Am I burdened? Or am I blessed? I have a house to clean. I have children to shuttle around. I have a job that needs to be attended to. I have money that I am not managing as well as I could. I have tons friends I just can’t seem to keep up with. There […]
How to be Present to Beauty: A Memory
All I wanted was a little peace and quiet. A moment alone. I longed for the kind of happiness that a little self-imposed solitude might bring. And I had it all set up just as I had envisioned it: A cup of tea in my hands. A novel (enthusiastically recommended by a friend) sitting temptingly […]
How To Be Relaxed: Don’t give in to “Prepositional Panic”
I suffer intermittently from a widely suffered yet rarely diagnosed syndrome. It’s called Prepositional Panic. I thought I might describe the symptoms to you so that in case you suffer from the same ailment, you might seek treatment for your symptoms. Those who suffer from Prepositional Panic might find that they suffer from a […]
How To Be Real: Be Present to Life’s Sweetness
I have a bad habit of knitting my brow when I am lost in thought. One day, a few years ago, I was sitting and watching my son playing Legos in the living room. I was gazing absently at his play, but my mind was lost in some tangled problem I was trying to […]
How to Be Aware: Take note of what goes right
“So, how was your day?” It’s a question my husband James and I have asked of one another every evening for seventeen years. I am sure it is a question that’s asked millions of times every day. Spouses and partners ask one another as they cook their evening meals. Friends check in with each other. […]
Be Mindful: Do the dishes just to do the dishes
“Washing the dishes is at the same time a means and an end; that is, not only do we do the dishes in order to have clean dishes, we also do the dishes just to do the dishes, to live fully in each moment while washing them.” – Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hanh It was […]
How To Be Transformative: Turn your troubles into treasure
Our troubles are like compost. From all outward appearances, they’re unsightly and smelly. We’d like to shove them away into a dark place where we’ll never have to look at them again. But just as compost will yield rich soil if we are willing to let it be — if we are willing to care […]
How To Be Real: You don’t have to settle in Cynicsville
Imagine, if you will, two towns: Cynicsville and Pollyannatown. Two towns beset by troubles large and small. And yet the residents of these towns look at their troubles in decidedly different ways. The residents of Cynicsville feel they’ve seen it all. No matter what the turn of events – good or bad — they […]
How To Be Celebratory: The release of our new video, “Sticky Notes”
I saw this video in my head long before it made it’s premier on YouTube. The actors. The expressions. The movements. I knew just how it would unfold. Just how it would be paced. I wanted to make a short film that would illustrate what it means to have a “To Be List.” And with […]
How To Be Realistic: Don’t just see the big picture. See the small picture, too.
Sometimes when we lose perspective, we are encouraged by friends and family to look at the “big picture”. And of course there are times when we really need to “zoom out” and see that the problems we are having — problems that appear to be so enormous and threatening — are in the larger scheme […]
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