Instructions for living a life.  Pay attention.  Be astonished.  Tell about it. -Mary Oliver Dear Friends, This past weekend many across the world were able to experience a bucket list item while staying in the comfort of their own homes.  The Aurora Borealis took to the sky in areas that normally do not see this majestic sight, giving many the chance to experience this amazing wonder without traveling to do so. Unfortunately, because we had some pretty stellar thunder and lightning storms this past weekend in my area, I was not one of those someones who got to hav ..read more

Dear Friends, My niece, nephew and I were at the National Zoo last weekend.  It was a spectacularly beautiful spring day to spend walking around the zoo…we rode the carousel, we ate some ice cream, we looked at the various animals.  While we were there, we had the privilege of seeing one of the orangutans walking the o-line.  If you haven’t been to this particular zoo, the o-line is two cables that connect towers between a couple of different ape enclosures.  The orangutans can move freely between said enclosures with the help of the o-line far above the ground…it’s a rar ..read more

Risk and opportunity are two sides of the same coin. -Yvan Byeajee Dear Friends, A couple of weeks ago a dear friend and I met up at the Billy Goat Trail in Great Falls for a hike.  I had been there the day before and had seen a sign that stated the Billy Goat trail was flooded, but that particular day, as we came in the opposite direction and I didn’t see a sign, I assumed the trail was fine. Turns out, it wasn’t…it definitely was not fine. The trail was flooded, with a couple of crossings that, while the water wasn’t running fast and was safe to cross, it was also definitely deep…w ..read more

Dear Friends, It’s that time of year…that time where, if you look real closely, you can practically see the leaves growing on the trees.  The world around us is turning brighter and greener by the second, the world around us is in the midst of rapid change.  I was walking through the woods earlier this week noticing the vast difference between last week and this, between yesterday and today…change is happening. There are some personalities, I think, that thrive on that rapid onset of change.  Folks who crave the new and different, where that rapid onset of change is life givi ..read more

*Photo by Andrew Mason, 4/8/2024 Comparing what you see during an eclipse to the darkness at night is like comparing an ocean to a teardrop. – Wendy Mass Dear Friends, This past weekend my boys, myself and some friends embarked on a road trip to Ohio to see the total solar eclipse. If you’ve never seen an eclipse in totality, it truly is, in my opinion, an amazing, transcendent experience…one that I have no words to describe other than that I, personally, am willing to travel and sit in traffic for the chance to experience that transcendence for 3 ½ minutes even when both my boys need to g ..read more

*Photograph: By aeonWAVE / Shutterstock | Totality during the 2023 Australian total solar eclipse in Exmouth Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world. -John Milton Dear Friends, We all have those big moments, those life changing moments, those experiences in life that create an undeniable sense of awe and wonder. This weekend my boys and I are headed to Ohio to hopefully see the total solar eclipse, should the weather cooperate with us.  We were in North Carolin ..read more

“In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.” ― Gautama Buddha Dear Friends, How gracefully you let go of things not meant for you. Last week I was floating in a beautiful bright blue Cenote filled with crystal clear water watching the clouds float across the sky above me, feeling the weightlessness of the water surrounding me, and thinking about the process of letting go, and a conversation I had with a friend a few weeks ago. I came across the above quote on a pillow at our retreat house in Mex ..read more

Dear Friends, Stay curious about ways that you can change and shift as you continue to grow and learn. Many of you have seen the show Ted Lasso, and remember when he says on said show, “be curious, not judgemental”. I was thinking about that phrase this past week, and how it can show up in our own lives as we move through our days and weeks.  I wonder how it might feel if we were willing to be a little more curious, and a little less judgemental with the world around us.  I wonder how it might feel if we were willing to be a little more curious, and a little less judgemental with ..read more

Dear Friends, The shift in seasons can be felt all around us right now, we are on the verge of change in the world around us. Remember last week’s blog post, when I talked about setting a boundary about a silly little, but important, thing to me? Last week, one of my students and I were talking about the importance of trying the new, the unfamiliar, even when we are not so comfortable with the new, with the unfamiliar.   It’s important to know ourselves, and to set our boundaries, that is, I think, of utmost importance…but there are times when we might consider something a bound ..read more

*Washington DC is surrounded by 40 boundary stones, 36 are the original stones laid out in 1791-1792 marking the original boundary of the city. Dear Friends, Are there ways we can shift, change, hold boundaries in our own lives to make what we’re doing in our work, with our friends, with our families feel better, truer, more sustainable in our own lives? Let’s be honest here, there are times when we have jobs that are not so great, or maybe when our family or friend life feels overwhelming and hard, and that is deeply part of this life.  I have had my share of not so great, or downrigh ..read more