Growing with gratitude for life's challenges
A doctor recently referred to me as an anomaly. It’s not the first time I’ve heard it from the medical profession. Hardly reassuring. The other day, walking amongst the tall green trees, wondering at the richness of the foliage around me, I spotted a twig of a branch with three red leaves on it. Odd […]
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I catch myself playing that soul-stripping game of comparison, and come up feeling dreadfully inadequate. My writing is lacking, my photography sucks, and it’s an embarrassment to self that I even post my art. Not actually – but this is the fallout from comparison. I need to turn this thinking around: I am blessed to […]
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I search for her in wooded places,where trees are guardians,and wildlife reigns Where light dances with shadowsand children’s hearts are free to imagine. Wooded areas, especially when there is a stream, take me back to childhood and the countless hours spent in search of nature’s wonders. (For Nancy Merrill’s A Photo A Week Challenge: nostalgia. […]
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“It’s not easy being green,” Kermit the Frog sings. I suppose not if you are green with envy. “I have to smoke,” my father would say. “I’m too green to burn.” I am in love with the multi shades of green that mark our Spring season here in Ontario, so I have decided to make […]
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Some things are put in our path to battle, some to test our faith, and some to teach us acceptance. I wrote this while waiting to see the specialist, not knowing the outcome. Seems my lesson, this time, was as Jazz noted in the comments this week, was endurance. Happily, I made it. Inspired by […]
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When my eldest sister was diagnosed with acute leukaemia and given a month to a year to live, I had to scramble to be there for her. You see, I was deathly afraid of hospitals, and almost fainted the day she had her spinal tap. I had to find a way to conquer my phobias […]
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“The doctor was adamant that it’s cancer, and I’ve researched it. If it is, it’s not good.” Weeks of repressed fear gush forward, and I find myself crying, mid restaurant, my husband seated across from me. “We just don’t know yet.” he responds softly, taking my hand. “We’ll deal it with one step at a […]
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The first time Ric cooked dinner for me, he pulled out a tall, slender stainless steel pot with a glass lid and a basket inside. I’d never seen anything like it. “What is that?” “An asparagus pot!” I haven’t stopped teasing him about it, being the pragmatic woman that I am. I would soon discover […]
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“Compassion becomes real when we recognizeour shared humanity.” – Pema Chödrön. As a young woman, I braced myself against the world by adhering to black and whites – a judgmental stance that was not conducive to relationship building. More self-protective than self-righteous, this attitude only served as a wall, confining me to loneliness. Then in […]
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I just want to sleep. Situational, my therapist calls this type of depression. Saw my family doctor this week, and she confirmed that the skin condition could be cancer. At best, it is a rare condition that will need specialist care. It is both itchy and painful, but there can be no treatment until the […]
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