It’s true: I took a day off from the daily blog yesterday. I have the flu. Being sick is a lesson in vulnerability. My mind isn’t clear enough to really make sense. And I wonder if I should show up here. What to report? The report is that I wrote some fine rough drafts at […]
Category: Resources
Snow
I forgot how white the sky becomes when it snows. Today I’m pulling toward rest. The snow feels right: it would be nice to cancel obligations for a week of snow. Yet I know the only obligations really canceled are the ones for kids and teens. How it takes a lot to make the world […]
To Be Well
I ask directions from my life and it points me in wildly different directions: 4 different jobs. Persimmon tea with a hint of lime. Doing what I’m afraid of from IRAs to teaching adults about creativity. When I was going through a rough patch in college, my friend Annie sent me a letter. In it, […]
Anger & Love
It’s too late in the day to be poetic. The minutes have gotten away from me but I still have an urge to keep this promise to myself. So here I am 14 hours after I woke: writing to you. I overslept today. I didn’t do my morning writing right away. I found myself struggling […]
My Safe
A man carries a safe onto a moving van parked in front of my home. We place our important papers into the safe. What important papers do we carry inside of us? Which sentences do we cross off to make better sentences? Sentences that help us become confident enough to do what we want to […]
Shoes
Today at the bookstore, a regular customer came in wearing two different tennis shoes. Well, they were the same brand, but two different colors, clearly from two different pairs. “You’re wearing two different shoes, well, different colors. Did you plan on wearing two different shoes?” I asked. “If you’re asking if it was intentional, yes, […]
Forecast: Stormy Weather
Forecast: Stormy Weather by Nancy Schatz Alton After the storm, I am calm. After the storm: I grow tired of writing about the storm. After the storm, people in the middle of the storm call me. After the storm: I listen to people in the storm. After the storm, I know […]
Thoughts Upon Waking
I miss who you used to be even as I marvel at who you are becoming. This ease of vacation: I’ll miss it. This telling myself it’s too hard: it isn’t true. Making myself take one small step after another is enough to do it. I’ll make sandwiches and string together […]
Stretch
Decades ago, a friend gave me a bookmark that read: “Stretch yourself for greatness and for height.” (George Chapman, perhaps?) Lately I’ve been stretching myself. I’m not taller. And I think this stretching means I have more deadlines. Which means I’m tired. I’m writing this blog before I turn to more work. Prepping for the […]
The Edges of Our Comfort Zones
For work, I’ve been researching learning. Did you know that the deepest learning comes when we are at the edges of our comfort zone? That our brains remember that learning because more neurons are firing? More neurons are firing perhaps because we are kind of freaking out in the uncomfortable space. And I’m saying perhaps […]