For several years I worried a lot about protecting an image, but today I have understood that the image cannot be preconceived. ShakiraOver at Maureen's 'All Art Friday' blog today at, Writing Without Paper, she poses a question that artist M.K. Guth will ask at a collaborative art event she is creating, "Ties of Protection and Safekeeping". "What is worth protecting?"A good question.At the Free Online Dictionary, 'protect' is defined as 'to defend from trouble, harm, attack, etc.' It can als... Read Full Story

If nothing every changed, there would be no butterflies. Unknown It is a miracle she is alive. I wasn't supposed to be able to get pregnant. Before her conception, I'd had two ectopic pregnancies. Half a tube was left. She found the point of entry and the miracle of Alexis was conceived.That was almost 24 years ago. Yesterday, I stood at the airport with C.C. and my sister, J.T. waving good-bye to Alexis as she passed through security and walked towards the gate where the jet awaited that wou... Read Full Story

So let's be honest with ourselves and not take ourselves too serious, and never condemn the other fellow for doing what we are doing every day, only in a different way. Will Rogers I have a prayer I use in those moments where I want to scream at the other driver, curse the slow teller or trip up the guy walking in front of me, cellphone to his ear, blasting the intimate details of his latest business coup to the world, "Bless them. Strengthen me."I admit it. I have cut off drivers. Held up t... Read Full Story

Perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us. Rainer Maria RilkeWhen I was a little girl my father used the strap to punish me. I hated it. And I hated him in those moments. It was a dichotomy. I was a little girl who loved her father. How could two such diametrically opposed emotions exist in the same body? The presence of hate in love... Read Full Story

Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake-up somebody. Henry Wadsworth LongfellowWhen I was married I spent an inordinate amount of time knocking at the gate of my husband's heart. I wanted, desperately, for him to see me, hear me, even become me. And all my knocking increased his fear of the very thing I wanted, intimacy.In time, I grew weary and quit knocking at his door. I went in search of other doors, other... Read Full Story

The heart has eyes which the brain knows nothing of. Charles H. PerkhurstI had to give a presentation in Banff (a mountain resort an hour west of the city) today. Alexis came with me for the drive -- and maybe even to add her commentary on my presentation.As we drove westward, dawn lurked in the eastern sky waiting for night to tire of the darkness. Snow covered the ground, a white blanket eerily covering the world around us.Alexis and I chatted as we drove, deep conversation. I reminded myse... Read Full Story

I am engaged in an online conversation at Global Mindshift on The Art of Listening. As part of the conversation, we were asked to watch two short videos on YouTube. One with Professor Jacob Needleman and the other an interview from 1974 with Krishnamurti. I watched both videos and was intrigued with what both had to say. But even more so, I was amazed by me mind as I watched them.Time to tell on myself! As I was listening to Krishnamurti's interview I caught my mind wandering. It was thinking... Read Full Story

We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves. Tom Robbins So, It's True Confessions time. You know, that point on this journey where I leap up, wave my hand in the air and scream, I've got a confession. I'm a cross-dressing, pseudo pinko, ultra-liberal card carrying SOB who cheated on my dog and stole the kitty litter to give to the rat next door and.... ooops! Wrong show. This is not Jerry Sprung Loose on the Cyber Wave.Okay, but I do ha... Read Full Story

I've found that when I make a good play and take my pitcher off the hook, it's just natural for me to feel better than if I made a flashy play that doesn't do anything except make me look good for the grandstands. It works the same way off the ball field, too. Doing a good turn for a neighbor, a friend, or even a stranger gives me much more satisfaction than doing something that helps only myself. It's as if all people were my teammates in this world and things that make me closer to them are... Read Full Story

Know thyself. Socrates Some mornings, I awake and wonder what to write. What to say. How to access my mind on that delicate rope of possibility that connects it to my heart. Some mornings, to awaken to 'the flow', the collective force of energy through which I believe all things flow, I begin with the statement, "I am lost. I have forgotten who I am and why I came here."I am lost. At a loss for words. Bereft of thoughts. Not a clue. No idea. Nada.Or, I am lost. An empty vessel of possibili... Read Full Story