Tag Archives: Hope

Seeking An Undivided Life

About a year ago, I finished Parker Palmer’s Book:  “A Hidden Wholeness:  The Journey Toward An Undivided Life”.  It came at a particularly critical time for me as I had been, and frankly still am, searching for how to live my inner self, outwardly.  Once again, much like John O’Brien and his Integrity Gap nailing some guilt I’d been struggling with, with an actual name, Parker Palmer’s wisdom opens clarity about the journey I find myself in.  I’ve linked in a 6-minute clip of Parker Palmer talking about what he means by ‘divided life’, where it comes from and how it can be detrimental to our living a life with true purpose.

I’m interested in being the best version of myself…but think, perhaps, I’ve been going about it the wrong way.  Looking introspectively into my life, grasping a true sense of what I believe, what I stand for,  then drives how I interface with the world and humans around me.  If I can be my true self, then the authenticity that Palmer speaks of,  permeates all interactions, connections and relationships.  Subsequently, my life becomes whole, vibrant, salient and purpose-driven…and a purpose-driven life, hopefully, provides a compass for which my children perhaps will use to guide them as they evolve into contributing citizens, in their chosen places, where ever they land, and with whomever they are with.

Big love to you all…

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Sending my gratitude to Melissa Hough…

Approaching the end of our 2nd year of blogging, which we are grateful for indeed, we embark on year 3 with a new sense of hope and growing desire to hear from wonderful people, doing wonderful things, by simply living who they are!  Linda and I, who are we kidding, Linda, drafted some thoughtful questions for us to ask people we come in contact with, work with, have just met, and/or are downright in awe of!

Melissa Hough

Melissa Hough

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A Song of Joy

Image by Eoin Carey

This week’s post takes the form of a letter to four brilliant performers (one of whom is also a friend) whose show I went to see this week. Apologies if specific references lose or confuse any readers. Please bear with me…

Dear Drew, Kieran, Julia and Gav,

Last night I came to see Rantin. Thank you.

Thank you for creating a piece of entertainment which really mattered; a performance which I panicked about halfway through. My panic was this: how can we make sure that everyone in Scotland sees this? Especially, how can we make sure that every young person in Scotland sees this? Continue reading

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The Year Ago Gift…

A year ago, yesterday, we were blessed with the birth of our 3rd child, a daughter, Eliot Dawn. I wrote about the experience of having the opportunity to welcome her into the world in our own home, with the help of midwives, around this time last year. To read this post again, or for the first time:  Eliot Dawn arrives with a lesson…

Wall of Eliot...

Wall of Eliot…

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Love Leads to Nonviolent Change

“The beloved community is not a utopia, but a place where the barriers between people gradually come down and where the citizens make a constant effort to address even the most difficult problems of ordinary people.  It is above all else an idealistic community.” ~Jim Lawson

Tom Kohler at a reading of Waddie Welcome...

Tom Kohler at a reading of Waddie Welcome…

This quote appears at the beginning of the book, “Waddie Welcome and the Beloved Community”, Continue reading

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Ring in the New Year with some LOVE!!

As we enter 2014, Linda and I want to personally thank all of you for your readership, comments, support and love. It means the world to us that people connect with what we share. In this week’s post, we link another warm video from the Soul Pancake team. Sometimes all that is needed is an ‘invitation’ and the love will flow from there…let’s set our intention in 2014 to love one another each and every day!

Happy New Year!!

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Every Day Is A Gift

Here in the states, Thanksgiving Day came and went.  As I evolve, my belief is that this particular holiday offers an opportunity for people to embrace gratitude.  If you’ve been a follower of this blog, you’ll know I believe sending out your gratitude every day is something to aim for…but is not always reached (certainly for me).  In this short film by Louie Schwartzberg, through his brilliant photography and cinematography, he captures the gifts surrounding us each and every day.  He invites us to treat every day as if it were our ‘first day of life and last day of life’…and if we approach each day like this, ‘then it will really be a good day.’  Take 6 minutes to watch this film and try not to have an ear-to-ear smile emerge within the first 30 seconds and stay throughout the film.

I repeat these words internally daily, externally almost daily and practice them as best I can (which is certainly not daily).  Relentless positivity is the foundation of Come In From The Cold, a value Linda and I agreed on at the genesis of this adventure.  This short film encompasses just that…and as he says in the film, ‘every day is a gift.’

Be well my friends…

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Snooze Wars Lead to Reflection

Deep REM sleep is rudely interrupted by the faint electronic melody emanating from my iPhone every morning at 5am.  Why so early?  Well, with three kids 6 years of age and under, and a work schedule which seemingly never turns off, 5am-6am is the sacred hour…the only hour of quiet in the house, in my life, where I can read, meditate, pray, write or lately… SNOOZE.  We all know this function of the alarm clock well, providing us with 8-minute chunks of sleep, beyond the time we designated for wake up. Continue reading

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Every Day Is A Gift

Here in the states, Thanksgiving Day came and went.  As I evolve, my belief is that this particular holiday offers an opportunity for people to embrace gratitude.  If you’ve been a follower of this blog, you’ll know I believe sending out your gratitude every day is something to aim for…but is not always reached (certainly for me).  In this short film by Louie Schwartzberg, through his brilliant photography and cinematography, he captures the gifts surrounding us each and every day.  He invites us to treat every day as if it were our ‘first day of life and last day of life’…and if we approach each day like this, ‘then it will really be a good day.’  Take 6 minutes to watch this film and try not to have an ear-to-ear smile emerge within the first 30 seconds and stay throughout the film.

I repeat these words internally daily, externally almost daily and practice them as best I can (which is certainly not daily).  Relentless positivity is the foundation of Come In From The Cold, a value Linda and I agreed on at the genesis of this adventure.  This short film encompasses just that…and as he says in the film, ‘every day is a gift.’

Be well my friends…

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A Beautiful Moment

Family...

Family…

What do you see here? A family portrait? Love? Two beautiful, strong women and their amazing children? That’s what I see too. This portrait adorns the living room of Beth and Carolyn. It represents a family wrapped in love, a family with ups and downs, a family with rich traditions and a family that until this past Friday October 18, 2013…didn’t have complete, legal recognition. That last, ridiculous little tidbit of information, became exiled into history when Beth, Carolyn, their two children Trystin and Taylor, and about 10 of their closest family and friends walked into the Vista County Assessor’s office and got married!! Continue reading

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