If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I will answer: I am here to live out loud. -Emile Zola I have always loved the truth of Emile Zola's exhortation. And here is what can happen if you live out loud: You will be too loud for some. And not loud enough for others. You will take risks. . . .
The incivility of the world around us gets to me, I have to admit. The chasms between us seem infinitely huge. How did we lose the important traits of friendship, love, brotherhood? When I think about how far apart so many of us are today, it makes me sad for our world. And the next . . .
A truism is something that is obviously true. But no matter how obvious, sometimes we just don't want to believe they are true. Here are a few examples of truisms, as I see them. If you have some of your own, I'd love you to add them in the comments. When someone shows you who they are, you . . .
Each of us goes through challenging periods in our lives, times of struggle and pain. If we're lucky, we count one or two trusted comrades among our friends. Folks who are able to see us and hear us --because the truth is that we all need to be seen and heard, especially in times of trouble. And in . . .
When the veil that obscures our vision is removed, the perfect clarity that results is a beautiful thing. Oh, it may not be the most comfortable thing, but it clears the path for us to move forward. The bumps and bruises that are a normal part of life chip away at the veil obscuring our vision, . . .
Walking down the hall in my temporary hotel quarters in my hometown, a discarded star on the carpet caught the light and my attention. It's been there for at least several weeks, resisting suitcase wheels, footfalls, vacuuming. Every day I'd notice it as I went to my rooms. As I write, it's still . . .
If you had asked me months ago if I thought looking within was challenging I'd have said "absolutely not!" Well, not so damn fast. I'm in my hometown, 2,500+ miles away from my husband and dogs, isolated in a hotel room much of the time, with nothing to do think. And write. On top of that, I am . . .
The cruelty in the world is unbearable to those of us who feel things deeply. Personal and societal, it's all the same. Cruelty is cruelty. More often than not, cruelty is unintentional. That's not always the case, but it is absolutely true that when people are treated cruelly, especially as . . .
It's the thing about getting older--we get wiser. Usually. We realize we know less than we thought and in many cases we really know nothing. At least that's been true of me. I remember being in my early 20s and being far less able to take critical input than I am now. In fact, it didn't occur to me . . .
Big sky is calming and the rainbow coming out of the cloud looks like a bolt of spiritual lightning. We need calm and a bolt of spiritual lightning about now. I don't know about you, but I have lost any modicum of patience I had with people who say stupid things, deny reality or lack human . . .
