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A new way to go on
“It is impossible to go on as you were before, so you must go on as you never have.” ~Cheryl Strayed Whether we’re talking about a death, a major illness, a job loss, relocation, divorce, retirement, or any other major change, we have to find a new way “to go on,” as author Cheryl Strayed reminds us. During the last years of my widowed mother’s life, I had to manage everything from her medical appointments to her daily routines while she suffered a memory loss disease. Our lifelong roles as mother and daughter were thrown into reverse. For a long time, I struggled emotionally with the profound shift in our…
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One day at a time
“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’” ~Mary Anne Radmacher Did you make any resolutions (or set new intentions) for the year? Now that we’re nearly halfway through January, the novelty of a healthy diet or exercise program might be wearing off. It’s not always easy to keep the momentum that fueled us from the start. Sticking with any goal takes courage and optimism. Along these lines, a reader of this blog recently wrote to tell me that she likes the “one day at a time” approach to living well. She asked if I had…
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Circus talk
“The monkey on your back may be gone, but the circus is still in town.” ~~Vanita Oelschlager I’ve always been drawn to the colorful imagery and folklore of the circus. When I was a kid, I’d often hear adults joke about running off to “join the circus” when real life wasn’t working out as planned. But over the years I’ve come to think of life itself as a three-ring circus — especially when I’m feeling overwhelmed by too much activity or drama. But as today’s quote reminds me, even when I’ve resolved one issue (or pulled one monkey off my back), it doesn’t mean everything else will be perfect from…
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Room for potential
“We spend January 1st walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives…not looking for flaws, but for potential.” – Ellen Goodman, American journalist Last week I read an article suggesting that we consider renaming our New Year’s resolutions “intentions” — and to forgive ourselves if we fall short of our goals later on. But I think Ellen Goodman has a better spin on the whole resolution thing. Instead of simply correcting our bad habits or repairing our shortcomings, why not explore…
