Blog

Friendship is something that is an important part of our lives. We give our friends attention, we call, email and text, we get together socially, we seek support in times of needs and help each other, and we offer each other a source of pleasure, companionship and laughter. We count on friendship in many ways to improve the quality of our lives. If I were to ask you, “Who are your friends?” would you put yourself on that list? For most of us, we don’t stop to consider that we can actually be a friend to ourselves or that we can be kind and offer care and support to ourselves. Some of you reading this may genuinely enjoy time alone where you can be with yourself without conversation or interaction with others. That is a great way to reconnect to yourself and engage in “self friendship.” And we can go [...]

This week’s Tuesday was the 3rd Tuesday in September. In the Netherlands this day is traditionally known as “Prinsjesdag.” This is the day that the Queen (Beatrix) is voicing her yearly “Queens Speech” and the Minister of Finance is presenting the budget for the next year. The message was sombre. The outlook is cheerless. We are facing a difficult year… This is in essence what I heard – again – on the radio when I woke up this Tuesday morning. Hearing the news, how was it impacting me? It drained my energy. Well, only briefly. For I have learned (through trial and error) that “whatever we give our attention to, will grow.” Little surprise, I thought, that with the consistent collective worrisome messages about our economy, the situation carries on. It is us creating it together, by validating what is (not). I turned off the radio. After turning off the [...]

Last week I was emotional. I hate to admit it. I didn’t want to admit it. And, I think in the end, it really served me best to admit it. Last week… My kids transitioned to new classrooms. My son into a classroom of 3 to 5 year olds (he’s still 2 for 2 more weeks!) and my daughter to an entirely new school. And, our new nanny started working with us in the mornings before my daughter goes to school. I paused my marathon training. A tendon in my ankle is sore and I’m giving it rest. My daughter had a nasty looking rash. All of this is fine. The kids are doing great. I caught my injury early, and I’ll be able to run that marathon.  AND, all of this caused me to be frayed around the edges. As the week went on, I had to admit to myself that I [...]

Has anyone ever told you that you were their “role model”?  If so, what did they say about you? Take a moment and think about that!  (I’m pausing here for you to think!) If no one has ever told you this  . .  . that’s ok . . .  let’s imagine it is happening right now.  Imagine that I am telling you, “you are my role model”.  What would you love to hear being said about you?  (I’ll pause here for you to think about this!) The thing I love most about this exercise is that it forces me to think about the impact I have and would like to have in my life.  By thinking about what others are saying about me and more importantly – “what I would like them to say about me”, it helps me clarify how I want to live my life, and what I [...]

I love going to the eye doctor. I have always loved the eye doctor ever since I was 8 years old and my parents discovered I couldn’t see AT ALL. It’s a calm, relaxing environment where problems are handled efficiently. I love sitting in that chair, looking at the fuzzy gray squiggles on the wall, and having them turn into clear, precise letters through a systematic process. The eye doctor gives clicks through a complicated collection of lenses and simply asks me: “Which one is clearer? One? [clicking-clicking-clicking] Or two?” And I just answer. “One.” “Two.” “The same.” “Show me again.” It’s simple, it’s methodical, it’s soothing. It leads to me being able to see more clearly. And it was an artful accident that I ended up at the eye doctor during Tiara’s month where we are focusing on clarity. I just tore my last contact and needed to go. [...]