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Back in the flow
“It can be tempting to prolong certain agonies. There’s the sympathy vote to start with, and if you haven’t felt well or you’ve been through a difficult period, you certainly can’t be expected to work full days or do your own laundry. But bouncing back as soon as you’re able means getting back into the stream of life. This is where the opportunity is.” ~Victoria Moran We all have different ways of coping. During periods of grief or illness, I tend to nurse my deepest wounds by myself. When I’m really down, I decline activities or events that usually spark joy for me — because I hate to dump my…
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Revisiting Walden
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden Henry David Thoreau’s Walden tops my list of life-changing literature. It didn’t grab me the first time around. But after reading it a second time, I understood everything Thoreau was trying to tell me. I wanted to learn more about this eccentric man who revered nature, wrote for social justice, and treasured solitude. His writings challenged to keep moving “in the direction of my dreams,” even when it wasn’t easy. After visiting Walden Pond in Concord,…
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Your inner artist
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” ~Pablo Picasso Remember the delicious, waxy scent of a brand-new box of Crayola crayons? Remember those neon-bright shades of Play-Doh? Whether your favorite craft-time activity was coloring, finger-painting, or sculpting dinosaurs, you were an artist when you were a kid. It’s never too late to rediscover your artistic talents if you haven’t already. Oil painting, sketching, card-making, quilting, knitting, glass-blowing, calligraphy, photography … There’s a whole world of creative fun out there. Silence your inner critic, make a mess, make mistakes — and enjoy the process. How about a field trip to an…
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Dry January
“Like a garden, you can choose to either let yourself wither and struggle to find your own light, or you can learn how to give yourself the light you need so that all your colors shine brightly, beautifully, and more boldly.” ~Jennifer Ashton, M.D., M.S., The Self-Care Solution: A Year of Becoming Happier, Healthier & Fitter — One Month at a Time As Chief Medical Correspondent for ABC News, Dr. Jennifer Ashton knows a thing or two about health and wellbeing. So, when I saw her Self-Care Solution at the bookstore late last year, I didn’t hesitate to purchase it. I’d already promised to make some serious changes in 2023…
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A new way to go on
“It is impossible to go on as you were before, so you must go on as you never have.” ~Cheryl Strayed Whether we’re talking about a death, a major illness, a job loss, relocation, divorce, retirement, or any other major change, we have to find a new way “to go on,” as author Cheryl Strayed reminds us. During the last years of my widowed mother’s life, I had to manage everything from her medical appointments to her daily routines while she suffered a memory loss disease. Our lifelong roles as mother and daughter were thrown into reverse. For a long time, I struggled emotionally with the profound shift in our…
