Hey Reader! In times of uncertainty, it's so easy to get stuck. We get overloaded. We get speedy. Our thoughts get cloudy. It's hard to organize our thoughts. We don't know where to begin. We freeze. We retreat. We cocoon. We give up. The mounting frustration bubbles up and explodes. We self-medicate. We lash out. We harm ourselves and others. Your emotions are a river. Don't dam them up. Let them flow. And once you've given them full vent, sit in that emptiness. Focus on nothing but the...
10 days ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader! Last night, I found myself in a little fishing village in Iceland. Walking along the waterfront, I stumbled upon this driftwood sculpture of Klemus Bjarnason, a man sentenced to death in 1690. The Klemus Bjarnason sculpture overlooking Hólmavik harbor. His crime? Not getting along with his neighbors. Yep, you read that right. People didn’t like him. The plaque mentioned that he’d been creeping people out since he was a kid. A feud between Klemus and the family on Hrófberg farm...
17 days ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader! Friday morning, I awoke to bad news via a text message. “Last night, D__ passed away.” How do you react to news of a friend passing? I climbed back into bed and hugged my dog. I’m not the kind of person to rail against God, or insist death is an injustice. It always seems sudden, shattering, and somewhat pointless. It always catches me off guard. Forces me to examine what I’m doing and if I’d be satisfied if my life ended in the next moment. After all, we can’t see around corners....
25 days ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader! Men show up in your house without a warrant and take your husband away. No one will tell you where he is, if he’s safe or what crime he’s committed. They won’t even confirm that they’re arresting him. The men are armed but in plain clothes. They show you no badges or IDs to prove the authority they have to invade your home and abduct your loved one. They take your husband and disappear. If this happened to you, would you be okay with this? The government decides they don’t want...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader! When I was younger and far more pretentious, I believed that time alone in a wooded cabin was all I’d need to blossom into the artist I was fated to become. In those days, I did a lot of theater and sports, and I formed superstitions around both. After all, I was convinced what I ate, wore and did affected my performance. So I kept careful watch over my actions and blamed mistakes on missing some cue or another. Each time, I redoubled my faith in empty ritual. And stayed stuck....
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader! One of my favorite T-shirts proclaims, "Joy Is an Act of Resistance." If you remember your time in elementary school, you've seen how this works: Teacher tries to shut someone down. The suppressed kid acts up behind the teacher's back. Class erupts in laughter. Teacher struggles to regain control. The stricter the teacher, the more joy we felt in rebelling, and the more humiliating the experience seemed to them. Why is this? Control is an illusion We can't control what other...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader! There are many things for which I'm grateful. Being self-employed is one of them. My flexible work schedule means I don't have to beg anyone for time off if I need to take my sick kid to the doctor or spend a morning running errands. For example, I spent today's lunch hour at a flash mob protest. Why protest? I registered as an Independent voter when I was eighteen, and I've never changed that. I've consistently voted for people versus their party alignment. My political...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader! It's been millions of years since our lives depended on being suspicious of everything, yet our negativity bias lingers. And those with ADHD are even more likely to fixate on negative news. With so much of the world in upheaval, being constantly on the alert can be exhausting. So, this week's challenge is an antidote to all that gloom and doom. Capture good things as they happen I keep an open mason jar beside a pad and pen in my bedroom. Whenever something cool or delightful...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader! When you were a kid were you allowed to feel your feelings? Or did you feel you needed to act happy and make everyone laugh? Were you threatened with a beating if you cried? Or encouraged to pretend you weren’t feeling bad because it might make others feel bad? There are so many lessons we learn when we’re young from our family. One of the hardest lessons to unlearn is that it’s bad to share our feelings. That being emotional at all is a bad, weak or womanly thing. Holding onto...
2 months ago • 4 min read