Recently I had a cranio-sacral massage because I never had one before and I’m always up for whatever I haven’t tried in the realm of massage therapy. The massage was incredibly relaxing in an odd way—it wasn’t so much that my muscles felt relaxed, it was more like my soul felt relaxed. I decided to …
It turns out that good posture is about much more than good health. A wonderful reader made me aware of Jordan B. Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life, specifically the first chapter where he explains via lobsters the crucial importance of literally standing up for oneself. According to Peterson, when I slump I tell others—and my …
A positive outcome of living for several weeks with people in their eighties and nineties is an appreciation for good health. As I watched the elderly move around the building, riding scooters, pushing walkers, and the lucky ones leaning on a cane, I realized there was an aspect of my health I was ignoring: my …
They’re called “likes” but the icon looks like a heart so I call them “hearts.” Recently I wrapped up an online workshop that had a discussion board. It was possible to like/heart other people’s posts but I didn’t do it often. At the end of the workshop I realized my bio page kept my statistics: …
The other night I was lying in bed, listening to an audio course before falling asleep. It was Tara Brach’s Free Yourself From Blame & Resentment on InsightTimer. I went through it for the first time last fall and have listened to the ten episodes three or four times since then. In an early episode Brach …
I was gone for four weeks, tending to Mom, then came home for a week before going back. Mom said it wasn’t worth making the trip and I might as well just stay but I disagreed. It was good to go home. It was good to have a break because when I went back to …
Last week’s post was about not seeing. This week’s is about the flipside: seeing but not changing. It’s easy to do. Or rather, not do. I had been married for seven days. After the loneliest week of my life, I knew I had made mistake. But it would have been horribly embarrassing to get a …
There is a photograph from 1860 that hangs in the elevator lobby of my condo building. Most people who look at it, if they look at it at all, probably think “That’s pretty,” or “What an interesting historic photograph.” I don’t see a pretty picture. I see a warning. The warning is easy to miss. …
Before we went to brunch, Mom and I waited in her living room for it to be time to leave, she on her petite sofa, me at her table by the sliding-glass door. She had washed her hair that morning and it fell in soft waves that framed her face. Her hair is light gray …
My mom moved into her retirement community three years ago this July. On the way back from Mother’s Day brunch, as she rode her scooter in the long hallway and I walked along side, I asked, “How do you feel about living here, Mom?” She didn’t look up as she spoke. She has always driven …