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I sat comfortably at the Hollow Square conference table in my usual back left-hand corner position, focused and ready to take notes. The presenter, an older gentleman in a suit with a bow tie, queued up music and began a slide show. The track was Nat King Cole’s version of Mona Lisa, a song written in 1949 by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston and covered by many wonderful artists over the years. The slide show was a plethora of then current magazine ads for all sorts of products featuring that famous face and smile. He didn’t say anything during the next 2 ½ minutes, just let the audio/visual play. I don’t remember his presentation topic or what any of this had to do with it, but I’ve never forgotten the introduction. And, Cole’s version of this song is still my favorite.

Over the past few months, life circumstances have been such that I have had some significant “shared experiences’ with the time afterwards for observation and reflection. [Please click on the title above to continue reading]

She entered the room in grace – positive, compassionate and confident. It was in her eyes, her smile, her touch. I observed her interactions with her patient and I could see that what she does and who she is are intricately woven. When she later explained that she came out of retirement for more of well, just this, I could see clearly that this is a calling for her and I could imagine no one better suited for the role, nor her being in any other role. She is a nurse with a hospice organization. [PLEASE CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE TO CONTINUE READING]

With great excitement, we welcomed the newest member of our family to a scheduled photo shoot to capture for posterity four generations in a single photo. I know this can be digitally manipulated now, but we know we were all together in that same space and time. When we walked in, the photographer took control, picked up the baby and placed our grandchild on my dad’s lap. His face immediately lit up in a way I hadn’t seen in years. His voice lifted and lilted in that playful way we choose when communicating with babies. It was fun to witness this moment of familial pride and pleasure.

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Molting is the shedding of “skin, feathers, or a shell to make way for new growth”. We move through our lives in a pulsing progression, development or even reinvention of ourselves. Sometimes, molting for us is just a trial run as we search for something that resonates with what we feel is our authentic selves. For we humans, molting is not a seasonal thing – it has a pace all its own. And breadth, sometimes pushing the edges of what we know to be comfortable. Sometimes it’s stagnant. Not molting can be stifling or even suffocating. Figuring out what to keep and what to shed in this process is work for we alone to do.

We most often use essences internally by making a dosage bottle or adding drops of the essence to our water, but they are versatile and useful in many different applications. We have some ideas to stimulate your creativity as you begin to experiment. [Click on the title above to continue reading.]

I strolled through the front door knowing only that things would be changed. The last time I was in that building was three years ago on the Friday before the world shut down for the pandemic. About three quarters of the employees had returned to work on site. I set my stuff down in a cubicle reserved for guests and made my way through the maze looking for some familiar faces of folks with whom I had worked back then just to say hello. I found one woman of the same vintage as me sitting in a new location. We chatted easily until the inevitable question: “so how are things going here?”. She opened up and the small talk took a turn down a more serious path.

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On her way out of town for the holidays, my wife texted me with a message that restored my faith in humanity. It was a request, not from her, but from or about a neighbor. We don’t really know her all that well. The woman, who lives alone, had recently undergone surgery and would be incapacitated for 4 months. Her daughter reached out to our community Facebook page with a link to a website that I thought was brilliant – Meal Train. It enables someone to connect to a community of friends to advise of a situation and to request meals for someone in need. All the organizational issues are handled by the site – scheduling, dietary restrictions, preferences, open dates, etc. It even has links to Grub Hub, Door Dash and Uber Eats where you can prepay an option or send a gift card if you are not available to cook or just prefer not to. You can forward the link to others and invite them to participate. There are suggestions for etiquette, tips and ideas for meal giving; all the little things to make it more convenient for the recipients. [PLEASE CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE TO CONTINUE READING]

I smile when I hear people say “I love this song” when they don’t even know the lyrics or what the song is about. Like many, they enjoy the melody, remember one or two catchy words from the lyrics and then infer the meaning of an entire song from that. Take for instance the song Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. How can anyone listen to that song and think that it should be played at religious services? They only hear its gorgeous rhythmic and soaring melody and remember a few key words: Lord, God, Faith, Love and, of course, Hallelujah. But listen to the rest. [Please click on the title above to continue reading.]

While needing to impose some “forced” relaxation recently, I listened with eyes closed and attentive ear to the beautiful piano piece ‘Clair de Lune” by Claude Debussy, part of the four-movement suite Bergamasque. In doing so, I could feel my pulse slow down.