It feels like springtime on California's Central Coast, where I’ve set down my roots... lightly, like a tent staked in soft earth... for the next few weeks. I've been excited because the weather is pretty good for hiking. As I look up the Santa Ynez mountains, the trails are calling. But here's the thing, finding the right trailhead around here is really challenging me. Stories, myths and wisdom writings talk a lot about the path and the journey, but no one talks about the trailhead. Often...
4 months ago • 3 min read
Do you have a hermit within? One that you tend to resist because it would inconvenience your world, so full as it is with 'doings'? I do. But sometimes we just know it’s time to sink into a little hermit mode, right? Late January does that for me. We took down our tree yesterday. The exterior festivities are fading, and now it all feels a little… well, January. There's an emptiness that lingers in the absence of the jubilation and merry-making. Go into the emptiness my hermit says. I resist....
5 months ago • 2 min read
Hello dear friends, I find myself on a flight back to the Pacific Northwest, a place that always feels like home. My month in New York City visiting family unexpectedly became a kind of pilgrimage, wandering through so many churches, each with its own story and mystery (almost all of them very empty). It’s been a wonderful treat, but I’m looking forward to home where the fresh pine air recharges my soul. I’m ready to relax into a roaring fire that pushes back against the rainy days. Soon I’ll...
5 months ago • 2 min read
I’ve always been fascinated by how stories have the power to speak deep truths using symbols... like secret messages hidden in plain sight. I think it's because they have this sneaky way of bypassing the part of us that wants to overthink and resist... landing sweetly in the heart instead. Have you ever come across something like that? This happened to me last week when I stumbled on an old botanical drawing of a pomegranate linked to an Greek myth story. Something about it sparked for me....
5 months ago • 3 min read
Hello and Happy New Year my friends! I hope it’s a year overflowing with blessings of peace, joy and health. As I write this, our twinkling tree still fills the apartment with holiday vibes—a happy reminder that Christmas didn't end on December 25th. Far from a one-and-done holiday, the joyous season is in full swing! And it's shifted from the quiet, soulful preparation of Advent to a more jubilant and celebratory note. It's time to make a joyful noise. Christmastide tends to be overshadowed...
5 months ago • 2 min read
Merry Christmas from New York City. I had big plans upon arriving last week to find the quintessential New York cathedral for our family to attend midnight Mass. With so many to choose from, I felt like a kid in a candy shop. But, as they say about the best-laid plans... After visiting only a couple, a nasty virus knocked me out for a few days, and now arctic temperatures have made stepping outside feel like heroism or sheer insanity, I'm not sure which! My perfect plans? They drifted out the...
6 months ago • 1 min read
As you read this, I'll be on a plane bound for New York City, embarking on what might just be a new holiday tradition. For the first time, we're traveling to spend Christmas with two of our boys, a reversal of the usual journey that brings them home. Before I left, I found an hour of stillness by the fire to reflect on this highly anticipated month we call December. We pack a lot into it, more I think than any other month: joyful festivities, mysteries, travel and vacations, gatherings with...
6 months ago • 2 min read
I remember a time when I braced myself against life. I would notice it most with the start of each new day. Before my sleepy feet even touched the cool floor, the day unfolded in my mind like a battle map—tasks and to-dos lined up in rigid formation (can you tell I grew up military, LOL). Even our dogs, eager for breakfast and attention, felt like one more tug on the leash of my time. Without meaning to, I used to start mymy days in defense mode, playingout scenarios and conversations asif...
6 months ago • 3 min read
If life teaches us anything, it’s this: certainty about how things will unfold is an illusion. We can't know how anything will play out. Coupled with past disappointments, it's not surprising that this reality activates a preemptive, self-protective lowering of our hopes. But for the miracle-minded, uncertainty offers a shimmering gift: it's an opening for us to place our trust in Spirit and get our expectations up! Tamping down hopefulness is the surest way to block receptivity to the good...
6 months ago • 4 min read