Eight months ago when I announced I was going to run 30 miles on my 30th birthday to a friend she asked how long I could currently run. I chocked out 2.5 through my laughter over the absurdity of my…
This is My Story
In one of my earliest memories I am sitting alone on my parents’ living room floor, the gray, wall-to-wall rug is flattened beneath my tiny legs, the TV is playing a show which I do not remember. Sitting there, I…
Things Will Get Better
March 17, 2014: I pushed myself into a belly-on-the-wall handstand despite the fear screaming through my body. I wanted to prove something to myself and I thought pushing past doubt in a yoga pose would help me to do the…
Gratitude for the Snow
Whether you’ve been following the weather reports from afar or are living through the frigid, snow-filled winter in Massachusetts, you’ll understand why the widespread complaining is warranted. Snow mounds higher than street signs, narrow, shovel-wide pathways snaking through the walls…
Learning to Listen
December 2007. I woke up and heard the sound of ringing in my ears, the kind that comes from having been at a concert or spending the night in a bar with the music blaring beyond loud.
Love, Religion, and the Mountain of Despair
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.
Stop Having Fun
Maybe you didn’t hear the message explicitly, but at some point in your life you were probably asked to stop having fun. The result, an adulthood characterized by working long hours, barely breaking for lunch, returning home at the end…
The Trouble with Online Dating
Months after my former husband moved out I booked a retreat at the beautiful Omega Institute in New York, bought a new slippery black dress, and declared I was ready to move on. One of the first nights there I…
On (Not) Writing 50,000 Words During National Novel Writing Month
Participating in National Novel Writing Month (November) has been a challenge I’ve wanted to attempt for years. Inevitably I’d stumble upon a link or article somewhere that referenced NaNoWriMo at some point in the final days when most people were…
Baking Bread
There are few things more welcoming than sinking my floured hands into warm dough and working it over and around until it forms a ball that is ready to rise.