Life that Works: Focus on Your Allies
“Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.” ~Arthur Golden
It was a bright sunny balmy day and I was grateful for the light and crystal blue skies. It balanced the darkness inside that threatened to overcome me as I listened to the negative rumors and meanness that has been circulating about me and Good...
Life that Works: A Tribe of Friends
Making Love Significant
“Love doesn’t sit there like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all of the time, made new.” ~Ursula K. LeGuin
If ever there was an emotional state that we idealize it is love. We want nothing of its dark belly underside; we demand that it always show only its shiniest side to us. Many of us are unprepared for the battles that the heart must be willing to carry on in the name of love....
Life That Works: Learning Acceptance
“Acceptance is not submission, it is acknowledgment of the facts of a situation. Then deciding what you are going to do about it.” -Kathleen Theisen
There is great beauty and strength in learning to see and accept things as they are. It is an easy and invisible reaction to look away from the facts, to refuse to see what the world is showing us in order to protect our own ideas about how things are...
Life that Works: They Are All Small Moments
“Life is made up of moments, small pieces of glittering mica in a long stretch of gray cement. It would be wonderful if they came to us un-summoned, but particularly in lives as busy as the ones most of us lead now, that won’t happen. We have to teach ourselves how to make room for them, to love them, and to live, really live.” -Anna Quinlen
It is the small moments in life that create our...
Life That Works: Friends of All Ages
“It takes a long time to become young.” -Pablo Picasso
Maybe one of the most rewarding aspects of being a mother of four kids who span a decade is that I have always had the opportunity to know and love the friends of my kids. I am a Jewish mother that has enough mother in her for a hundred kids; many kids could use a second or third mother looking out for them. These kids like that I love to love...
Life that Works: Perseverance is the Winner
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” -Calvin...
Life that Works: Many Faces of Grief
“Even hundredfold grief is divisible by love.” ~Terri Guillemets
Grief is a complicated emotion that easily overwhelms. It can look like anger, numbness or pure heartbreaking sadness. Especially among young people, grief can be delayed and even full openness to the experience does not hurry it. Grief is one of the most honorable and time consuming experiences that life offers.
The pure heart of...
Life that Works: Letting Go and Holding On
“I never think of the future – it comes soon enough.” -Albert Einstein
It is hard to believe that last night was the first night in 22 years that there were no children at home. It seems like it should have happened sooner, or been more of a celebration or at least notable, but there was really no fanfare at all and if anything- the experience was a little anti-climactic. Most of life has this...