• It’s a New Beginning!

    We’re well into April. For those of us in the North East, the cold still lingers but the daffodils are blooming and the days are getting longer.  The skies are blue and sunny, more often than not. It’s taking me longer to get going this year. My motivation feels sluggish . . . it’s been a dark, cold winter. My attention has been pulled in a myriad of directions and I can’t say I enjoyed them all. Some distractions can be more painful than others. It’s not always easy to jump start the engine and gain momentum after a long winter. Many of us develop our rituals for moving through the…

  • Change Happens!

    “Change is as inevitable as rain in the spring. Some of us just put on our raincoats and splash forward.” ~ Amy Bloom Being willing to flow with change isn’t always easy, even when we know that change is fundamental to our growth. Change provides us with opportunities to reflect and evaluate, make adjustments, and open to new possibilities. Whether change happened by choice or not, whether we view it as positive or negative, we’ll have to go through the process of transformation which, at times, can be challenging. Change tests our comfort level with uncertainty. As the old gives way to the new, we enter the “I have no clue…

  • Living in Present Time

    Abigail Thomas is one of my favorite authors. I read “The Three Dog Life” some time ago, liked her style and what she had to say, and I decided to read all her books. “Thinking About Memoir” is another one of hers and as I was reading through it the other day, I couldn’t help but think of how our personal stories evolve. We go on living our lives, going through the motions, dealing with unexpected events, checking off our to-do lists, and crossing paths with each other. Somehow morning turns into evening and we don’t know where the hours went. Much of life’s richness goes unnoticed. There is a treasure…

  • Have a Stress-Free Morning

    How we begin our day can define how our day develops. Looking back through the years, I can see myself as a student, a corporate executive, a working mom, a stay-at-home mom, and a working-from-home mom. No matter what hat I wear, the rule applies . . . Stressful beginnings make for stressful days. The fact that humans are creatures of habit doesn’t help either. Over and again, I had to reach the end of my rope before I stopped to look at my daily routine and make some changes. Most of the time, a couple of simple changes had the biggest impact. If you find yourself spinning your wheels in…

  • A Season of Renewal

    Spring is a time of transition and renewal. Rituals of clearing winter clutter and making room for growth are associated with the onset of warm weather. De-cluttering has always been one of my favorite mental health exercises. If you have ever taken the time to go through your files and get rid of all the paperwork you have collected throughout the years, you can relate to what I’m saying. Clearing emotional, as well as physical clutter, gives one a sense of lightness and renewed energy and enthusiasm. Where to start? Choose one area of your life that has been at the forefront of your mind. What would you like done? Are…