writing : blog
Why have we made a silent, unspoken agreement to not do significant work in the world? I am tired of having long, endless, polite conversations about discrimination and hate. I am tired of executives who keep asking me for the "business case" for diversity as if another notebook of statistics will finally make them pay attention like the other 120…
Read the rest…
There really is no finer day than a day when The New Yorker arrives with not only a profile of Amy Winehouse, but with a new poem by The Man, to boot. That’s a day worth wearing shoes for, worth sitting up straight for, worth making cantaloupe and honeydew cupcakes topped with white chocolate-cardamom butter cream and chiffonade of mint…
Read the rest…
When I was sick and lay a-bed, I had two pillows at my head, And all my toys beside me lay, To keep me happy all the day. And sometimes for an hour or so I watched my leaden soldiers go, With different uniforms and drills, Among the bed-clothes, through the hills; And sometimes sent my ships in fleets All…
Read the rest…
In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences. –Robert Green Ingersoll Years ago now, I sat at a business dinner determined not to talk about business. We were in Sydney, I believe, amidst people who actually work to live and not the other way around. I knew we Americans needed something more than numbers and bar charts…
Read the rest…
Sometimes in the madness of our lives what we really need is a quiet space on 63 acres of rolling land in the mountains of North Carolina, a moment to look at our life’s stories, to learn from them, and to re-story ourselves. I’ll hold only one public retreat this year, from September 26-28, 2008, near Asheville, North Carolina. I…
Read the rest…
You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die. A spider’s life can’t help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was…
Read the rest…
Thanks to everyone who has posted home remedies, words of comfort, and fantastic excerpts from literature to aid in my recovery…it’s all working! I’m not running a marathon yet–maybe tomorrow, not today–but I’m at least back in the world of those who sit upright, eat garbanzo beans, and watch the Oscars. Since last we spoke, I have enjoyed wonderful 14-hour…
Read the rest…
A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book. -Irish Proverb Travel + Work + Flu (Double Secret Pneumonia? Bronchitis? Vitamin Deficiency?) = Not a Thought in My Head and Sleep to the 10th Power (and just the tiniest bit of WHINING, as you might imagine). Back soonish, I hope. If you have home…
Read the rest…
I don’t know. Have I mentioned once or twice or a thousand times that I love Mr Brilliant? Not just for the spectacular ways in which he thinks and the marvelous crazy wonderful gifts and the James Joyce glasses and the fact that he calls up the White House chef to find out how to make gingerbread icing instead of…
Read the rest…
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving. -Lao Tzu Have I ever mentioned that I desperately want a vintage Airstream? My dream is to deck out a big metal vintage tube like a rock band’s tour bus (I’ll pretend to be Tracy Chapman or Joan Armatrading or Tom Waits or Johnny Cash), with "37days"…
Read the rest…
Patti Digh is the author of six books, including bestsellers Life is a Verb and Creative is a Verb. She travels the world teaching others about mindfulness: to live fully, love well, let go deeply, and make a difference. Patti's comments have appeared on PBS and in The New York Times, Fortune, the Wall Street Journal, the London Financial Times, and many other international publications. She writes a thank you note every morning.
