I was checking out at a store recently, still wearing a fleece I'd just had on for an appointment. The cashier complimented it, and I found myself telling her something I'd been rejoicing in for the past month: "I've had this for twenty years, but I've only worn it a handful of times until this season." For two decades, I looked at this fleece as a jacket—something for crisp autumn days when the weather required outerwear but hadn't yet demanded a real coat. The problem was,

As I write this, we're entering the season that's supposed to be about connection. Thanksgiving dinners, holiday gatherings, year-end celebrations with family and friends. Norman Rockwell paintings showing tables full of laughter, homes filled with warmth, communities coming together in joy. This is the time, we're told, when we belong. But here's what I've been noticing lately - a pattern in how conversations actually go, or don't go. A friend suggests I watch a video about

In the past few days, two seemingly unrelated experiences had one thing in common - which led me to a bigger question about who decides what's real anymore. First, an article about detecting AI-generated content. Look for em dashes, it advised. Blue diamond bullet points. Particular word patterns. I've used em dashes for years. I hunted down those blue diamonds because I love color. My word choices have always been unconventional. Then a talk show caller insisted some public

Halloween is dead. Well, not yet, but I'm already grieving it. It's October 29th, and I'm making breakfast thinking about how much I'm going to miss this season once it's over. I do this every year. Start mourning Halloween before it's even happened. And the big box stores aren't helping. I went in early October and half their glorious 10-foot ghouls and macabre displays had already been shoved aside for Santa and his relentlessly cheerful elves. Can we not? I love Halloween,

A few months ago I wrote about discovering resilience when a summer storm knocked out our power. But that same storm also took down seven trees in our backyard - and facing that challenge taught me something different about where real strength actually comes from. We faced a choice about how to respond. We could have left the fallen timber where it lay, avoiding the overwhelming task of cleanup. We could have hired a crew to come in, clear everything efficiently, and restore

I woke up thinking about false binary narratives again. It's become something of a pattern for me - noticing all the ways we fragment...

Yesterday, I missed a phone call that left an unexpected voicemail. The moment I heard the message, something inside me switched into...

I read a story today that stayed with me long after I closed my laptop. Parents across the country are now investing thousands of dollars...

A podcast about play at work got me thinking recently. The guest was talking about how uptight our work environments have become - no...

Sometimes the most profound lessons emerge not from what we've completed, but from what we're still in the middle of figuring out. I...

This spring has taught me something unexpected about resilience—not through dramatic stories of overcoming, but through the quiet...

In these complex times, finding our way through uncertainty can feel like navigating without a map. As I've explored in recent issues of...

The Wisdom of AND Have you noticed how often we frame life's complex issues as "either/or" choices? We're constantly encouraged to pick...

Have you ever found yourself forming an immediate judgment about something or someone, only to have that perspective completely...

When a client first sat across from me, her goals seemed straightforward: lose 10-20 pounds, work fewer hours, and have more fun with her...

"I can't do this." Those four words echoed loudly in my mind as I stood at the halfway point of a ski run called "Boomer" seven years...

This morning while unloading my dishwasher, I found myself pausing in a moment of unexpected gratitude. Having spent most of my adult...

Have you ever noticed how rediscovering something you'd forgotten can shift your entire perspective? Recently, a simple desire to play...

Sometimes the most profound reminders of human goodness emerge in our darkest moments. This past week, as devastating fires swept through...

Yesterday, as I was sitting in front of my music stand with a challenging piece of new music, I found myself in a familiar place of...