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I was fortunate to spend the month of March in the beautiful island country of Sri Lanka. As I finished up packing and closed out work for the week, I kept hearing similar things from those I shared my travel plans with.
“Always carry either a pocket knife or mace.” "Pack a flashlight and shine it in their eyes if someone tries to approach you.” “Make sure your money is always stored in different areas.”
Read MoreAt bedtime the other night, my son Teddy told me, “Dad, I love you… even though you’re boring.”
I kissed him on the forehead, and couldn’t disagree. I kept thinking about how I can find a better balance between being the coach and the referee; in my relationships with my kids, and in my life. And then it leapt out at me, all of a sudden. A position I’d totally missed thinking about. I’d forgotten how to be the player.
When did I stop playing pretend?
Read More“What do you do to preserve your sense of wellness?”
I was recently asked this question as the prompt to a breakout I was a part of, and I gave an answer that I found surprising:
“Ignore my short-term brain.”
Read MoreI had a great anti-pet peeve happen today! It was Monday (never a good start in my opinion) and it promised to be a long day with an aggressively overpacked schedule. It was sure to end in missed meetings or a missed flight or at the very least — total, frazzled exhaustion. As I looked at my calendar before bed last night, I chastised myself a bit — “What happened to saying 'no' Lisa?! It’s not possible to do all that in a day!”
Read MoreWe have an invisible fence set up around our yard for our dog. To mark it, we’ve put up little white flags and taught her not to cross them. Since we live on a busy street, it’s doubly important that my dog understands and respects these boundaries.
Of course, she needs to get out of the yard a few times a day for her walks. Any time I walk her, the first thing I do is take off her Invisible Fence collar. This means she could easily cross the line without our help.
Read MoreIt’s been hard to write recently. I think it may be as simple as having gotten into a routine and omitting dedicated time to write. Getting to this point — fingers on the keys, mind directed to one singular focus and thread of thought — involved quite an elaborate dance: getting fully dressed, finding my keyboard, ignoring the half-done household chore I abandoned last night for sleep, and turning on the kettle for coffee. I bet it’ll be ready halfway through one of these upcoming sentences. But wait — come back, mind! — I’m now HERE to write. It’s happening. And it almost feels like I’ve been in this moment for hours and couldn’t be asked to do anything else, ever again. I’ve gone from doing a puttering polka into an aimed adagio.
Read MoreThe last time I spoke with my dad he was leaving for a trip to Nevada. Two days later, while driving on a winding road back from the Hoover Dam, he crashed his motorcycle and was gone.
Clara, the main character in a book I'm reading, experienced the unexpected death of a parent too. She revealed that as close as she was with her father, she had forgotten many memories of him and what it felt like to be in his presence. So later on in the book, when her boyfriend tells her that his grandfather is battling cancer and has only a few months to live, she recommends he start writing down the things he loves about him, the sayings he had, the things he’d do, and anything he'd want to remember and cherish forever. She wished she had done so before her loss.
Read MoreI’m a certified yoga teacher.
I feel so blessed to have taught in so many settings.
I have taught children. I have taught strangers in a community garden. I have taught kids in low-income communities without mats. I have taught fellow friends and activists committed to community change.
And, maybe my favorite of all, I taught teen aged boys when I lived in Costa Rica. I never intended to teach teenage boys. It was never a job I specifically applied for and it was never something I would have signed up for if you asked me. But…
Read MoreI think about a month into winter I start counting down the days til spring. But there's definitely some things I appreciate about this season specifically, and I decided to write a few of them down in my gratitude journal. And then I reached out to a handful of community members asking if they may have a winter-themed anti pet peeve to share too. I wanted to hear the moments of gratitude they experience too. I compiled the responses into a list below.
Read MoreA friend once told me he noticed how I was careful with opening and closing doors — treating them with care, and aiming for quietness. It’s a thought I hold dear, because it was one of the first times I remember feeling truly seen in my adult life. He went on to wax philosophic, talking about it as “a good way to see who is practicing everyday mindfulness”. I think about this a lot.
Read MoreDo you ever wish you could just start over?
Right before Thanksgiving I was on my last (and only my third of the year) business trip. The woman next to me on the plane noticed I was working on a presentation, and we struck up a conversation about our respective jobs. She wasn’t happy in hers.
She said to me “I wish I could just start my job over. I’ve been the head of marketing at this tech company for 3 years now, and now that I know what I know, I would do so many things differently.”
Read MoreA few thoughts came to mind, including that perhaps I might make way such that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day sits next to Thanksgiving as my favorite holiday. Currently, I have no rituals or traditions on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day to celebrate. Maybe this writing is a start.
Read MoreI had a last minute cancellation in a work agenda a few months back on a sunny Monday afternoon. Naturally, my next thought was: "Okay, now how can I fill that time? What should I get a head start on?"
I reluctantly pulled out my laptop and stared at my screen. I felt drained on this particular summer afternoon. But it was only 2pm, so I knew I needed to move past that feeling and not waste time. I had so much that still needed doing, and this was an opportunity to get it done.
But then I took a breath and sat still with my thoughts for a few seconds.
Read MoreThe word keeps flashing: Dignity.
I sense it is an incredibly important idea but the word itself is thrown around a bit too much.
I sense it is often used as a weapon as opposed to a bridge.
I’m digging into it…
Read MoreA couple groups of people (approximately 35 in all) in the Community for Change we have all been nurturing, gathered to explore what “Gratitude-meets-Process” looks like. These were some of the thoughts that I pulled from the discussions.
Read MoreTen years ago my Dad wrote me a twenty page handwritten, barely legible letter and sent it to me in El Salvador. His spelling sucked and he was far from perfect, but he sure knew how to love and he loved a lot of things and a lot of people in life very deeply.
Read MoreI LOVE this time of year - it's definitely my favorite season. For relatively small things that truly bring me great joy, here are a few:
Water bottle filling stations! Our office just had one installed and I couldn't be happier!
Fall hikes! Just begin out in nature, away from the rest of the world, on a crisp day surrounded by beautiful foliage! Maybe that's not small enough because it just gives me life!
Butternut squash & ginger soup. A chef friend makes a version of this that I have ineptly tried to replicate, but either way is SO AMAZING!
And lastly, at this particular time, the "small" thing that is truly rocking my world and has me overflowing with joy is the pending birth of my daughter - due on Halloween! Her imminent arrival is why I'll miss the gathering on 10/20.
- Richard Uniacke
Making Christmas plans with extended family brings me great joy, and I only start after the air turns cool and crisp. Of course, these plans are exceedingly complex now that there are multiple jobs, children, dietary restrictions, and in-laws to account for, but it's all part of the fun.
- Fay Sardjono
Our cat always prefers to spend the evening on my side of the bed, until I get into bed myself. While it drives me nuts during the summer months, his presence in the winter means that I get into bed with one area nicely heated.
- Ryan Oakes
Read MoreFor me, autumn is fire pit season. Marshmallows and/or a few drinks. Friends and family. We used to have it in our backyard, but a few years ago, we wondered if moving it to the front yard might not be a better idea. It’s created a not-so-beautiful circle on our front lawn where the grass doesn’t grow…but now, it’s 10 feet from the sidewalk. Neighbors walking together stop and chat. Kids on the block stop in for a marshmallow. We are certain we are depreciating the home value with the spectacle of it all, but the value added to our lives and block is worth the tradeoff.
-Tim Vogt
Read MoreI noticed my neighbor communing with his yard the other day. The simplicity in the brushes of his broom, and peace with the labor of lifting the leaves into piles inspired me. I told him so. And then I got to work on my own place.
My toil wasn’t terribly different. I went through the same process he did: lots of repetitive, but focused work. Almost a tunnel vision, as I kept my mind on my goal. I even mimicked his method of bagging, a novel style that was effective, to boot.
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