This time of year often feels like walking a narrow, leaf-strewn bridge between the warmth of Thanksgiving and the bright, jangling chaos of December. Many people leap into the holly-jolly part long before the calendar catches up, but November has always carried a different kind of weight for me. It feels quieter. It feels more sacred, like a month that asks us to slow down and take stock of what we are carrying.
Recipe for Reflection Read More »
Psychiatrist and author Mark Epstein wrote the book Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart.
The title always intrigued me. The book isn’t just for readers who have experienced trauma, grief, or the unraveling of their lives. It’s for learning how to sit with what’s broken. Epstein doesn’t pathologize pain. He honors it and names the sacredness of falling apart as a kind of spiritual practice. Something that may deepen your soul.
Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart Read More »
In La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, the first two days November smell like marigolds and desert sand and sea air. The plaza fills with laughter, candlelight, and men in glorious drag as Catrinas—lace fans, painted faces, and all. My parents lived there for twenty years, and every fall they wandered through the town square, admiring the ofrendas and soaking in that mix of reverence and joy.
Five Things I Learned | from Día de los Muertos Read More »
Holding grief and living life may seem impossible to put together in one sentence. Most people think in terms of one way or another, all or nothing, up or down. We’re not very good at living with ambiguity.
Holding Grief and Living Life Read More »
Earthquakes. Living in California, we all know about the possibility of them happening—you prepare, but when it comes down to it, they shake your world both emotionally and physically.
The Epicenter of Chaos Read More »
