TRANSFORMING MY BODY

For me, 2021 will be a year of transformation.  As those of you who follow my blog know, I am a bit rotund.  Before Christmas, I got tired of it and pledged to get down to what my doctor considers fighting weight.  I must lose forty-seven pounds.  I will still stick...

DEVELOP EMPATHY IN THE NEW YEAR

Healing the divides in our country requires us to practice empathy.  Simply put, empathy is trying to understand another person’s feelings.  According to Merriam-Webster, sympathy implies sharing (or having the capacity to share) the feelings of another, while empathy...

ARE YOU BORED?

Boredom is a human condition.  The Roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger complained about it around two thousand years ago. “How long the same things? Surely I will yawn, I will sleep, I will eat, I will be thirsty, I will be cold, I will be hot. Is...

PRACTICE KINDNESS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

This holiday season, we are urgently in need of kindness to bind our nation’s wounds.  That means intentionally being friendly, generous, and considerate—not because we have to, but because we want to.  While we can’t control what others do, we are the master of our...

DO HOLIDAY TRADITIONS TERRORIZE YOU?

For many of us, Christmas is a magical time full of nostalgia.   Providing our loved ones with a memorable holiday is paramount.  Unfortunately, trying to create the perfect Christmas often overwhelms us.  As a young mother, I sent Christmas cards to friends and baked...

MY WILD COVID BIRTHDAY PARTY

COVID destroyed my plans to take the family on a western Caribbean cruise to celebrate my birthday.  Rather than sipping rum punches onboard ship, the party moved to Uvalde, Texas.  There, my daughter treated me to a tank and machine gun package to salute the big day!...