It takes courage to speak your truth. In childhood we are often taught to be seen and not heard, to be obedient and good little children.  In recent days, I’ve had several conversations with friends about these residual patterns of belief and behavior that live on even though we are adults.  It is absolutely amazing [...]

Mary Jo nurtures everyone.  Whenever a member of the family has a problem, they call Mary Jo.  The family includes children, grandchildren, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews and even members of the church family.  With each call, she gives wise and sage advice and solves or fixes the problem.  People wander in and out [...]

In 2010, I.M. presents you with a challenge.  Let’s be brave enough to reach out and care about other people.  Let’s get out of the “it’s all about me and everyone wants to hear how important I am” mode of operation.  Instead, let’s ask about others and really listen to what they might have to [...]

I recently attended a brunch at the local community volunteer organization. It is called RSVP.  The event was heart- warming as the room filled with seniors who had worked thousands of hours volunteering in various capacities in the city. In the RSVP organization, four hundred people had worked a total of 67,000 hours volunteering in [...]

This is the first morning we have seen sunshine for several days. I looked for Miss Molly and found her stretched out full-cat length on the bed in the sunshine. As I rubbed her back she rolled and purred as she stretched more.  This was one happy cat enjoying the warmth and light of the [...]

“Maybe some people don’t realize the impact they are making or have made on other people’s lives.  We are just being us, but it has special meanings that the giver doesn’t even know.  We are filling an empty space and making a change or a difference in someone else’s life.  It may be small or [...]

Each day, there are three actions we can practice that will contribute to our lives and the lives of those around us. They are simple, yet set in motion,  a whole new level of relationship with others and self- respect for yourself. These three daily steps are: show up, pay attention, and respond in love.

“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.” Anonymous Do you have friends who know the song in your heart? What a wonderful quote. It expresses the connection and power that can be found in real friendship.

These simple little words can strike terror in the heart of even the most brave and courageous human. Do you ever freeze when someone says to you – we need to talk? Do you immediately assume the worst? Are you afraid of what they want to talk about? Are you afraid of feelings of anger [...]

I’ve been watching two close friends move through work challenges. There has been frustration, anger, disgust, anxiety, exhaustion, hostility, and exasperation with situations that don’t change, but in fact becomes more dictatorial and harassing every day. They have had enough and the stress shows in tone of voice, facial expression, the way they walk or [...]

The phone rang and a voice I had not heard for many years spoke up and indentified himself as a high school friend. We caught up on the history of our lives – family, work, travel, etc. – which lasted about 5 minutes. For the next 30 minutes this person talked about himself- when I [...]