It was my first job out of college, and it was overwhelming. I was twenty-two years old, green, fresh out of school, and scared. The hospital’s Neonatal ICU was a place of great intensity. I can still remember the yelling of orders. “Start an IV ASAP and get that drip going now!” And I’d scramble […]
A first step in a fresh approach to bring a sense of calm into your every day is transforming reality and your relationship to it. Just as I need to delete my cell phone’s voicemails and my computer’s emails, my brain needs to download some space. Disconnecting myself through meditation and breathing, spending this time […]
On a summer trip to Canada, I was stopped in my tracks with the realization of how far my family falls short with our recycling efforts. I opened my friend’s kitchen cupboard to look for the trashcan. Instead of the doublewide I have at my home, her trashcan is the size of a small pail, […]
As mothers, when we choose to dedicate our time and intention to taking care of our selves, the benefits emanate out to everyone we are near. If you are thinking, I don’t know if I can do that, or, putting myself first sounds selfish, let me offer you an example most of us are familiar […]
Taking a deep breath in, and out, not only relaxes me, it allows me to be mindful of the air I breathe–the interdependence, the relationship I hold with my environment. As a nurse and mother of an allergic child, teaching my son to be respectfully aware of his environment and his relationship to it, as […]
Recently, one of the world’s finest violinists played at a Washington, DC Metro station. For nearly an hour during rush hour he played Bach, gloriously. Thousands of people passed by as he played, and hardly a soul paid any attention, save a few children who were pushed to move on. Two days prior, this same […]
In 2003, my family returned to the United States after living abroad for fifteen years. After only a few days in the humid, allergen-laden Houston air, my son Sam had an asthma attack. Luckily, a precautionary “emergency” inhaler quickly dilated the bronchi in his lungs and he recovered. Based on my experience when he was […]
For years, my children and I have played a game whenever we see a FedEx truck. Imbedded in the letters of the logo there is an arrow. To see it, you have to look at the letters in a different way—soften your gaze and see past the letters to find the arrow resting inside. My […]
