As feet hit the ground awareness starts to filter in. A sip of water, teeth brush and splash of water on your face. Birds are calling to one another. Light is gaining strength illuminating what’s in the room and,more importantly, the hope of a new day. The smell of coffee wafts from the machine activating … Read more
All that remained was a packaged hazelnut cookie. From another trip it was five cans of sardines, smelly and tasty. There was a small hand-painted bowl from the Chateau region of France and a ceramic mini-platter from Tuscany. A bottle of Spanish olive oil safely packed in our luggage and savored for months once home. … Read more
As much as we might poke fun at our default conversational topic, The Weather, it’s a logical “Go To”. We live in a natural world and as a friend recently suggested, it’s almost instinctual to check the daily temperatures. With climate change creating havoc around the world, we’re also much more aware of the weather’s … Read more
Leaving home feels so different than returning. Both have challenges and rewards. There’s nothing normal about the day right before leaving or conversely the last day of a trip. Our minds begin to anticipate the change. Sleep is restless. Emotions are mixed. Caught unawares, we’re readying ourselves for a transition. Life is about to be … Read more
Yes, traveling can be exhausting. We want to figure out where to eat breakfast, how to get from the airport to the hotel and around the town, purchase tickets to the top sights, procure dinner reservations etc…lots of logistics.Then, it’s the little things, the small inconveniences that remind us we’re in a different country and … Read more
Remnants, little messes, of a trip sprinkle our home, inconvenient piles of receipts, phone chargers, small change, and sight seeing brochures. They represent small, grateful monuments to happy memories. After traveling to Spain and Portugal we’re just not ready to store our reminiscences away. What vignettes will stand out? What will we remember from this journey? … Read more
Already in this New Year, we’re hyper-focused on a project, caught up in a massive “to do” list or just without energy for social situations. Yet opportunities for meaningful conversation are resplendent despite lifestyles. Nothing to talk about? Not true! In our spinning world, there’s so much to learn about one another. Lackluster feelings trap … Read more
Where To? This is a common question at the start of a new year; although it’s often easier to ask the question than answer it. Shortly after the year begins, however, with the twists and turns of our lives, we shift to reminding ourselves that “Life Is a Journey”, both allegorically and literally. Where To? What … Read more
Sometimes we go through tough times in a relationship made worse by bad things said between two people or not. We don’t like our manager, for example. Differences seem irreconcilable. There’s little dialog. Yet if reconciling feels right to us, it is possible to find a new beginning. In a working relationship we need to especially keep the … Read more
It feels aggravating, even rude, to be told, “Take a breath”, “Calm down”, “Chill”! Even so… the request during a heated conversation, in whatever form, is often spot on! We need to calm down. Our mind’s perception rarely provides a full picture, especially if there’s tension. If we take a moment to quiet ourselves, even … Read more