Nourished Inside and Out

“Surrender is the ultimate sign of strength and the foundation for a spiritual life.” - Debbie Ford We recently took a trip to the ocean. If you need a moment to remember you are not in control, spend a bit gazing into the ocean. It has a way of reminding me of how magnificent life is and how there is so much more to the world than our perspective often allows. There is something magical about the waves washing up through your feet, and quickly pulling back, disappearing ba

“Sometimes you make choices in life and sometimes choices make you.” – Gayle Forman, If I Stay My daughter has been watching a relatively new show, and she came to me the other day with quite an insightful awareness. She said to me, “Mom, I noticed everyone on this show looks a little too perfect and I don’t feel good about myself when I watch it.” Holy cow. Seriously, it took me a bit by surprise how she was able to articulate something I know happens to me, yet still get

"I'm not interested in whether you've stood with the great; I'm interested in whether you've sat with the broken." - Sue Fitzmaurice It is east at times easy to be drawn to the glitz and the glamour of the people, places and things around us. It can liven our soul to feel at the center of activity and attention. Inherently, there is nothing wrong with that. We just cannot ignore those that are hurting. It can be uncomfortable, even awkward digging down deep with someone

Today is International Overdose Awareness Day*. It’s not something we talk about in social circles on the playgrounds, or while waiting in line at the grocery store. It just isn’t. And yet, here is a day, dedicated to the awareness of this now epidemic. An overdose is defined by Merriam Webster Online as, “an excessive quantity or amount”. It doesn’t say anything about your color, your gender, your economic status or your level of education. The disease of addiction doe

Image credit Shutterstock "Sometimes your belief system is really your fears attached to the rules." - Shannon Alder Years ago, I used to watch the Food Network and Rachael Ray would be cooking on her show and be using some sort of tomato marinara sauce. She would go on and on about how she could never understand why people would buy jarred marinara when it was so easy to make it. It would drive me nuts because I would say to myself, “because they don’t have time to make h

“How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.” – Wayne Dyer Geez, I have heard this so many times, it is quite annoying. Ironically, it is most often heard from my inner voice reminding me to get out of my own bubble assuming everything is about me or done because of me. And it’s not. Raising children for me has been such a blessing, as I feel I get to grow up again in sort of a way, and see the world through new eyes. The lessons often come faster than I ca

“Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it is called the present.” ― Alice Morse Earle The holiday season is upon us, and the to-do lists keep getting longer and longer, with pressure increasing. My inbox continues to ‘ding’ with notifications of Santa visits throughout shops and venues around town, not to be missed because guarantees are high for the absolute merriest of times. Then, there are the distractions of the sales, coupons, and n

“You have to meet people where they are, and sometimes you have to leave them there.” — Iyanla Vanzant We were driving in the car (where everything happens these days), and there was a person who was intent on staying on my tail, pushing me to go above and beyond the speed limit. They obviously had somewhere they wanted to be, and in their eyes, I was hindering that goal. The kids all had their opinions of how to handle the speedster behind us. Go faster. Go slower. Yell

“We are all so desperate to be understood, we forget to be understanding.” – Beau Taplin I recently attended a screening of a documentary telling the story of those that have found themselves unhoused, or commonly referred to as homeless. It was a very emotional screening, depicting these individuals as humans with stories. And to that, we can all relate. I mean we are all humans with stories. As I sat in the room full of people who were attending this screening, I grew a

“When one door closes, another door opens, but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.” - Alexander Graham Bell My newly turned 4-year-old had an absolute meltdown the other day. It was over shoes. I mean, generally speaking you could fill in the blank as to the subject matter and the tears would still fall with the same ferocity. But this time, it was over a pair of Anna (from Frozen) boots that no