focus

Wake up with gratitude

We have all heard plenty about the benefits of gratitude.  How thinking about those things that you are grateful for can shift you out of a negative mindset into a positive one. I’ve practiced daily gratitude in the past by writing down 3 things I’m grateful for in the margins

Pause…..reflect

It’s the end of the year—that time where we pause for reflection on our wins and losses. We think about the goals we didn’t achieve and give ourselves a little grace because in a few days we have an opportunity for a fresh start. “I’m going to do it, this

finding light over darkness

What is the real meaning of Diwali? Just a token celebrating of good over evil with the lamps and festivities, or the illuminating of the darkness of the mind and compassionate action? As I lit the lamps in my home this year, for the first time I took a moment

The starting point

A starting point. You know how all of us have that image of that open highway stretched out to infinity before you, beckoning to a future somewhere out on that horizon?  All that you will become lies out there. In my twenties, I was an idealistic young woman with stars

The world in stitches

2020 was the year I took on cross-stitch again.  I had done a lot of it a few years ago but then most of my stitching was mainly black work. Cross-stitch is making a huge come back.  I have heard of so many people who stitched years ago that are