Month: October 2016

The gift of spontaneity

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This beautiful staircase belongs to friends of ours who bought a small villa in a town south of Sienna, Italy.  I would never have discovered it had I not made a spontaneous decision during our European trip. My son, Tom, flew to Budapest and picked me up at the Vienna airport to start our first weekend in Graz, Austria where he had taught English for five years. Walking from one end of the city to the other during the days, and sharing drinks and meals with his friends in the evenings, was the perfect beginning to our trip. And, it was the only part we had planned in advance. It was unusual for me to travel without having places to stay along the way, but Tom convinced me that part of the joy of traveling is keeping your options and mind open for the inevitable surprises along the way. In other words, be more spontaneous! We left Austria at the end of that weekend and made Venice our first stop in Italy. We found a place to stay outside the city without a problem and the next …

How food can heal the soul

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There were times during my 40s and 50s when I struggled with weight gain, bouts of insomnia and digestive problems. My hair was thinning, my skin tone looked uneven, and it was challenging to keep my energy level up in the middle of the day. I was driving myself hard in a competitive work environment and the distractions of a busy life left me often feeling depleted. Desperation led me to a year long nutrition course with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition that emphasized the importance of bio-individuality, which means there’s no one-size-fits-all-diet. Each of us has unique needs. I started eating whole foods that come from the ground instead of processed foods and I was cooking more at home. Yet, the biggest change in my health over many years was my growing ability to slow down. Being more mindful of the present moment enabled me to better enjoy life. One of my great pleasures in life has been watching my adult children find their way in the world, becoming the type of people I would want to be around. They …

Living without regret

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Most of us are familiar with the common regret of those who are at the end of their lives. They don’t worry so much about what they did as much as what they didn’t do. It’s the living with regret that seems to haunt the dying. We don’t take the time to reflect on what we haven’t done because, quite frankly, we’re just so busy doing.