define Us
When the post on The Sun Always Shines After The Storm was published, some of the readers emailed me with comments that touched me deeply and inspired me. I thought to myself … Wouldn’t it be great if I wrote a follow-up post that included other people’s thoughtful insights and wisdom on the ways storms define us? At the same time, I happened to come upon and watch “An Evening with Patti Smith” that took place at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, FL. Something that Patti Smith mentioned about her experience with grief and loss made me search for an interview she had given many years ago. Here is…
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After the Storm
I love fresh herbs. I think they make just about every dish taste better. In the summer, I grow basil, oregano, parsley, sage, and thyme. When it comes to basil and oregano, the more, the better. Oregano, whose scent and taste always transport me back to my childhood in Greece, grows with abundance. I use it fresh and also dry some to have through the year. I grow basil right outside the kitchen, on the deck, and I keep seeds going throughout the season. We love pesto in this house. I make as much as I can through the summer and always freeze some for winter. If you would like to…
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The Promise of Renewal
On Monday night, the UConn Women’s Basketball team played Baylor to advance to the final four. The game took place in San Antonio, Texas. It was a tough and intensely physical game that UConn won by two points. Geno Auriemma, the UConn coach, while being interviewed at the end of the game, said something that caught my attention. Describing his team’s win against a team that was stronger, bigger, and faster, he said that, “Although UCONN has a long history of winning, this year’s team is young and when you don’t know because you’ve never been there before, you don’t believe it. These players don’t have that experience yet. No matter…
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Imagine – Hope
Hello everyone, Welcome to the finish line of 2020, a truly unprecedented year. We’re a few hours away from a brand new and much-needed beginning. We ought to give ourselves credit for getting through and being here, ready and able to exhale. Is anything going to change drastically at the dawn of the New Year? Probably not, but change will come…slowly, painstakingly, deliberately, and at times, unexpectedly. ‘Tis the nature of change. Of course! The path to heavendoesn’t lie down in flat miles.It’s in the imaginationwith which you perceivethis world,and the gestureswith which you honor it.Oh, what will I do, what will I say, when thosewhite wingstouch the shore? Mary OliverExcerpt…
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On Small Miracles
Our capacity for sharing love and celebrating hasn't diminished because of the imposed limitations. What if we gave ourselves permission to explore new and creative ways to celebrate? Our lives are held together by small miracles and infinite beauty. Pausing to recognize that which we take for granted can open up the vaults of joy right where we stand.
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In Gratitude
We're approaching Thanksgiving week. How do we celebrate in this new environment? Can we begin by breathing in gratitude for all we have, here and now? These days I try to focus on what I can do in the present moment instead of getting frustrated with my limitations. I appreciate even more the gifts of ordinary moments.
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Jack of All Trades
Thirty plus years and what seems like a lifetime ago, someone made two statements that have stayed with me. “You’re made of stuff that changes,” she said and proceeded to tell me that I was a “Jack of all trades and master of none.” I remember my breath stopping as I took a pause, trying to figure out why the latter felt like an insult. Time passed and I came to understand and appreciate that, yes, indeed I am made of stuff that changes. Not that I can’t be stubborn or blind to my failings at times but I do try to stay open to possibilities. I am curious and willing…
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Here. Now.
Today is the first day of Spring. Only this day of new beginnings is like no other that I remember. We are in the middle of a global epidemic. The world is taken over by a crisis and we’re all trying to muddle through a situation we hardly understand. There’s fear, anxiety, panic, and information overload. There’s also denial and indifference. Supermarket shelves are empty and human nature is laid bare for all to see. There’s the good, the bad, and the ugly. I was in a store yesterday staring at empty shelves when a young employee came to see if I could find what I needed. No, I said, the…
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Let it Be Light!
Yesterday, we celebrated the Winter Solstice. Today, we’re well on our journey to let the light fill our days once again. No matter what your beliefs are and how you choose to celebrate this season, we all share this moment in time – the time when we’re turning towards the light. I hope you take this moment to pause and breathe in the light, love, and peace that’s yours. This light, this love makes the best offerings. Share them with all! Thank you for being present with me over the years! Thank you for opening your heart and sharing your gifts with me. I am truly grateful! May joy, hope, good…
