Today I was notified my book is one of five finalists in the memoir category in the 10th annual Maxy Awards.
Thanksgiving Food For Thought
If you would protest hate, embody love.
Putting a Notion into Motion
This weekend, I had the privilege of participating in a panel discussion at the Amelia Island Book Festival.
Amelia Island Book Festival 2024
This is the 23rd season of the Amelia Island Book Festival, which celebrates the love of reading and supports literacy in Nassau County, Florida.
PROMPT: Sunrise is the Best Time
Sunrise is the best time for greeting the day
although I rarely see it—
Affirmation
For a good part of my life, I was dependent on external validation for my self worth. This put me at the mercy of others’ opinions, words, and judgments. It often left me trying to please people to gain their favor, at the expense of my own needs and desires.
Exciting News
Hello friends! While I have taken the summer off from blogging, things have been progressing nicely on my memoir project.
PROMPT: A Moment My Heart Broke
When I was ten years old, I came home from school to find dead kittens strewn across the lawn.
Demystifying Constellations
Part of my work, both personally and with clients, incorporates the use of constellations. Constellations are a somatic, or embodied, exercise that provide a systemic view of relationship dynamics. In other words, using people or objects, we create in three dimensional form a representation of a situation or circumstance in order to understand it better.
To Tell the Truth...
When you’re working on a memoir, you spend a lot of time thinking about how to tell your story—what to tell, how much to tell, and how to tell it truthfully.
Parenting Adult Children
People have been talking with me recently about the joys and challenges of parenting adult children. It requires a different approach from when they were younger. However, it’s not completely dissimilar, if our goal is to help them be confident, independent and self-sufficient.
A Primer on Government Bonds: Part Two
PART TWO—Secondary Trading
The Accident
In a recent writing class, our prompt was to experiment with different ways of telling a story by altering perspectives and tenses to play with distance between the writer and the reader. We were given specific voices and tenses to use. I had fun retelling this event from my childhood. Enjoy!
A Primer on Government Bonds: Part One
PART ONE—Primary Issuance
Before I worked on Wall Street, I’d never really thought about government bonds.
The Power of a Writing Group
A small group of us gather together each week on the second floor of The Book Loft, a charming independent book store on Centre Street in Fernandina Beach.
Let's Talk about Self-Talk
What is self-talk? It’s that constant stream of thoughts that weighs in on every external and internal event….
A Banking Fable for Beginners
Once upon a time, in a land of commerce and trade, there lived a commercial bank….
Joyful Tranquility
My monthly meditation group is studying the universal aspects of meditation. The what, how, and why that applies to meditating, regardless of any specific practice. This month, we focused on preparation.
How does one get ready to meditate? There are many approaches. Lighting a candle. Washing the body. Saying a prayer. Using a special location. Setting an intention.
What do they have in common? Each impacts the experience and depth of the meditation. Each impacts the attitude with which we approach meditation. This concept of attitude, or energetic stance, towards meditation was the focus of our discussion and practice for the evening….
Chakra Meditation for a New Year
I am grounded: in my Ideals, my daily practices, my disciplines that have become my devotions.
I am balanced: male and female, masculine and feminine, I create a strong container to hold my tenderness and vulnerability.
I am powerful: I use my power wisely. I empower myself and others; I am not overpowered by others nor do I overpower them.
I am loving: my heart is big enough to hold all of my joys and all of my sorrows, and courageous enough to travel to the tender places where my wisdom lies hidden beneath my wounds.
I am willing: I willingly let go of that which no longer serves my highest good and willingly co-create my life with the highest that I know.
I am integrated: left brain/right brain, logic and creativity, intellect and intuition—these work together to help me see the whole.
I am divine: Divinity created me, Divinity lives in me, Divinity flows through me.
PROMPT: What does it mean to write with love until the light shines through?
In the case of my memoir, it means I need to approach all of my characters and situations from a standpoint of love and compassion. It also means to love the process of writing, uncovering, discovering. Love doesn’t always mean enjoy, it can mean accepting people and things as they are/where they are. How will I know the light shines through? Because the story will flow, it will be alive, it will make sense. How do I write with love? Consciously, with intention, a softening that allows me to access my heart, not just my mental memories. Perhaps as Thich Nhat Hanh says, balancing the Buddha, artist and warrior aspects of self to engage with the project….