7 Things to Practice to Embrace My 7-year-old Self I recently completed my 49th trip around the sun. For those who like to play with numbers (as I do), it’s my “7 squared” birthday. Remember being a 7-year-old kid? I feel like it’s that time of life when you can just soak in the full glory of the world. You’re in the prime of childhood, mastering skills like reading, ‘rithmatic, and riding bikes. Hard times come in the form of scraped knees; things that can be repaired by band-aids. No one can stop you from taking on the world, at Read more

Letting Go (With a Tribute to Mary Oliver) Summer is fleeting. Last night I felt a chill that had an all too familiar crispness to it. The couple sitting next to my partner and I at the brewery remarked on the changing alchemy of light and air. I’m conflicted by these changes. There is a part of me that is looking forward to the coziness of cooler months, curled up under a blanket with my knitting, with a cup of hot tea by my side. At the same time, it’s all coming at me so very fast. Summer, this year, Read more

Changing the Geometry of Success What if we looked at changing the geometry of success? Look up the word “success” in the dictionary, and you’ll find some version of the following definition:  The accomplishment or achievement of one’s goals. The favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors. These definitions frustrate me, because they imply that success is linear. Going back to high school geometry, I’d say that success as it is defined above would be categorized as a line segment. You have a starting point when you set a goal. You have an endpoint when you achieve it. You’re Read more

Opt Out of the Rat Race: 10 Simple Ways to Reduce Consumption, Save Money, & Build Community Raise your hand if you’ve worried about your finances in the past year. If you didn’t raise your hand, that’s great! As Forrest Gump would say - one less thing. However, I’m betting that a lot of people reading this did raise their hand. We’re hearing a lot right now about the economy. Prices of just about everything have increased, and many of us, myself included, are itching to get out and experience life, especially after the past few years of anxiety and Read more

Acceptance - A Lesson from the Appalachian Trail I have just returned from my ninth year of walking the Appalachian Trail. This year’s section was 115 miles in southern Pennsylvania, traveled on foot over the course of 10 days, with everything I need for survival and comfort strapped to my back. The challenge of hiking this trail over the course of the past nine years has broken me down and rebuilt me, forever altering my life outlook. It’s difficult to put all of what I feel into words, although I did try in my last post An Ode to the Read more

An Ode to the Appalachian Trail I’m preparing for my ninth year of section hiking the Appalachian Trail, or the AT as it is commonly referred to by the hiking community. As I assemble various bags of oatmeal, snacks, and dehydrated meals, and attempt to stuff my sleeping bag and tent into my cavernous backpack, I am both contemplative and grateful. I stand by the statement that the AT has changed my life. I owe so much of who I am today to the challenges, triumphs, and camaraderie that I have experienced by walking along this four foot wide path Read more

Three Gifts: How spending time in the natural world impacts our well-being So many voices that enter my world these days are expressing the same basic sentiment: spending time in the natural world has a positive impact on our lives and well-being. I experience this myself, whether I’m sitting on my porch listening to birds, walking around the block looking for signs of spring, or hiking in the mountains inhaling the scent of the balsam trees. Being outside calms me, helps me to sort through my thoughts, and just generally brings on feelings of happiness and contentment. I’m curious about Read more