I spent about the first 15 years of my adult life wearing my exhaustion like a badge of honor (as shame researcher and storyteller Brené Brown says). Without any regard for time, space or personal limits of energy, I said yes to just about every appealing invitation...
Several weeks ago when I checked in with the folx in my online community to ask them how they are – for real – I started to get slightly different responses. I’d heard them name exhaustion, anxiety and stress many times before. But this time, they also started to use...
I want to take intentional time away from screens. I know it would be good for me. I find myself scrolling too much. I even do it before bed and as I wake up in the morning. It’s got me a little strung out, to be honest. Tiffany Shlain’s book, 24/6: Giving Up Screens...
Presence. That’s the word that emerged when Sharon Salzberg, the well-known Buddhist meditation teacher and author, invited us to reflect on dharma. The Buddhist concept, which can be understood in a wide variety of ways, can mean that which sustains us or what we can...
The other day, I put my car key fob in a sweatshirt pocket and washed it with the laundry. Fortunately, the fob still worked after I dried it out and put in a new battery. The next day, I went to the grocery store only to discover that I left my wallet at home. The...
Last week I attended a community conversation at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Columbus, Ohio, on the topic of loneliness. The gathering was sponsored in part by the Ohio State University Interfaith Council (of which I am a member). Though I was very eager to...
I had been wondering whether the pandemic turned this raging extrovert into an introvert. Although I’ve been comfortable being alone for some time, I feel even more at ease now. I even want to stay home by myself sometimes! Also a consummate traveler before the...
I figure you'll get enough of that commercialized romantic love BS from the holiday industrial complex in February. Let’s talk about loving ourselves instead. Romantic comedies often give lip service to loving ourselves when the protagonist of their story has trouble...
When I've gained weight (as I have in the pandemic), I have a tendency to engage in some really negative self-talk about my body. Not out loud. To myself. I would never say these things to another human, but somehow it’s acceptable to say them to myself. Why?...
“When your mind turns to judgment, instead turn to wonder.” This was one of the guidelines for behavior at a retreat I attended years ago. It really grabbed my attention and caused me to reflect. My habit of judging others’ behaviors, choices and mistakes is deeply...
I am not a crafty person. I’ve often envied people who can bring knitting or crochet into a meeting and absentmindedly work on a project while occasionally and appropriately interjecting into the conversation. I am in awe of the attention to detail people pay to bead...
I don’t know about you, but my mind rushes to judgment at the tiniest provocation. My worst judgment erupts while I’m driving. It gets triggered by everyone who is jumping across lanes to get where they want, blocking me from changing lanes, driving too fast/too slow,...
In my 20s and early 30s, envy would rise up like bile in my throat whenever I opened another calligraphy-covered, heavyweight envelope inviting me to yet another wedding. In my 30s and early 40s, envy weighed on my shoulders when I saw others’ careers progress and...
Even though I liked to learn and did pretty well in school, I felt pretty nervous every year before starting class again. The anxiety amped up in middle and high school. I dreaded seeing students who picked on me. I was insecure about my body in gym class. I was...
Late in July, I absentmindedly turned the wheel of my car, hit a curb and tore a hole in the tire. My car limped along while I struggled to find a parking place on the narrow streets in an older part of Columbus, Ohio. Now sweltering in my car, I used the AAA app to...