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The northeast Indian state of Meghalaya is considered to be the wettest region in the world. The Khasi people who have lived there for generations have learned to live with extreme monsoon seasons with between 32 and 45 feet of rainfall a year. Most of these villages do not have road access. Getting from place to place means crossing wide, dangerous rivers. Crossing these rivers isn’t possible without a bridge. But the raging waters presented a profound challenge. Any bridges they built and installed were washed away. Ladders were swept… Read More

With all of the trauma and drama we are living in, I felt I was losing bearings. So, I wrote a letter to myself. I wrote it as if I was 20 years older than I am today. I imagined my older, wiser self writing to the person I am today, offering advice. I share it with you, not to say “adopt this as your wisdom,” but more to say, “if you need to remember who you are, this exercise might help.” Try it. In Search Of…Me Dear One, You’re… Read More

I’ve spent hours in conversation with people over the past two days who watched the presidential debate and then suffered post-traumatic stress responses. Suddenly, they remembered the terror they felt when their ex-spouse would scream at them. They remembered the frustration when they couldn’t get a word in. They remembered wishing to disappear, make the attacks stop, just placate the bully until they could get away. Tuesday night, we were assaulted, bullied, and gaslighted by our President. We were subjected to abusive, cruel behavior from someone who is sworn to… Read More

Its probably fair to say that most, if not all of us, feel profound anxiety when it comes to this election. No matter the outcome, we are going to have a mess on the other side. Now, with the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the fast-tracking of a new conservative justice, we face a world primed for conflict and division.  Some of the anxiety is understanding how we got here. How did we become so divided? How did our relationships become weaponized? How did we come to accept… Read More

200,000.200,000 lives.200,000 precious lives.200,000 precious lives lost. Today, we mark the passing of more lives than our hearts can hold or minds can absorb. We mark the passing of 200,000 people – as many as live in Fort Lauderdale or Montgomery or Grand Rapids. We mark the passing of 200,000 people who had families that loved them, people who had plans for their futures, people who had dreams never to be achieved. 200,000. We must remember their lives in all of their complexity. They were Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians; every… Read More

Recently I had a beautiful conversation with a colleague. Her mother had passed away, and she faced the overwhelming task of cleaning out her home. Weeks passed as she faced into the grief she knew this would bring and wrestled with the best way to approach the work. By a stroke of providence, she connected with a woman who ran an estate sales company. In conversation with her, the woman said to her, “Go through the house and take only what you want. Take all the time you need. Then… Read More

For the past 5 weeks, I have been among those struggling to recover from COVID-19. I experienced early symptoms, thought I was better, and then was slammed by a “second round” that has ultimately developed into pneumonia. Before this experience, I had not known illness personally. I had the occasional cold, but I did not know the fear of “shortness of breath.” I had never felt bronchial spasms. I never had to think about taking medication or consider how that medication impacted my body. I never had to slow down,… Read More

In Iroquois mythology, they have a beautiful story of how humans came to help form the world: The geese, turtles, otters, swans, ducks, fish of all kinds were living on the earth. One night they looked into the sky, and, much to their surprise, they saw a woman falling from the sky with a small bundle clutched in her hands. The geese took flight, knowing the woman was not made for the sea, and caught her in their wings before she fell too far. But the geese could not carry her… Read More

Some years ago I had the chance to visit Israel. We toured the entire country, studying archeology, learning about the history and seeing first hand the strain of so many years of conflict and violence. We met many people whose stories of loss, pain, hope and faith will stay with me for a lifetime. One woman I met changed my view of life. She was an old woman when I met her in the old city of Jerusalem. She made stoles for a living. As I was browsing through her store,… Read More

I have moments when I think back nostalgically to life “before the virus.” I was flying constantly from city to city. I would speak at conferences, travel to clients, eat at restaurants, stay in hotels, jump in rideshares, go to the gym…everything was effortless. I can’t say that I loved that life. Life as a “road warrior” wears you down. But I think back now at the ease with which I could navigate life, and I wish for just a taste of it again. Erika Fine in her poem, “Wish” gave… Read More