Sympathy, Empathy, and Not Making it Worse
It’s tough. Witnessing someone we care about going through something painful can bring even the strongest of us to our knees. We struggle with what to say, what to do, how to act, how to help. It’s no accident that the language of condolence has been distilled down to an easy-to-remember script:…
The Gift Of A Week Gone Wrong
It’s been a very odd week. My daughter had surgery to rebuild a knee destroyed in a bad ski accident, our first foray into major medical issues. The two of us spent four days camped out in the living room, the upstairs bedrooms no longer accessible. I worked (inefficiently), she slept, and we…
Love and Anger
I had a really bad experience recently. During a series of money hiccups, I called my bank’s customer service several times over the course of a week to straighten things out. An agent said to me, “Since Pascale is obviously a man’s name, I know you are committing fraud.” They put my accounts on a…
Where Expression and Compassion Meet
There’s a lot of talk in the self-development word about authenticity. It seems to be the buzzword that everyone’s after. Complete self-expression is my version of authenticity, and has been the theme of my adult life. It was a response to my silence as a young person, deathly afraid of speaking for my first…
Let’s Get Excited!
I was recently gifted with a whole bunch of free time. (Gory details here and here.) A funny thing happened. Life got bigger. And fuller. And funner. (With apparently no effect on my habit of making up words.) Of course, there was a period where the cavernous opening in my life threatened to swallow me…
Time to Get to Work
The most challenging part about what I do is describing it. I can wax philosophical for minutes at a time about the spiritual nature of reality, the adventurous journey of remembering who we are, and the practice of contentment. This typically results in glazed eyes, and an occasional remark – “You get paid for that??”…
A Video Manifesto
I’m so excited to share with you my very first video post! It’s just me, telling you about what I believe. Thought I should start simple… I would love to hear your answer to my question, in the comments below. Here’s to moving pictures!
Disturbance
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. – William Shakespeare in Hamlet My teacher used to tell a story about living in a yurt with an outhouse. Each time he would go to the bathroom, upon opening the door, he would destroy the intricate spider web built by the…
Secondhand Enlightenment
My best friend started losing his hair. During the two decades we’ve known each other, his hair has been a constant source of concern for him, but recently the process accelerated. In response, he lopped it all off. The odd thing is that I’ve also noticed a shift in his personality to accompany his new…
Teachers in All Forms
The mother, yelling at her children, is my teacher. The couple, out to dinner, who hardly look at each other, are my teachers. My ex-husband, in unexpected acts of kindness, is my teacher. My daughter, mirroring my impatience and laziness, is my teacher. The traffic jam, on a day I’ve tried to fit in too…