Ever since I was a kid, I’ve kept a journal. From high school through my early adulthood, I spent hours filling dozens of spiral notebooks with every random event, meaningful song lyric and painful moment. It was my comfort, my friend, my addiction. And as I moved out of the dorm, into my first apartment(s), …
Change
Thanks, Debbie Ford. Now Get That Smile Off Your Face.
Earlier this week, self-help author Debbie Ford passed away at the too-young age of 57. I was introduced to her work by a friend who gave me a copy of “The Dark Side of the Light Chasers.” Yeah, I know – awful title. But the point of the book is really interesting: namely, that our …
Guess Who’s Coming to the Funeral?
Tom Sawyer wasn’t the only one: dead people like to attend their own funerals. Come on, wouldn’t you? They tend to stand near the end of their coffin, and watch as people pass to pay their respects. They love looking at all the flowers and expressions of sympathy (so make sure you send really nice …
The End of the World? Nope.
There’s an old REM track that’s been making the rounds, in light of this Mayan prophecy of the world ending today: “It’s The End of The World As We Know It.” Well, clearly, since I’m sitting here, listening to the sound of the dryer and my fingers clicking away on the laptop, the world has …
Angels: They’re Not Just for Christmas Anymore
This time of year there are angels everywhere: in malls, on Christmas cards, hanging from my neighbor’s roof — you name it. I like the ones at Rockefeller Center myself: We tend to focus on the one angel who brought the news of Jesus’s birth – and that would be Archangel Gabriel. Now I know …
What Goes Around…
One of my Facebook friends has been sharing some hairy details of a family feud. It’s not pretty. The stories she tells are awful: stalking, theft of property promised on a parent’s death bed, and far too many cruel words. Most of this seems to emanate from one member of the family, to the …
The Power of Thanks/Giving
With Thanksgiving upon us, I’m seeing tons of ads for Black Friday. “Sale! Sale! Sale!” “Buy! Buy! Buy!” This is the time of year when people line up at 5 in the morning, just to pick up some ginormous flatscreen TV. This is the time of year that feeds a never-ending appetite for stuff. There’s …
Sandy — And What She Left Behind
It was about a week ago that I woke up and realized that my house was still standing after Hurricane Sandy. The days prior to it were a blur of stocking up on food, batteries, gasoline; taking down all my windchimes (I have a LOT of windchimes) and birdfeeders — and generally gazing at the …
What You Can Learn 23 Feet Up
It was one of those Bucket List things that brought me to Trapeze School in New York City. I figured it would be fun, not to mention a good cocktail party story (assuming that I didn’t end up in the orthopedic wing of the hospital). But I had no idea I’d experience so many “a …
Family Feuds for the Enlightened
Yesterday, I did a reading for a woman who’s family was less the Cleavers and more The Addams Family. Actually, now that I think about it, it was more like the Corleones. Anyway, she was being driven absolutely ’round the bend by all kinds of dysfunction, fighting, back-biting and all that other fun stuff. Now, I’m all …