book

I’m nearing the end of the first draft of my next book, and the surprise I expected just happened. It always does. Although I plan out the story by knowing the beginning, expected ending (which may or may not happen that way), and the plot points along the way, I let the story unfold. This [...]

There’s a last time for everything. Sometimes, but not always, we get to choose when that will be.

When I was in elementary school, I saw the woman who would one day become my dance teacher perform the Red Slippers. At that moment, I fell in love and knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a dancer. But one of my friends told me she taught ballet – she didn’t [...]

…we are not afraid of the dark… Every morning I sweep our hardwood floors, following the path of where we most go each day, and once a week I sweep the entire house. I didn’t use to do that daily sweeping. Then one morning, I noticed what was in the light path that shone across [...]

Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences. — Robert Louis Stevenson How many times have you tried to change someone, or even yourself, and failed miserably? Without knowing a single thing about what happened or what you were trying to do, I know why it probably didn’t work as well as [...]

Not If It Was Never Lost In May, I lost two things. In September, I found them both. Yes, I looked for them, but when I couldn’t find them, I considered them both gone and replaced them. After all, they were only a garden trowel and a paring knife. I found the knife after our [...]

After I pulled out the peas I had diligently planted and tended because their season was over, a lone sunflower remained. I smiled at it, wondering how it got there. Perhaps a bird or a squirrel or even the wind left a single seed to grow sheltered and nourished by the peas. It smiled back [...]

This might help— I don’t think I want to meet the person who knows all the answers. I believe I would be suspicious. How could they be so sure? Did they cause the problem? Are they trying to ruin people’s lives? Do they know all the facts? Our brains are designed to filter out what [...]

While the Soleis traveled as slowly as possible, the Eos was moving as quickly as it could. So fast sometimes, Meg wished that it would slow down. Like Stryker, she didn’t like ships either, and for many of the same reasons. Mostly, she hated the rocking and rolling. No matter what she did, she constantly [...]

Shifting Stories: Sampling Books, One (or 2) Chapters at a time. Your imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions. —Albert Einstein Now that you have the basic tools, are you ready to get started? Each week has a different focus, but the imagination exercises each day will remain mostly the same. [...]

An evil tyrant. A rebellious uprising. Will her destiny prevent total destruction… or send everyone to their doom? Her gift of shapeshifting may have disappeared, but Meg Porta won’t let her new home perish. Clinging to a slender thread of hope, she’s forced to fulfill her mysterious part in an ancient prophecy. But when the [...]

Shifting Stories: Sampling Books, One (or 2) Chapters at a time. Imagination should be used, not to escape reality, but to create it. —Colin Wilson Shall we begin? Let’s create a new reality together. But first, let’s talk about a few of the essential tools that you will be using in this course. There are [...]

Once upon a time, a coach I was working with told me I could be another Tony Robbins.  I said, no. I had no desire to be the person who I would have to become to do that.  He didn’t understand, and not long after that told me he couldn’t work with me anymore. Well, [...]

A Metaphysical, visionary, fantasy, adventure: It was as terrifying as standing at the open door of an airplane getting ready to jump. Or at least I imagined it would feel the same way even though I had never experienced that myself. Leaning forward and seeing the ground thousands of feet away, not knowing where the [...]

Shifting Stories: Sampling Books, One (or 2) Chapters at a time. I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.—Rabindranath Tagore She was always-on-call. I wanted to be like her, but I had no idea how I could handle what she [...]

Once upon a time, there lived a husband and wife who were very good friends. Their names were Agatha and Winston. Agatha was a small, very round, gray bear who loved to amble through flower gardens smelling the flowers and petting the bees. Winston was a tall rather saggy and unstuffed brown bear. This unstuffedness [...]

While walking one morning, I had a magical experience. As I turned the corner onto the next street, the world went silent. Not nature. The world. I made no sound. My feet were silent. My breath was silent. It was if the person I call me wasn’t there. I was a camera moving through the [...]

So sayeth the birds, animals, insects, and plants of nature. All nature not only knows this truth, but also lives it. We are different. We may know this truth, but we rarely live it. Instead, we pride ourselves on being able to do anything, and everything. When we are young, it’s good to know we [...]

My husband and I have finished our second viewing of the TV series, Battlestar Galactica. Although, in general I rarely read a book, or watch a show, more than once, at Del’s urging, we began again. This time was even better than the first. This time, I watched it knowing that it ends well. This [...]

All winter the blue storage box sat alone on the floor of the garage, calling me. Years before, my husband and I, on our way to more traveling, had left it with my daughter for safekeeping. She returned it in the fall, but I didn’t open it, knowing it would require something from me that [...]