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

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,

I was staring at a team building poster the other day – you know the kind, with bold letters declaring "There's no I in TEAM." And while I nodded along with the sentiment, something else caught my attention: if you rearrange those same letters, you can spell "Me." That realization stopped me in my tracks. Not because it undermines the value of teamwork, but because it illuminates something we often miss: teams need individuals who feel valued, who have purpose, who find meani

Years ago, someone handed me a mortar and pestle with a simple "Here — it's for you." My immediate response was "What's it for?" —...

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."   - H.L. Mencken We've been thinking about complexity...

Whatever happened to genuine curiosity in our conversations? You know - those questions that weren't steering toward a predetermined...

This past week, I found myself in the middle of two online discussions that couldn't have been more different on the surface, yet...

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

The other day, I watched a small moment unfold that took me back decades in an instant. A child started to step into the street when his...

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...

The other day on Nextdoor, someone posted a thoughtful message asking neighbors to move beyond name-calling and engage in respectful...

This time of year, I find myself with new eyes in my own perennial garden beds. As tiny green shoots emerge from the soil, I'm faced with...

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

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...

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...

It wasn't exactly the magical Paris experience I'd imagined. After a 2-week whirlwind trip through Europe, my friend and I arrived in...