Archive

It is easy to forget, in the busyness of the holiday season, that Thanksgiving is about so much more than eating until we’re stuffed, spending hours doing dishes, and then collapsing on the couch. Last night we hosted twenty of my husband’s relatives, whom I happen to really like.  We had people ranging in age from […]

A few days ago I was feeling tired and overwhelmed with too much to do, as I stood in line at the grocery store.  I had been asked by the cashier if I would change lines since he had a “situation” that might take a while.  I changed lines and then noticed that the woman in […]

Twenty-three years ago on October 16th, I walked down the aisle in the gorgeous Stanford Memorial Church, built by my ancestors, with the late afternoon light pouring in through the stained glass windows.  I remember the long, red carpeted aisle with a slope that I walked down, tugging my father– who was beaming proudly– to […]

  I read recently that part of US military training involves teaching what we absolutely need for survival.  The “rule of three” describes a hierarchy of needs, so in a life or death survival situation you can remember what is most important. You can survive only 3 seconds without hope, 3 minutes without oxygen, 3 […]

When I think about the recent shooting at the gay club in Orlando, all I can think of is how often we get it wrong in understanding violence in our country.  Even though it’s true that gay people were targeted this time, three years ago it was school children in Newtown, and 20 years ago […]

Albert Einstein was quoted as saying, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”  I love this quote, because it reminds us, from one of the great geniuses of our time, that it’s up to us  how we perceive […]

Earlier this week, I got to hear a thoughtful speaker, Dr. Richard Weissbourd–Harvard Education School professor and author– talk about how to raise caring, ethical and happy children.  His point was that we are so focused as parents today on our kids’ happiness, that it’s often at the expense of other people.  In addition, we are […]

I had a client once who had been sexually abused for years by her stepfather, and even when she finally told her mother years later, her mom refused to believe her.  And yet, my client was one of the happiest people I’d ever met.  She felt grateful for having survived and felt that she had […]

I was talking with a friend recently about the strange phenomenon these days of really nice people raising bratty and frankly mean kids.  “How is that possible?  Don’t nice people raise nice kids?” my friend asked, perplexed.  I’ll never forget years ago seeing a mom and her four children in a lecture hall with mostly […]