Setting clear intentions is at the foundation of creating lasting lifestyle changes. Most of us are interested in living our best lives. On the journey toward living our best lives, we are all attempting to change something—our jobs, our bodies, our schedules, our eating habits, our exercise habits, our self-defeating thoughts and behaviors, our ability […]
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The Importance of Place
The importance of place has been on my mind as I’ve more deeply explored the natural surroundings of my new home city. Now that the warm weather has arrived, I’ve been immersing myself in nature in this beautiful coastal city. The weather hasn’t encouraged blogging, as evidenced by the date of the last blog entry […]
I first stumbled on the Wrightsville Beach mailbox over a year ago when I encountered a funky found art exhibit on the north end of the beach. There are stairs leading to a platform, a mailbox that has written, “Leave a note” on it, a tree limb firmly held in place by the sand that […]
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The Power of Words
I’m in Bogota, Colombia this week. As I struggle to learn words in Spanish, my latest Writing Mindfully for Transformation online workshop has just begun, and the workshop participants are bravely finding words to tell their life stories. As the weeks go by, they will begin to discover how the expression of words holds the […]
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Don’t Go Back to Sleep
Don’t go back to sleep. Magical things happen in the hour before dawn. This morning, awakened early by my little dog, Eos, I lay still for a few minutes, mulling over questions for which I have no clear answers. The only sounds outside were the call of a barred owl and the first songbird of […]
We can practice writing mindfully to make order from chaos, to make meaning from our lives, and to heal. For centuries, people have been writing in their journals, writing memoirs, or writing the stories of their lives as a way to validate their everyday experiences and sometimes as a way to connect with other people […]
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Destination Unknown
Destination Unknown: I fell in love today. I fell in love with a painting. I sort of stumbled onto it, or maybe I was divinely directed to it. After spending a long time talking with Angela at Two Sisters Bookery about some of my upcoming workshops, she suggested that I go up the street to […]
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Bird Meditation
Bird Meditation. The distinct, shrill sound of a bird stirs me from a restful sleep. As I gradually awaken, I hear it again. It is loud and full. Its unequivocal tone, pitch, and melody fills what would be otherwise silence, and I become aware of a vast container of space in which it resounds. I […]
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Finding Refuge in Change
How can we find refuge in change instead of succumbing to the fear of it? “Remember, those who don’t ask essential questions don’t find what’s most authentic. The soul of your pilgrimage, the heart of your destination, disappears, will be invisible, like the Grail Castle if you are too afraid or too proud to appear […]
The comfort of things and the burden of things continues to occupy my mind. I’ve transitioned this week from slow walks on the beach to running. I’m running again for the first time in years. It started by accident five days ago, and I’ve been running again every day since. For those of you who’ve […]