A message about going fallow I love fall with its colors, coolness, beauty, and the poignancy of knowing that winter is coming and the rains will start. It is also the time of harvest. At harvest time, I no longer work in nature. I work for her. Or, specifically for the Harvest. And believe me…

We need some diagnostics for cultural insanity — I’ve had it. Another shooting. And children, for god’s sake. Let’s call this for what it is. Insanity. We talk about mental illness as if mental illness is just a personal problem, which, in part, it is. We ask, “Was the shooter mentally ill?” When do we ask the same…

The “new normal” is a ruse. Years ago, you wouldn’t have heard me craving “normal.” Picturing myself as creative, I’d have called normal too dull, predictable, and routine. But this week, after testing positive for COVID on Monday (not surprising given my husband’s case last week), getting stung by some very angry bees, and hearing bad…

My husband has Covid, and I may be next. My husband has Covid, and I may be next. I’m officially in limbo (call it quarantined). Overnight, life changed. I canceled plans and learned, once again, that life has no contractual obligation to go my way. Living in limbo is a bit of a pain. I’m now officially at the…

Spread delight when times feel blue Last week, a friend thanked me profusely for a two-word expression I shared with her seven years ago: “both/and.” The words helped when, after her husband died, people asked, “How are you?” She didn’t have to choose between “I’m great” and “I’m feeling so sad.” She could be both. “Both/and”…

Keeping the heart open with music and beauty How to avoid depair as we continue to care? And create without hate? I’ve had to meter my news so that I don’t go numb while trying to stay informed about what is happening in Ukraine. To allow my heart to feel, I’ve turned to song. The creators of these…

(Anger as creative fuel part 2) Anger is a natural part of life. It comes and goes, like the wind, unless like a broken fan in the summer, it gets stuck on “on.” I’ve been feeling a lot of it recently, mixed with grief. If you’ve been missing the fun, try my husband’s trick and read…

Anger can help us if we use it carefully Uncontrolled anger kills. Combined with political motives and manipulation it starts wars. It’s challenging not to be angry and scared by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Yet, I don’t want to forget that anger, with its heat, can also be used to create art. At the Tacoma Art Museum, glassblowers demonstrate…

Recently, I wrote about “Breaking the grip of self-judgment.” This week, I discovered some tools that can help. In Positive Intelligence Shirzad Chamine writes that we all have a judge. It ain’t just me. That judge, in turn, sub-contracts part of his work to a merry band of saboteurs custom-matched…