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The Starting Point
I’ve been thinking of what to write for a few days now. I find myself growing increasingly silent. Some voices need to be heard and I feel the need to do more listening than speaking. The horror of what happened to George Floyd, the explosion of protests, and the voices of people collectively shouting …. ENOUGH … combined with the pandemic, political landscape, and the historical reality of systemic racism, have left me muddling through the days and getting lost in whirling and conflicting thoughts. I am deeply sad and often very angry. I want to help but don’t know how. Being the “fixer” I was born and conditioned to be…
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On Finding Goodness
It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever-approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility…
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What’s in a Day
A couple of days ago I was listening to Tara Brach as an intro to my morning meditation. In her talk, she referred to RAIN: Cultivating Mindfulness in Difficult Times; a four-step process we can use when we find ourselves in the grip of difficult emotions. When we can’t see the forest for the trees, RAIN can help us cut through the stress and confusion by: Recognizing what is happening. Allowing what is to be. Investigating our experience, gently without judgment. Nurturing what needs to be nurtured, with kindness. As I listened to Tara Brach walking me through the four steps, I found myself at a place of honest recognition and…
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On Self-Compassion
I woke up Monday morning (last Monday that is) feeling energized and ready to go. I had plans for the week ahead. In addition to the usual tasks, I was going to write, reach out to some friends and family members, and begin setting the foundation for new projects. My intentions were good and I had the energy and inspiration to match them. It didn’t exactly go as planned. It’s now a week later. As I sit down to write this, I look back and wonder where the days went. My mood began to deteriorate from the get-go. It was a rainy and cold week. Neal and the girls were frustrated.…
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On Resilience
These days I often catch myself contemplating resilience. I think about it as I observe the variety of responses to the pandemic and the restrictions put in place. Times like these bring out the best and the worst in us. I watch my reaction as the days begin to blend into each other. I find myself reflecting on my years as a child and a teenager in Greece. Memories of my parents, family members, teachers, and neighbors sharing their experiences during World War II are vivid. The aftermath of the war defined my generation after all. I grew up at a time of cultural and political upheaval. I watched people persevere…
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The Eye of the Storm
We're being hit by a powerful storm. We're asked to take cover and wait it out. We're trying to care for our family and keep healthy, while working from home. We're trying really hard to keep our perspective and maintain hope. Staying calm, sane, and present with ourselves in the midst of chaos is not easy.
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The New Normal
This morning I asked the girls … “Hey girls, what do you think I should write about today?” Elinor turned to me and said, “Write about normalcy. I keep thinking that when I go back to New York, life will not be the way it was before I left. I used to walk to work every morning and I’d see familiar faces, the same young people walking to work too. Some of us will not have jobs by the time we get back and how is that going to play out? And, what about some of my favorite places? Will they survive? How is the new normal going to be? I…
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Breathing Through the Storm
Only a few months ago, our family entered yet another phase of endings and new beginnings. Our twin daughters, having graduated college, found jobs, moved out of the family home, and launched their new lives in earnest. Three weeks ago, both of them, having being asked to work from home, made the trip back to the family homestead to weather the storm. Suitcases are lying around and a dining table covered in laptops and paperwork. One of them begins the day with an early video conference call, at the end of which she’s joined at the table by her sister, who also begins to work. Neal too is working from home,…
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Here. Now.
Today is the first day of Spring. Only this day of new beginnings is like no other that I remember. We are in the middle of a global epidemic. The world is taken over by a crisis and we’re all trying to muddle through a situation we hardly understand. There’s fear, anxiety, panic, and information overload. There’s also denial and indifference. Supermarket shelves are empty and human nature is laid bare for all to see. There’s the good, the bad, and the ugly. I was in a store yesterday staring at empty shelves when a young employee came to see if I could find what I needed. No, I said, the…
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Working From Home
I don’t know about working from home, she said. I don’t know if I can be as productive. It’s going to be an adjustment. We spoke the day she found out that her office would be closing for two weeks, because of the coronavirus epidemic, and she would have to work from home. Hearing her apprehension made me realize how challenging it must be to start working from home, not because of choice, but because you have to. Not only that, but you’re asked to work from home because of an epidemic, during a time of chaos, confusion, and uncertainty. When I decided to leave corporate, launch my coaching practice, and…
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Winter Meditation
As we started walking, in silence, gentle rain falling, soft ice crunching underneath our feet, my eyes rested on the lake across the path. The surface was like glass, fog hovering and mixing with everything, adding a sense of mystery to the landscape, the bare trees reflecting on the surface of the water, their reflection still and silent, mixed with mist and grey. We continued walking along the lakeshore and slowly we ascended towards a meadow where birdhouses stood on poles. The ground was muddy and icy at places. Grateful for my new winter boots, I did not try to avoid the muddy puddles or the icy patches. I felt like…
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Breathe in – Breathe out
Today is this rare occasion when I find myself home alone. It’s a scorcher of a day! Still, I decided to sit outside, a stack of books next to me on the table, phone put away, a glass of iced coffee. I pick up the first book, Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh. I haven’t read this in a while and given how I’ve been feeling lately, I need the reminder. The first chapter … Breathe! You Are Alive and within the first few pages the reminder for Conscious Breathing. Breathe In, Breathe Out, Breathe In, Breathe Out, Breathe In, Breathe Out! “Recognize your in-breath as an in-breath and…
