Positivity

Rain splattered against the windowpane, mimicking the worried rhythm of Joyce’s heart. Her son, Allen, was due back from a camping trip with friends, and with every passing minute, the storm outside echoed the one brewing inside…

This is the season of celebrations. Yet, for many of us, finding good cheer to celebrate is difficult. These days darkness is trying to sneak into our lives as both our daylight and our spirits grow shorter and darker. In my part of the world…

When I look at my dogs, I marvel at their astonishing, vibrant self-esteem. My two big puppies, four and eleven years old, respectively, never question their deservability. They assume, and rightly so, that they are fully worth being fed yummy meals…

Living now, in our day and time, is unparalleled, which requires me to revisit this theme again. You might ask, “What do you mean?” Every time I finish an article, something amazing happens that reminds me of the incredible resilience and creativity…

Author James Thurber, who had very poor eyesight, once wrote a hilarious story called “The Admiral on the Wheel” about a time when he was forced to spend a few days without his glasses after his maid stepped on them and broke them…

We don’t think about it much, but we go through our daily lives with a huge range of assumptions about what is going on around us. At least I do. And I expect you do, too. You’re in the supermarket and a mother is yelling at a little boy…

I am struggling with an old roll of scotch tape. The end has been lost, so I am trying to dig out the thin membrane of tape to allow me to get it working again. I get a small bit and then, instead of a large useable piece, I find myself with a narrow strip…

Not long ago, a lovely friend of mine referred to herself as an “old woman.” She had inserted another adjective, but it is irrelevant for this discussion. I did not respond to her self-description, but I thought to myself, “You are a talented, creative woman…

There’s a perception that with age comes self-acceptance and confidence. While that can be true, self-esteem is a fickle thing. Even those with strong self-esteem go through low points. For some, aging intensifies feelings of self-doubt and dislike, poisoning all aspects of life. Which begs the question, is it possible to overcome those feelings and […]

I remember standing backstage when I was quite young, waiting to be called onstage for my first performance in a song festival. I may have been 12 or 13 years old. I was about to sing a song I loved from the musical The King and I, titled, “I Whistle a Happy Tune…