The mouse roared, the phoenix rose, and Cinderella snapped

“Deadly and graceful, poised and ruthless. Quiet and cunning. A queen offers her hand to be kissed, and can form it into a fist while smiling the whole damn time.” ~ E. Acevedo It happens. And not when you’d expect. Not when enough is enough. Because for many, the territory of enough-ness keeps being expanded…

What is around you matters

Granted there are dogs living in Chernobyl. And we admire Viktor Frankl’s message about dealing with unavoidable suffering, along with all the other messages out there about courage and personal choice in the face of adversity. We also understand that our ‘inner world’ needs to be balanced and well managed for us to function adequately,…

Let’s talk a bit about narcissism

If you’re a fan of Succession like me, you too are enjoying this brilliant study of narcissism, from Logan’s malignant version to Connor’s mix of covert and communal version, to Roman’s vulnerable version. And of course, all the other characters, one more dysfunctional than the next. (If you’re not watching, get to it!) These days,…

Resistance is futile. (and really bad for you)

“What you resist persists”. ~ C. G. Jung A sample would be nice. You know, to teach us healthy habits and give some encouragement. But the universe isn’t always that good at marketing strategies. Which makes you wonder…but that’s another story. The idea is that if we could somehow get a taste of what it’s…

Again, it’s all and always about the love

“I have not fallen in love with a body, but merely a soul, and that has made all the difference.” ~ Christopher Poindexter A favorite post, as true today, after so much time, as it was when I first wrote it. I didn’t buy tulips or champagne for Thanksgiving, but different flowers and some Coke….

Law of attraction: conundrums and a hack

“Beware of what you set your heart upon…for it shall surely be yours.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Beware is the key word. Because you will likely get what you think you want, only you might be overwhelmed by unexpected consequences. The greatest thing will show up and you won’t have a clue how to keep…

Action creates motivation: small steps to radical change

Change is hard. Really hard. It’s easy to tell ourselves or each other to just take a leap of faith. Leaping could land us in a lava pit. Or worse, a pit we know nothing about. Because unlike in school where we get the lesson before the test, we’ve all learned by now that life…

A reminder: you are not a pretzel

What a relief! No really, it is, isn’t it? Very liberating. This realizing once and for all that you don’t have to twist yourself into a pretzel to be loved and treated well. Some realize it early on. For others, it takes a bit of living to not only realize it intellectually, but also believe…

Love is not enough

Love is clearly not enough. We’ve lived this harsh truth, seen it around, and relationship gurus remind us of it all the time. The very idea of romance these days (or perhaps since forever) doesn’t seem to lead us to a space of hope, joy and enthusiasm for a happy life. Quite the opposite. It…

Old dogs can always learn new tricks – and should

A short story about a cat, not a dog. When we rescued Freddy, a beautiful grey cat who later turned out to be a Russian blue, he had been hanging around in the lobby of an apartment building for weeks. He would walk a few steps and then lie down. Apparently, to at least the…