Growing with gratitude for life's challenges
Explosive, sometimes irrational, anger is a steady companion of addiction. Anyone who has lived with or been an addict will recognize the pattern played out in the pages of Mishka Shubaly’s memoir : I Swear I’ll Make It Up To You. Shubaly holds nothing back in the telling of his story, subtitled: A Life On […]
Read MoreOriginally posted on Thriving Under Pressure:
Smile like you’re changing the world. Because you are. 🌸 We often think of changing of the world as some great big, grand gesture. Performed on stage with millions of people watching. When in fact it’s just you and me (and 7 billion others). Smiling, connecting, caring, and loving.…
“You’re abandoning me for the summer? Is that what you’re telling me?” I reel at my mother’s response when I tell her we have parked the motor home at the lake for the summer season. This is the place she always goes to: how it affects her and I feel the talons of guilt closing […]
Read More“I can’t process your application with the information I’ve been given,” the woman on the phone is officious, likely hates her job, I theorize. “Your doctor has only sent me four medical reports; there is not enough here to support an inability to work.” I might have guffawed at this. “I can barely manage day-to-day […]
Read MoreI’m waiting in the RV for my husband to finish shopping and drive us away. This is how a recent dream begins. For over thirty years now, I have been recording and working with my dreams as a means to personal growth. Often, where the dream takes place establishes context. For me, currently disabled and […]
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Yours truly ventured out to an open mic, with the support of two of dear friends. Despite how unwell I was feeling, my companions arranged for me to read my poems before I could retreat. This was only my second visit to an open mic poetry session, and I decided to read a personal […]
Read MoreTale as old as time, True as it can be, Barely even friends, Then somebody bends, Unexpectedly I awaken every morning with a song playing in my head, like an internal radio that self tunes. Typically, it is a line or two which follows me throughout my day: a personal theme song, I like to […]
Read MoreWearing a bright yellow taffeta dress, a sash of satin ribbons at the waist and flowing with swirling layers, my granddaughter arrives for the movie. We’ve been trying to get in to see Beauty and the Beast for weeks now and finally secured tickets. “Well look at you!” I exclaim, arms open to receive her […]
Read MoreThe challenge, when dealing with a chronic illness – in my case ME/CFS – is staying positive. Momentary improvements in health are toppled by extreme crashes. It’s like living in an eddy where, every once a while, the current quiets and it feels as if there might be an escape, and then the weather shifts […]
Read MoreI keep dreaming about young men: confidant, seductive, virile young men. In my dreams, they cozy up to me, offer promises of love, and always, I remember who I am – a dried up old woman condemned to disability – and wake up…reluctantly. Thing is, men have always been a mystery to me, like a […]
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One Woman's Quest II 