“No one writes good music anymore.” “All the best movies have already come out.” “Fiction today just isn’t what it used to be.” I’ve seen the same complaint leveled across multiple interest areas. Over and over again, the refrain of ‘the new stuff is terrible’ rings out. From people who think metal began and ended…
Tag: lifestyle
When I turned 40, my social media feed changed. I’ve always gotten some advertisements for yoga and other fitness products and programs. I’m a yoga teacher, so I’m a good target for those kinds of ads. Likewise, I’ve always seen at least a handful of ads for makeup and hair products. But it seemed…
Sometime during summer, I go a little dormant. The high heat and humidity where I live in the mid-Atlantic weighs heavily on me. I begin to drift, to slip into the doldrums. I tend to slide out of my patterns of practice and choose checking out rather than dialing in. I go through the motions…
Some days, there’s just not enough coffee in the universe to get me going. During most of the year, doldrum days are pretty rare for me. I generally have good forward momentum: I have dreams and visions I’m trying to manifest, sacred Work I’m focused on, and a beloved community to serve. For some…
August can be tough in Maryland. The high heat and lack of rain (in some years) means that backyard gardeners like me often struggle to keep our vegetable and fruit beds happy. Air conditioners work overtime, and tempers can be a bit more volatile. When I’m nearing a high frustration point with the umpteenth 90-degree…
If it seems like the people around you are more volatile than usual, you’re not alone. Over the past month I’ve stood on the sidelines as multiple relationships around me caught fire in various ways. The stress of over a year’s worth of pandemic concerns and the whiplash of relief to restriction is applying pressure…
When I look at the path of a river, I sometimes marvel at the way it cuts through stone to wend its flow through the landscape around me. I’m lucky enough to live near both the Potomac and Monocacy rivers and I’ve spent a lot of time wandering their shores and paddling kayaks along their…
I was recently at dinner at my mother’s house and we were talking about how different her childhood was from my sister’s and mine. My grandfather was in the Navy, which meant Mom went to a lot of different schools over the course of growing up. Contrasting to that, my sister and I lived in…
This sermon was offered to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Wyoming Valley in July of 2021 Every year I coordinate a large event for my chapter of the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans in Frederick, MD. It’s a masquerade ball – a formal gala with a faery and fantasy theme. It’s our big fundraiser of…
Like many Unitarian Universalists, the braid of my spirituality is made up of many strands. For me, one strand of belief originates in the far north – Scandinavia, Norway, and Iceland. I find the old myths and folklore compelling and resonant, touching a deep thread of spirit within me. One of the things I love…