When I was young… I was sure that I was going to lead a big life and change the world. I was sure that I was here to do something big, something important. I kept waiting for my mission to show itself. Until it did, I just focused on living… But my life seemed relatively …
Tag: Healing
Happy Birthday Don!
Once again, it’s time to celebrate! Today is the anniversary of the world being gifted with the presence of this very good man. It’s been a tough year. He endured more than most…surgeries, complications, a 23 hour stint in ER prior to being admitted, hospitalization, medication reactions and chronic pain that is not well controlled…it’s …
Extremes
Extremes. Extremes exist within, and without. This seems to be the way of the human condition. If we’re lucky, if we’re awake, we learn to make space for all of it. If we can do this… Make space for the extremes… We might be fortunate enough to live in the middle. I want to be …
Change Happens 
Swings and shifts happen…whether I’m aware of it or not. I should be aware because I’m riding the movement and holding on for dear life! I forget that the changing wind transports me from one extreme to the other and then back again… How can I be on such a wild ride and not be …
Healed By A Song…Day 26/30
Today, a piece of my heart was healed by a song. I’ve always stood in the margins, wondering why I was there. The fringe didn’t seem like a choice. It’s simply where I was. Was it because of my biology? After all, I wasn’t really his daughter. But I have clear memories of him demonstrating …
Dinah’s Coffee Chat…Day 22/30
Hello and thanks for stopping by. These virtual coffee chats are a nice way to check in. How are you? If you’re in the US, are you planning to do anything for Thanksgiving next week? Holidays can be such a mixed bag of emotions and expectations. I can say that, for me, the holiday that …
Time to Heal…Day 8/30
Photo by Dinah (c) "This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal. I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it …
Spirals….Day 6/30
Photo by Dinah (c) joy and sorrow are absolutely connected and must always be sorrow is constriction, a folding into self joy is expansion, an open embrace I must unfold those places within myself that were so immediately creased as a protection from early pain. those lines of my protected self are so deep that …
I Am Love…Day 2/30
Photo by Dinah (c) Life…We all know the truth….its beautiful and heartbreaking and thrilling and terrifying. And sometimes it’s all of that at once. So we all find ways to cope. Some people stay busy. Others stay still. Some read or watch tv or do yoga and some ride their bike until they’re ready to …
Covid Found Us!
I had started the month of April fully intending to try and join the Poem a Day for 30 Days Challenge. I made it one week and then caught a pretty nasty cold that lasted 2 weeks. I was just starting to feel like I was on the other side of it when my husband …
The Cold Caught Me
* Photo of a blue footed booby from Facebook because I absolutely love this picture! Like almost every day I begin with a shower I blow dry my bangs And slide into jeans and tennis shoes… Shoes are important when balance is bad I’m determined A normal routine will mean a normal day I’m sure of …
Disability -Day 29/30
Photo by Dinah (c) Disability means something different to everyone. For some, disability means “those people”. For me, disability means an ever-changing me….and it seems to be swallowing up more of me every year. As a child, disability meant that I didn’t walk well…that was the biggest thing. There was more but I chose to …
Writing -Day 22/30
Remember that feeling? The pressure you felt as a school kid when a big test was on the horizon or an assignment was coming due? The feeling of “should” was always just below the surface. “I SHOULD be preparing for this!”That same vague pressure seems to skulk around my adult life right around tax time. …
Alchemy- Day 21/30
Photo by Dinah (c) I’m sharing this for all of us. I’m sharing it for myself because I want to internalize it. I want it to move from my head to my heart to my bones so that it’s not just a memory. I want it to become a knowing, a truth that my body …
Miracles -Day 20/30
Photo by Dinah (c) I’m looking forward to miracles the same way a child looks forward to Saturday morning. When teachers and schoolwork choreograph most of every week, there’s a kind of deliciousness in reclaiming the openness of the weekend…an excitement that comes when you can make time your own. That’s what I’m looking forward …
Boomerang -Day 18/30
Photo by Dinah (c) I am a boomerang I almost always come back Perhaps this is my own personal Right of Return We were young and married and forgot that love can only flourish where appreciation dwells We ended our storyAnd then returned 2 years later and rebuilt everything Starting with ourselves Boomerang I worked …
Dinah’s Chat About Dysfunctional Family Bingo -Day 17/30
Photo by Don (c) Can you feel it? It’s in the air. The HoliDAZE are coming! I decided to write about this earlier than usual because I wanted to be able to share author Martha Beck’s ingenious holiday coping game in time for Thanksgiving. And I want to be sure to stipulate that this is …
Continue reading Dinah’s Chat About Dysfunctional Family Bingo -Day 17/30
Body Talk – Day 14/30
Photo by Dinah (c) Some days I can barely stand to be in my bodyThere was no break upI don’t know why we stopped speaking My friend also has a body that plays hide and seek with her We talk about this Sometimes Our bodies pendulum Without our consent We feel the tick tock of …
Dinah’s Chat About Dad- Day 11/30
Photo by Dinah (c) I’m the keeper of our family photos and family stories. In my family, we didn’t have a lot of positive stories. Dysfunction steals the good stuff. I guess that makes the good ones even more precious. So, periodically, I’ll tell one of the few stories that I remember here. Good things …
Shifting-Day 9/30
Yesterday I wrote about needing to sort things, release things, send things back out into circulation, rather than keeping them in boxes and closets and drawers.…. It made me aware that holding on is ultimately about fear… Fear of not enough, fear of not being ready, or prepared, fear of not being able to meet …
Adulting—Day 7/30
I’m adulting…not happily, but I’m doing it. I had two medical appointments today that I wanted to blow off in the worst way…(sigh)… I kept the appointments because I’m trying to be a grown-up. I don’t really have the luxury of ignoring my health anymore. Routine visits become about more tests and more visits. My …
Biking-Day 6/30
When I was about eight or nine years old, my parents bought me a three wheel, three speed bicycle… A grandma’s bike. I was thrilled with it! Because of my disability, I couldn’t ride a two wheel bike. And I was embarrassed riding around with training wheels year after year because I didn’t have the …
Exploring Procrastination-Day 3/30 (Dinah’s Wkend Chat)
Procrastination has been my companion for my entire life! We’re seemingly inseparable. The sad part though is that, even though we’re lifelong companions, we really don’t understand each other. If procrastination truly understood me, she’d realize that constantly putting things off isn’t doing me any favors. In fact, it’s actually quite anxiety provoking. Facebook Meme …
Continue reading Exploring Procrastination-Day 3/30 (Dinah’s Wkend Chat)
Making Magic-Day 2/30
Photo by Don (c) “To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. …
And The Yearly Challenge Begins Again! Day 1/30
Photo by Dinah Welcome to Nanopoblano’23! This is a yearly blogging challenge that happens every November and is hosted by Ra Avis Please consider visiting her blog frequently. You’ll be glad you did. During this month, those of us that join the challenge, commit to blogging every day for 30 days. It’s a tall order, …
Continue reading And The Yearly Challenge Begins Again! Day 1/30
Another Liminal Thought
Intuitive Creativity Class taught by Lauren Sapala… Prompt: Choose a color. Make something beautiful using that color I’ve thought about this for 2 days and I’ve decided to write something rather to try to draw/paint/create something. Writing seems to be the only medium that sparks me these days. And, for the last 6 months, that …
Life Said No
Photo by Don (c) My plans were solid, my resolve rock hard And life said no So I rewrote the script and committed to the revised plan, the direction that seemed to be the next right move And life said no I’ve lost count now. I can’t remember how many times I’ve journeyed in good …
The Liminal Space
Photo by Dinah (c) Years ago two dear friends of ours owned a meditation center that was about an hour south of us. My friend facilitated a regular weekly meditation in the evening. Sometimes we’d co-facilitate those gatherings. It was fun because we were so drastically different. He was far more analytical than I and …
Today—Day 27/30
Photo by Don Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing. — Arundhati Roy Today… I’m feeling under the weather. Not sick. But not well. Today… I choose to believe in better. Feeling better. Doing better. Today… I envision better health for me, …
Big Life—Day 20/30
Photo by Dinah “Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” —-Mother Teresa My husband and I just watched the Netflix miniseries called… From Scratch. It’s a true story adapted from the memoir by the same name written by Tembi Locke. If you haven’t seen it, …
Challah (NPE/MPE) —Day 18/30
Photo from Unsplash Several weeks ago I told my husband that I wanted to buy some challah. That’s a bigger deal than it sounds because we have to drive about 40 minutes to get it. But I really wanted it.It seemed so strange to me. For most of my life I have not allowed myself …
Writing—Day 15/30
Writing has never been something that I loved the way that an artist probably loves to paint or sketch. Writing has always been something like a stone in my shoe. The words are there. And I can ignore them for a while. But, like the stone, they demand acknowledgment at some point.Thoughts and phrases dance …
Magic—Day 14/30
Photo from Unsplash The memory is still there. It’s still vivid. Magic was so real to me. Magic seemed as real as rain or snow or wind…. just as real and just as elusive… Like the weather, I didn’t understand where it came from… But I knew it was all around me. I knew that …
Happy Birthday—Day 13/30
A warm September day on Lake Michigan Today is an auspicious day. Today is the anniversary of the day that the world was gifted with this kind and generous Soul. And he is indeed a gift to all who are fortunate enough to know him. This last year has been unbelievably rough. I’ve said many …
Something New—Day 12/30
I’m starting something new today.New is exciting and frustrating and provocative.I want very much to love this new thing with all my heart!New makes me think about tomorrow. Will I be good at this thing that I’m trying? Can I be productive?It’s interesting how enjoyment and productivity become linked in my brain. Why is that?I’ve …
A Really Good Story About Angels—Day 11/30
Thanks for visiting. As a way of keeping us both interested in this 30 day blogging challenge, I’m going to tell you a story about something that happened last December. I really felt like it was a gift. And gifts are meant to be shared. Last Fall I was completely exhausted. Life events kept happening …
Beautiful Day—Day 10/30
Geese at sunset yesterday. I’ve resisted the urge to whine about the coming of winter. I can’t promise that it won’t happen. But for today, I’m just too busy celebrating the shockingly beautiful weather we’ve had over the last couple of days. Yesterday‘s sunset was spectacular! And today, in the north, in November… We reached …
With Angels and Elephants 