It turns out the reason it is so hard to rationalize with my automatic responses is because rationalization and automatic responses happen in two different parts of the brain.
Our Automatic Reactions
An Uncovering
Particle respirator masks were an unexpected addition to my Thanksgiving in California. Even thought we were 200 miles away from the devastating fire around Paradise the air quality was dangerously unhealthy. The media frequently referred to the California wild fires…
Five Guiding Questions for Building an Ancestor Altar
How might your life be different if you felt profoundly supported? This is a bigger question than what would you do if you won $1 million dollars. It includes spiritual, emotional and social support for every aspect of your health…
Connecting more deeply to the earth through our ancestors
One of my defining quests is the longing for each moment to be infused with a dynamic relationship with the earth. Personally it would feel like being deeply at home, with the aliveness that I feel when I’ve had a…
Transforming Self, Transforming World
The swirl of life continues! I’m of course always hoping for the day when things are quiet and I can catch up and take care of things like backing up my computer. But the truth is that we are living…
Collective Joy
I took my daughter to hear Taylor Swift the other week. The biggest surprise from the experience (other than the mere fact of me going) was how good I felt the next day. While parts of the whole experience felt…
You Can Do Hard Things
Back to School is in the air. Summer always goes too quickly but I’m honestly happy to be returning to the school routine. Even before I had a child every fall I felt the back to school spirit. After all…
Only 20% Hopeless
My father is visiting and one of the great benefits is that he fixes things for me. He has glued the bench, hammered the loose shingle, and applied WD-40 to the sticky lock. I get a little thrill out of…
Keeping Perspective in the Midst of Stress
Sometimes I get bumped when playing with my daughter and shake it off and keep going. Sometimes I get bumped and I lash out at her for being so insensitive. The difference in my reaction is more about my mental…
Fashion & Power
“Fashion is more powerful than love.” This was how my daughter tried to provoke a silly argument with me. At her suggestion we’d been drawing pictures of ourselves in armor. I’d rebelled against the prompt in my own way, depicting…