Gratitude is a practice

Gratitude is a practice

Every Thanksgiving, as I sit at the dinner table surrounded by my and my husband’s family, someone suggests that we go around the table and say what we’re thankful for. And I laugh to myself. They may not remember that I started this tradition, many years ago, but I...
Be Here Now

Be Here Now

Be. Here. Now. These are simple words, and yet I sometimes forget them. I can spend my moments thinking of other moments, and my days planning other days. My minutes focused on anything, everything, but where I actually am at that instant and how I actually feel at...
The beauty of a sloth

The beauty of a sloth

Two weekends ago my family was at a zoo in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was a small zoo, for someone from New York, but good enough. There were “real” animals – lions, tigers, giraffes, zebras. And there was a sloth, sharing a cage with various species of monkeys. The...
How to feel good for a minute

How to feel good for a minute

I was listening to an inspirational tape the other day and the following words stuck with me: “My predominant work in this day is to figure out how to feel good for a minute.” Later in the day I was reading a copy of O (yes, I’ll admit that I sometimes do read O) and...
Look up when you’re walking

Look up when you’re walking

As it gets colder out I notice my tendency to look down as I walk. I bundle up against the cold, and keep my face shielded from the wind. But it’s not just cold weather that keeps me from looking up and noticing what’s around me as I walk. And it’s not just me. I’m...