When we moved to New Jersey a little over 4 years ago, my husband joked that people would run the other way when they saw me coming.
We had relocated 3,000 miles from California.
Our kids were 2.5 years old and 2 months old.
We'd visited our new town exactly once before.
We knew exactly zero people.
It was December.
It was very cold.
And very dark.
Read MoreI've been trying to quell the impulse to constantly reach for my phone, so I've been doodling instead when I can.
It gives my hands something to do and my mind something to focus on.
Read MoreI signed myself up for an art class this winter.
It's me and 10 retired women and one man.
In yesterday’s class, a woman at my table said to me, "It's great that you're taking the time to do this for yourself. I wish I had started earlier."
Read MoreToday I drove a friend home from PreK morning drop off.
The drive is approximately 1 minute and 15 seconds.
But during that time, she told me about
Read MoreMy girlfriend stopped over a few weeks ago and I squealed as I noticed her hot magenta sneakers. She laughed as she said, "I was going to get the black, but then I thought, why the hell not?"
Read MoreSometimes I think my only job in life is to be present long enough to notice things. To step out of the hum of my head and open my eyes and see what's in front of me.
An example of a noticed moment, from last night:
I’ve been working with a client for a few months, who came to me because she was burnt out on her corporate job. When we began, she said, “I find corporate life completely draining and unsatisfying. I feel as though I am wasting my days slaving away at excel spreadsheets and looking at data that is meaningless to me.There has to be something more fulfilling out there!”
She wanted to do something more creative, but she didn’t know what that was.
Read MoreWe rush so fast through our lives that we miss the ordinary moments. But sometimes it’s the ordinary moments that make us stop and realize just how extraordinary life can be.
Here’s a brief retelling of an ordinary bike ride to school with my 5 year old son, the morning after Halloween. I wrote it to him.
Read MoreIf you ever feel like you're going round in circles and getting stuck in the same place, remember, you're just spiraling up. You might think you're in the same place, but you've already come a long way.
Keep going.
More and more I’m seeing the benefit of breaking routine. Which may seem heretical in this age of productivity.
But when you vary the sensory diet you’re feeding your brain, body, and soul, your output changes.
Read MoreI was eating lunch outside the other day before grabbing the kids from camp, and I couldn't help but remember the years I spent escaping my offices, if only to get outside for some fresh air and away from my desk.
Read MoreI've been taking pictures of flowers out on my walks and adding it to a “color inspo” folder on my phone, so that I can reference it when making decisions for house projects. I got this idea from Justina Blakney, whose aesthetic I love and whose approach has challenged the way I think about design.
Read MoreFor many years of my adult life, I was tortured by the notion that I “didn’t know what I wanted to do.”
The only thing I was certain of was that I was mostly unhappy in my day job. But I couldn’t see how that connected to anything else.
I knew what I didn’t like, but I didn’t have any clue what I actually did like.
If I could tell my former self anything on this topic, I’d say:
Read MoreIf you’ve been waiting for a permission slip to tap into your own rage, here it is.
Permission to rage, granted.
Read MoreFor my children…
I want to bottle it up.
Your unbridled wildness. Your dancing without hesitation and singing with enthusiasm.
Read MoreI think of our lives like a house.
We spend most of the time on the ground floor. It’s where all the living happens.
It’s where we eat our meals and watch TV.
It’s where we pack lunches for the kids and rush them out the door to get to school on time.
It’s what people see first when they come over to visit.
But our house also has a basement.
It’s dark and dusty and a little scary, as basements tend to be.
Read MorePicture this:
There’s an elephant in a room.
The room is well-appointed. There are silk drapes and overstuffed chairs and marble-topped tables and hors d’oeuvres being passed around on intricate silver platters.
There are people milling about, sitting in the chairs and eating the hors d'oeuvres and making polite conversation by the silk-draped windows and laughing on cue at mediocre jokes.
The elephant is there, trying to fit in.
But no one is paying attention to the elephant.
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