Blog
Inviting Joy and Wonder to Help Start Something New
I know I’ve been writing non-stop about fear lately. That’s because I was prepping for, and now am teaching GSSD. But mostly it’s because I am learning a joyful and wondering way to be TERRIFIED. You see, I’m taking all kinds of risks these days with...
You’re afraid, I’m afraid, let’s talk about it over the apples
My daughter Lillian and I often share our fears. We do it by text these days as she lives in Seattle and I’m in Colorado (for new readers, my girl is 25 and launched into her first career in pediatric mental health). We used to do in the car, where kids often talk to...
How to Stop the Doubting Yourself / Quitting/ Looking for a Magic Solution Cycle – Today
I can’t stand it! Too many amazingly talented people whose gifts the world desperately needs are stuck in a debilitating cycle of self-doubt, quitting, then looking for a magic solution. It’s keeping too many of us from getting what we most want. It’s blocking us from...
Overcoming Fear: How to Fear-Proof Your Day
Wonder if you need to work on overcoming fear? Does any of this sound familiar? You plan to work on your side-hustle and find yourself knee-deep in organizing your books? You decide to cut back on expenses so you can work less and create more, but then find...
Stop Waiting for the Universe to give you Permission
I love synchronicity and coincidences and feeling like I’m on the right path as much as the next person. I know when I am pushing and need to back off, take a break, wait for my mind to calm down and for my next steps to show up. I believe there is so much more than...
When You Feel Powerless
For those of us in the U.S., this week brought a double wave of horror with back to back mass shootings of unspeakable violence. Of course, we are filled with rage over more innocent lives lost to hate, stupidity, greed, and the rise of white supremacy. Of course, we...
What’s Pleasure Got to Do with Rewriting Anything?
Our theme at the weekly Oasis for July has been Pleasure and Freedom. I usually take each theme to heart, reading about it, cogitating on it, turning it over in my mind and heart. I was rewriting my book (it’s due this Friday to my editor!!) and I was getting...
ME AND MY GIRL
I wanted to share a picture of my daughter Lillian and me during her spontaneous visit to see Bob and me this week. Lilly lives in Seattle. She stayed in the PacificNorthWest after we moved to Colorado four years ago, as did my bonus son Aidan. It’s the only thing...
Go Big and Go Analog
A simple idea has revolutionized my writing life and made writing my book so much easier. It does not involve any of the weird writing productivity rituals you read about in writing books and blogs. I’m not writing naked tied to my chair until my husband Bob releases...
Cultivating Faith In Your Creative Work
I recently finished the first draft of a new book, Why Bother? Discovering the Desire to Find What’s Next and after I finished celebrating, and experiencing a little postpartum sadness as well, I reflected how much I learned writing this draft. I think these...
Desire + enoughness = truly satisfying progress!
An important idea in my new book (coming next spring!) is if you don’t declare what is enough for you when it comes to what you desire, you’ll never be satisfied. We’ve been exploring this at the weekly Oasis where we practice showing up for our lives with intention,...
Desire is the ultimate magic-motivator
What if creating more of what you want this season has nothing to do with willpower and instead everything to do with desire? Did you know when you tap into what you want and focus on the feeling vs. the outcome, you release neuromodulators that make it easier to take...
Who or what is eating your time?
I loved “stepping out of time” in yesterday’s audio. I’ve started to make this a regular practice, especially when I find myself with time to spare in, say, the doctor’s waiting room. Today we’re going to get current with our time monsters. Time monsters are things we...
Allow me to surprise you
Now that you have created a list of what you’re hungry for and you’ve peeked at your existing commitments (that was in yesterday’s video that you can quickly watch right now if you missed it), and maybe doing that you got a little tetchy or grumpy… Maybe you don’t...
Summer (or winter) needs you!
The impetus behind this mini-course of support that starts today was hearing myself describe to my husband Bob my plans for this summer. I told him that I’m going to train for a “heavy” trail half marathon, go on a three-week, unplugged UK vacation, hang out with...
Doing and efforting are very different things
I notice that whenever I have a lot going on and care deeply about what I am doing ( like finishing the first draft of my new book, I’m almost there! wow!), I start to make an effort. I tense my jaw, hold my pen tighter, type like I’m attacking the keyboard, talk...
Why celebrating small things can change the big things
When you celebrate something you did, you fire positive emotions that teach your pliable, sweet brain: I can trust myself to keep my commitments! It feels good to take action! I did my scary sh*t and nothing ate me! And when you don’t acknowledge what you did,...
Fear causes contraction & other health lessons
I got a clean bill of health last Thursday. One doc said, “You have boring lab work and boring joints” while another said, “We use a scale of 24 and you are a 2.” I’m so happy to be boring! After I celebrated, soaking in the Spring feeling of my good health...
The Wisdom of Beginning
I tell writers at my writing retreats: "Don’t confuse beginning with the beginning. Beginning is just starting. It has nothing to do with knowing what the opening of your piece, what your piece is ultimately about, or even where it will end up." Thinking you...
On working with troubling health news
This week I got some possibly scary health news. Nope, it’s not cancer or anything life-threatening, but it brought about one of those “holy shit!” moments; the first I’ve had. It’s also complicated with multiple physical things possibly converging to make me have odd...
What I’ve Been Reading
I’m overdue to share what I’ve enjoyed in my eclectic reading life. Pick and choose what calls to you. Hope you find new books and ideas! ESSAYS, INTERVIEWS, AND SMALL BITS ONLINE A Neuroscientist on Love and Learning: An Interview with Richard DavidsonBecause love is...
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