I cringe every time I see a fellow biker with no lights. Not only is having a white front light and a red rear light the law, it’s just good common sense to make yourself visible to drivers, pedestrians and other bikers. You wouldn’t drive your car at night without turning on your lights, would you?
If you aren’t a morning person, you’re like about 40 percent of people who aren’t the early bird that catches the worm. Research says your body clock is unlikely to change, so best to embrace your night owl preferences.
The cliche of the middle-aged guy buying a sports car and ditching his wife for a girl half his age always struck me as a desperate move to avoid aging — when the pressures of parenting and career collide with the increasing aches and pains and wrinkles of a body in decline, hook up with someone who knows nothing of those…
We don’t all have a choice about our circumstances in life — where and when you were born, your skin color, gender and medical condition when you were born, the resources your family had were all dealt to you. We do have a choice about how we view our circumstances. For everything I can think of to complain about in my life,…
Real estate signs in fancy neighborhoods promise “luxury living,” but I know better. True luxury is actually owning a house rather than being owned by one. My family used to live in a fancy neighborhood. Really fancy. It was a planned subdivision as flawless as a movie set. A hundred houses sat on wide, curving streets featuring cul-de-sac islands filled…
A recent visit to my hometown had me reminiscing about one of my favorite high school jobs. As a teenager, I lucked into a surreal collection of work experiences. My first job, if you don’t count baby-sitting in middle school, was as a clown. I hosted children’s birthday parties, painting kids’ faces, making balloon animals and running a series of loud,…
The last few days, my heart has ached with the suffering of others. Several friends are going through difficult times, including grief, illness and break ups. On the larger scale, it’s news of yet another mass shooting, continuing tensions between police and black civilians, children who don’t have enough to eat … so many big issues, so much heartache. It can make…
I have been using my meditation time to work on the notion of letting go of the past. If someone hurt me in the past or I made mistakes, it’s time to move on. I can learn from those experiences while not dwelling on resentment or regret. If I behaved in a certain way because I felt it helped me in an earlier phase of my life, I don’t need to continue that behavior if it no longer serves me.
We’ve been invited to join one of the elaborate villages that particularly impressed me last time, Black Rock French Quarter. A collection of camps surround a structure that echoes the design of the New Orleans French Quarter, with offerings including a bakery, a farmers market, a bath house, and our camp, Golden Cafe.
Celebrating its lucky 13th year on playa, the Golden Cafe is your home for exotic cocktails and live music since 2003.
I have begun setting my passwords using motivational phrases so every time I log into my computer, it acts as a technological mantra.
When we met to discuss our 2015 goals, my friend Amanda helped me see a life’s purpose right there in front of me when she pointed out how much pleasure I get hosting parties.
She pointed to the frequent events I plan, from living room concerts to spaghetti dinners, and said those gatherings are making people’s lives better. I am bringing people joy by giving them experiences they wouldn’t otherwise have and connecting them with other interesting people.
I’ve really been feeling the love lately.
More accurately, I’ve been hearing the love.
I have been conscious recently of how many of our friends will give me a big hug and say, “I love you” or maybe more often “I love you guys,” wrapping me and John into the declaration of affection.
Oh, Master grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love with all my soul.
John and I recently mailed our last batch of New Year’s cards, which we do instead of Christmas cards. Every pile of hand-addressed envelopes we dropped in the mailbox made my heart feel good, sending good wishes to some of our closest loved ones and some new friends. So when I saw this call from my friend Lauree Ostrofsky to reclaim the elementary…
Lately I’ve been toying with letting my natural color, including the gray, grow in.
I’ve read a number of fashion stories saying there’s a trend in women going gray intentionally. I subscribed to a blog called Revolution Gray that gives pointers on how to do it, including adjusting your makeup and hair products accordingly.
But I struggle more with giving up being a redhead, which has been part of my identity my entire adult life, than I do with going gray.
What seems like a good time to reassess can also bring us to a screeching halt, energy wise.
If you are assessing EVERYthing too much (if you’re not sure, just ask your spouse or best friend who will happily tell you if you are!), you might find you are only ruminating and getting nowhere fast. A better way to get a grip on whether your life is heading in the right direction is to try a few exercises.
There is so much about visiting New Orleans that feels to me like that moment in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy lands in Oz and her world transforms from black and white to color. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6D8PAGelN8] One of the things that strikes me most is the colorful paint jobs so many of the houses wear. Yes, houses in some other cities have…
To: Antonio Gomez, new owner of the Waterfront Ale House in Brooklyn From: Colleen Newvine, a patron who lives in the neighborhood Dear Antonio, You recently took ownership of an institution in our neighborhood and many of us are holding our breath to see what you do with it. I haven’t been going to the Waterfront for two decades like some of the devoted…
John and I use the shorthand of referring to our “big rocks” — what are the priority items in our lives that we should attend to before anything else? It’s a term we borrowed from this story about putting the big rocks in the jar first or there won’t be room: This post from Zen Habits is a great reminder…
