Author: seonaid

  • Are You Really Stuck?

    Are you actually stuck, or are you unwilling to pay the price of getting yourself unstuck? (In the literal sense of “finding a place to live,” but also in the metaphorical sense.) Come for a walk with me through the snow on the second day of spring, and I shall consider what to do with…

  • Breathe First, Then Act

    This week’s Tuesday Tuneup addresses the question of motivation and difficult emotions. I have heard a lot of people say essentially: their anger is justified, that letting it go lets the people they are angry at off the hook, and (besides all that), if they didn’t have these difficult emotions, they wouldn’t take any action…

  • Finding the Intelligent Edge

    “Just challenging enough, where you are in no danger of injuring yourself, but you’re a little outside of your comfort zone.” Strategies for taking this principle off the mat and becoming more aware of the point that you are approaching your limits in daily living. Also, backing off at that point.

  • Let Your Life Speak

    This week, I’m adding Saturday Storytime, in which I will make recommendations of books, with excerpts. This week’s book is Let Your Life Speak by Parker J. Palmer. This lovely wee book has been influential in my thinking about callings and vocation, and I think everybody needs a copy on their shelves. Everybody, I tell…

  • You Need Whitespace!

    You need to leave space for things to happen. I know it’s tempting to fill every moment of your day with activity, creating the illusion that you are in charge. You know what is going to happen, in what order, and what the outcome is going to be. Yet thousands of years of wisdom teachings…

  • Resting in Uncertainty

    I find it incredibly difficult to hold space for the amount of pain I’m seeing at the moment. I think it was apropos that I made a blog post last week with drowning as the metaphor.   I fear for the future. I feel like all the knowledge I bothered to acquire in the last…

  • Three Practices for a World in Turmoil

    Three Practices for a World in Turmoil

    Three practices to help you clear grief and find your way back to action. I wish this post weren’t so consistently relevant.

  • Holding onto your Dreams while Drowning

    Holding onto your Dreams while Drowning

    There are times in every life when it feels like you’re drowning. The roof comes off the house and hits the car the same week that your kids start at a new school. You get a phone call from the teacher just before going into a big meeting. Six things break on the car in…

  • Don’t Give People a Veto on your Peace of Mind

    I’m sweeping my kitchen floor, spraying the bathroom with things, filling the sink, throwing laundry into the washing machine. My to-do list says that I’m writing at the moment, but my house has deteriorated while I’ve been working on big projects, and I really want it to be tidy. I even have, “House beautiful” down as…

  • Do One Thing

    As we approach the time of Too Many Things in the Dark of the Year, I suggest that you pick one thing to focus on for the next week – and when you are doing that thing, do only that thing. (This can be as simple as paying attention to the first few bites of…

  • When Things Don’t Go As Planned

    This week, my Tuesday Tuneup has been delayed to Wednesday due to technical difficulties. As a result, I have recorded a new video titled, “When Things Don’t Go As Planned.” Yesterday’s video will be released next Tuesday… if all goes according to plan. (Spoiler – I don’t recommend running around in circles or panicking. Includes,…

  • Your (My) True Calling

    I had so much success with last year’s projects prompted by Quest 2016, that I’ve decided to do it again. Join us at http://quest2017.com. Today’s prompt is from Krista Tippett (1). As the host of On Being, she challenges us regularly to consider the mysteries of human existence. “What is your vocation, your sense of callings…