We are all part of a living system.
I believe that who we are—how we show up in the world, how we treat others—is more important than what we do.
I’ve also experienced that, when we change how we are in the world, the world around us changes.
I write about the practices that have helped me.
Spoiler alert: It mostly comes down to walking, nature, mindfulness and acceptance.
My Word for 2017: Allow
I don't have any particular New Year's traditions any more. Through my 20s and 30s, I grew tired of resolutions, then commitments and goals—all things that ultimately made me feel bad about myself (usually within about six weeks). In my early 40s, I decided to focus...
6 Benefits of Slowing Down
We all want to matter to others. The mistake is in believing that busyness is a sign of our value as human beings. There’s a saner way to live.
Tree Portrait 16-Oct-23
From a distance, these trees look uniformly bright pink. Up close, the colors are much more intricate.
50 Thoughts on Turning 50
On the last day of my 40s, I'm writing a list of things I've learned so far. (I know, it's not exactly original, but it is mine.) Without children, a marriage or a traditional career milestones, this birthday has snuck up on me. In some ways, I feel blindsided. And...
An Open Letter to Those Going off Medication
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” —Anaïs Nin Recently, I've been seeing more and more stories / posts / tweets by people in the process of withdrawing from medication. These have brought up...
Music as a Teaching
I love music—who doesn’t?—yet it had never occurred to me that music itself could be a teaching, that it could bring people to the place, the experience, that spiritual teachers’ words point to, the transcendence that’s sometimes found in meditation (and often isn’t)....
Mindfulness and the MRI
Note: A friend expressed concern and mentioned that, in the U.S., people only have MRIs if something is seriously wrong. In Canada, MRI is sometimes used in place of other screening technologies; this was just a checkup. Ok, I admit, this is a bit of a departure from...
Freelance Feast (and Famine)
Every freelancer goes through feast or famine, but I have to say that I think I've hit some extremes on both ends. After two years of significant financial challenges, last year I earned twice the highest amount I've ever earned in a calendar year...thanks to a single...
Thursday Tree Portrait 2016-Jan-01
Happy New Year! After weeks of rain, the first hints of spring are beginning to emerge on Vancouver Island. May this year blossom and unfurl for you in ways you can't yet imagine.
The Requisite Year in Review Post
I'm not all that keen on New Year's as a "fresh start," since pretty much any moment is a fresh start. But there's something about the collective energy of a fresh start (i.e., everyone else's New Year's posts), and also... I wrote about the challenging times...
Thursday Tree Portrait 15-Dec-24
This is the photo that made me start seeing #AliensInArbutus (Arbutus is a type of tree that only grows in warm, temperate regions. Often windswept, and almost always gnarled, with sinewy green limbs and peeling orange bark, arbutus trees are works of art. And...
The Long Darkness of Winter
Confession: I’m not a huge fan of winter. I live in a temperate rainforest, which is gorgeous and lush and one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen on this planet. It also, by definition, requires abundant rain. Like, six months of rain. Yes, I know rain is...