writing : blog
I was thrilled to be invited to talk today with Jen Louden about savoring and serving. You'll find that interview here. Here's an excerpt, an answer to one of Jen's delicious questions: Loss freed me and saved my life. It gave me my real voice, not just my “professional” voice, the one I used to write and speak in. It…
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Six years ago today, Hurricane Katrina hit. Here's what I wrote then. Consider yourself part of the solution Replace "they" with "we" with "I" We can do better.
(I want bedroom walls the color of these eggs that Tess found.) Yes, boxes are being filled with things I no longer need to carry around in this life with me. Bookshelves are being purged. Closets are emptied and choices made on what goes back in. I'm looking at paint chips and figuring out how to measure for blinds and…
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In light of Hurricane Irene's approach, please be safe if you are in her path. Be prepared. Be over-prepared. Here are some great things to think about doing and having as you prepare: Prepare a family "to-go" kit Look at this disaster supply list Eat the food in your freezer now to avoid losing it if you lose power (suggested…
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[mind] I love the work David Robinson and I do together in our company, The Circle Project. We've started posting on our blog every Tuesday and Thursday, as a way of corralling what we're thinking about, and what we're working on. I hope you'll join us for conversations about split intentions, strong foundations, and much more. Over 700,000 kids…
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The Peace of Wild Things When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the…
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(For some reason, this didn't post yesterday as planned. Let us pretend it is still Monday for a moment): I am shedding. I think this is important. It is likely a project with great implication for many parts of my life–not only the shedding that is taking place in my house, in which I am holding each object, feeling the…
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(I got many requests to repost this essay as a stand alone piece for easy linking. I'm happy to do so here.) It hurts me, deeply, to know that my lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex friends face this kind of reality daily. Just as racism and sexism hurt. Every ism. And I'm tired of getting hateful notes when I…
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(She is the reason I'm going to be staying home more) Evidently this is the Cranky Patti edition of Thinking Thursday. [mind] We have a new poet laureate! (this is not the cranky bit) Here is Today's Must Read, "How to get grateful": "Miracles have happened every year since my brother died. What I know for sure about death?…
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The Word. Down near the bottom of the crossed-out list of things you have to do today, between “green thread” and “broccoli” you find that you have penciled “sunlight.” Resting on the page, the word is as beautiful, it touches you as if you had a friend and sunlight were a present he had sent you from some place distant…
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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.
