I struggle to listen. I have spent years reading, teaching, and practicing active listening, but I still struggle. Some friends would claim I am a good listener, but I know my inner struggle to attend and listen. This struggle showed up powerfully on a recent visit to my 91-year-old mother. My mom, Maxine, is declining. She no longer can link my name to her memory, but when I walk in the room with my husband,…
1 CommentCategory: personal growth
I invite you to take the time to enter into an experience – a personal Olympic story. Watch and imagine that it’s your sister in lane three. People lean overhearing your discussion and join you in cheering when they realize your sister is stepping up to the blocks. Imagine the feeling of being family in the stands. Feel the anticipation and hope build as you put yourself in the colossal crowd buzzing with excitement all gathered…
Leave a CommentWhat a promise. Perhaps like me when you hear, “That was easy.” You think of Staples. Staples claims that at least finding and ordering their offices supplies amid complex living is easy. Here is another group’s take on easy. The United States Navy seals are known for saying, This declaration is that what’s behind is easy. Implied is don’t look for easy in today. I’ve been thinking about another source’s take on what is easy.…
Leave a CommentHere is my uncomfortable truth. I prefer wandering over following. There is nothing wrong with wandering except when I believe my indiscriminate movement conveys meaning and my restless activity purpose. I know this is not true. Even with “important” goals, a tightly packed calendar can still be filled with the most meaningless activities. What makes my wandering so distressing is that I realize this as an unconscious delay to the uncomfortable pause that thinking and…
1 CommentAre you already starting to breathe heavily and sigh at the approach of Christmas decorations invading store aisles? Has the looming pronouncements of supply chain shortages have you worried about getting your Christmas gift shopping done without delay? Personally, my own resistance to getting sucked into the rush and overwhelm is to honor Advent. Practice a pause to honor the season of making room in my heart for Christmas without adding any more pressure to…
Leave a CommentThe pandemic reignited walking around the neighborhood block. My neighborhood is a landscape that has been a part of my life since I was five years old. In the ’70s, I biked, raced, and wandered inside most of the homes in my neighborhood. I at least made it inside the front door for trick or treating. Every porch light was on for that night. In the ’80’s I walked around the block when I returned…
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