Magical Memoir Moments
Seeking Wisdom: A Lifelong Quest
If you rubbed a magic oil lamp and Aladdin offered you only one wish, what would it be? I’d ask for wisdom. The story of King Solomon, who famously chose wisdom, made a deep impression on my in my youth, and later I prayed often for wisdom as a mother, teacher, and college president. In…
Stop! And Listen! — David Whyte, Krista Tippett, and Jubilación
Poet David Whyte believes that a beautiful question shapes a beautiful mind. Krista Tippett’s interview with Whyte inspired this assertion: I believe elders have invisible but beautiful new questions to live out in our time.
Dream Job: How Do You Define It? Find it?
Yale professor Amy Wrzesniewski says job satisfaction and life satisfaction are enhanced by a sense of being called. Furthermore, callings don’t have to be magic. They can be crafted to enhance the fit between self and work.
Thin Places: Where Earth and Heaven Touch
“You don’t plan a trip to a thin place; you stumble upon one.” —Eric Wiener Twenty years ago I set out on a journey to England hoping to experience what I had read about in books. I eagerly anticipated the Wordsworth Winter School in the Lake District where I imagined striding through the atmospheric fells…
Odyssey: Two New Stages of Life
The columnist David Broder gobsmacked me this week with these words: There used to be four common life phases: childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. Now, there are at least six: childhood, adolescence, odyssey, adulthood, active retirement and old age. Of the new ones, the least understood is odyssey, the decade of wandering that frequently…
When Time Shall Be No More: Kalanithi and Kairos
Thinking about time after reading When Breath Becomes Air took me back to a time in childhood when I was fascinated by a wrist watch. I discovered Kairos without knowing it.
When Breath Becomes Air: On Being A Mortal Pilgrim
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi has inspired me to reflect on the role of mortality and pilgrimage as we enter the stage of life called Jubilación.
When Did You Stop Dreaming?
If your dreams have stopped . . .”Start daydreaming about the autumn of your life as much as you daydreamed about finding your perfect love when you were a teenager.”Laura Carstensen
Sprinting into Older Age: Jubilación
After eight years of writing about memoir, I’m shifting focus on my blog. My new topic is “Jubilación.” Inspired by Isabel Allende, I’ll be writing about living the “third act” of life with passion.
Grandparenting: How it Helps Us to Simplify
I’m sitting at my desk, looking out at the mountains, and thinking about speaking to more than 100 Mennonite women this Friday night at the Amigo Centre, a place I know well, not too far from Sturgis, Michigan. The subject is Recovering Simplicity, a topic that Mennonites have grappled with for a long time and…