Christmas in California.
I lived the first eight years of my life in a suburb of North Western Minneapolis called Golden Valley. I’m proud to tell people that Minnesota air was the first air I breathed. My dad was recruited to the University of Minnesota early in his career, and 5 of the 11 kids in my family […]
The sneaky snake of comparison
I have a client who has had a big year and has met many of her goals, professionally. It’s been the kind of year she probably felt was just a dream when she was taking exams and getting certified in her field. But when we met for our session this week she had started to […]
Middle School and changing your mind.
I graduated from college in the month of December – in a year so long ago that it seems millions of light years away. Graduating in December is not super awesome for an Education major who is looking for a job in Education. Nevertheless, December was my month. I had just completed my […]
Tuesday nights and Anchoring.
If you asked me where I was on Tuesday nights at 7:00 pm from the time I was 8 until the time I was almost 18, I could tell you. (Cue the nerd alert!) I was watching Happy Days. Truth be told, I planned my life around Happy Days. Tuesdays – according to […]
Rocks and Sand.
Have you seen that object lesson with a big glass jar filled with big rocks and sand? Well, there is a big glass jar with big rocks inside and sand filling all the empty space. Can you picture it? I think the first time I saw this visual was in a church lesson and I […]
Open and Closed.
Darren and I recently had the opportunity as grandparents to watch our just barely one-year-old grandson for a weekend while the rest of his family took a trip. Yes, we survived. (And our marriage did, too.) One of Finn’s favorite tricks was to pull himself up to one of the big drawers in our kitchen […]
Order of Operations.
One of my sisters texted me the other night and said “I need you to do this math problem and tell me the answer. I’ll explain later.” She attached a picture of a scrap of paper with this handwritten on it: 3 (5+3+45) – 12 – 16 ÷ 8 x 3.14 I did the […]
Grounding and Growth.
Fall is ending here in the West and leaves have dropped quickly, being replaced by the bare branches of winter. After all these years I’m still so amazed that in a few long months those trees will push new green growth out to the end of their branches – much to the relief of […]
The gajillion offerings of the Enneagram.
I sometimes joke that without the Enneagram, I wouldn’t be married. But I’m only partly kidding. Darren and I had been dating again for about a year when I followed the recommendation of a podcaster I respected and bought the book “The Road Back to You.” That book started a journey and a rabbit hole […]
Should you?
I know. I’m sick of hearing the phrase “Quit ‘should-ing’ on yourself”, too. But hear me out. Just this week, I counted at least ten times my actual clients said these actual words in their actual work with me. Nancy Colier says “We have been taught, mistakenly, that if we don’t ‘should’ ourselves into action, […]
