Still Growing

February 10, 2026.Reading time 1 minute.

People pleasing is a trauma response. This statement made me stop and pause. I’ve been on a mission lately to break out of the cycle of people pleasing, and this is one revelation that I somehow missed. “It’s part of fawning,” my therapist explains. I hadn’t heard of that either. Apparently, flight, fight, freeze, or […]

Spiral Dance

July 16, 2025.Reading time less than 1 minute.

My daughter and I are speaking again, and I am learning how generational trauma resurfaces – sometimes with a different face, and often with a new perspective. Quite the journey, this thing called life. (Image and words my own)

Learning What Matters

February 21, 2022.Reading time 2 minutes.

Parents brought children to the occupation in Ottawa. They set up camp on a main thoroughfare, in front of apartment buildings and retail shops, and obstructed the lives of others. They honked their big rig horns, left their diesel engines running day and night, and set up barbeques, and food tents, and bouncy castles, and […]

Dormant

February 7, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

There’s a restlessness in me that defies explanation. It’s not that I am bored – I have any number of creative projects on the go – it’s that I have a sense that I’m missing something, something that lies deep at my core. But what? And how do I access it? Something that is dormant […]

Trauma’s Shadow is Rage

September 22, 2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

“…he had always been popular and happy and things had always worked out.” (Holly LeCraw, The Swimming Pool) I close the book, feeling the rage shifting just below my sternum. It’s the second time this week […]

Resilience

Boxes are filling up around us. We’re making a dent in our to-do lists. Doubt seeps in. Are we doing the right thing? Then I remember all the reasons behind making this choice and affirm: We are dismantling one life to build another, purposeful existence.

Monday Mood: squirrely

The movers need to be arranged, and the closets sorted and packed, and when was the last time we bought groceries…. Head and attention are going in too many directions at once, and I’m exhausted before I get started. Might be a little cranky too. The stress of moving is real.