I found myself talking regularly to the orchid in my bathroom, when it bloomed during the dead of winter. Its bright yellow and fuchsia blooms lifted my spirits when everything outside was frozen. I know they say that talking to your plants is good for them, but I’ve found that it’s been good for me… Continue reading Healing My Relationship With Plants
Category: Connections
Truly Listening
I don’t know why it surprises me, but I still have so much to learn. Often the stuff I have to learn is not new stuff. It’s not stuff that I’ve never heard about before. It’s the basics: easy things that are hard to follow through on. This past week, it was listening. Listening. Yup,… Continue reading Truly Listening
All The Lonely People
When I look closely, I can see them sitting in coffee shops, wandering around grocery stores and waiting for the bus: lonely people. Lonely people can be surrounded by others and still feel isolated. It’s the lack of meaningful social connections that leave people feeling abandoned. Loneliness is something I’ve become more aware of now… Continue reading All The Lonely People
A Time For Learning
As a former teacher, you can understand that I have a passion for learning. However, as a retired person I was not at all sure that I wanted to start from the beginning again. Formal education was my life until now as a student, and then as a teacher. I want something different now. And… Continue reading A Time For Learning
Pet Lessons
I never owned a cat or a dog growing up. Pets were viewed as messy, expensive, a source of allergies, and when you want to go on vacation, inconvenient. But when we moved into our home years ago, I felt like there was a presence missing in the house. I was not wrong. Calmness On… Continue reading Pet Lessons
Missing Friends And Connection.
Now that I’m out of the workforce and not seeing work colleagues every day, I’m feeling it. Collective loneliness: it’s loneliness from not being part of a group that’s working towards a common goal, according to Dr Marisa G. Franco*. Working in a large school (1400 students), the colleagues that I saw daily were the… Continue reading Missing Friends And Connection.
Retired, And Now What? 