I adopted this as my motto for 2025.

Truthfully, I found it after walking away from the first sign of danger in what could have been a new relationship. A few weeks later, my gut instinct was confirmed when I received a half dozen drunken texts that were pure hatred.

I got off that wrong train quickly, and I gave myself a high-five for trusting myself.

But as I sit here now, four months into 2025, I realized that motto wasn't just going to be a one-time "good job" but rather a continuous test of my own resolve, and resilience. 

It was as if I put this thought out into the universe, and the universe responded with "are you sure you're ready for this?"

It always happens that way, doesn't it?

In just these four, fleeting months, I have let go of my daily coffee and opted for tea instead.

Let go of most gluten and even most Friday-night-glass-of-red-wine while cooking dinner. It has been like my physical body has begun rejecting the things that no longer satisfy it in the way they once did. No matter how much I still enjoyed the moment of consumption.

I've let go of a dear friend I wanted desperately to hold onto and made my heart ache every time I said no. Leaving me reeling at times and asking "why?"

I have said no to interview requests, and even no right as an interview was about to start. Even as I am still starting to grow into this new role as an author and speaker.

That proverbial train was not just a onetime "dodged-a-bullet" type experience, but rather a pervasive, relentless and constant check with my intuition.

Is this right?

No matter how much I like it, or how much I want it or what I think "it" is giving me - is this right? The question that pops up every time I face a crossroad no matter how big or how small.

For me, my intuition speaks to me in my gut. It clenches, feels nauseous, my appetite disappears and then often I am overwhelmed with fatigue. Tiredness to my bones.

That is when I know I have to let go, walk away, climb off that train no matter how fast it is going or if I thought its destination was where I belonged.

In a year that has brought so many new and exciting opportunities, they still have been sandwiched in between moments and experiences, and lifestyle changes I have been forced to make when I realized they were no longer fueling me.

Such is life, right? A constant ebb and flow of experiences that usher you down the path of life.

As I sit here, excited and grateful for the trains that brought me to the current station of residence, and watching trains pass me by, I can't help but whisper:

"I am ready for my train to come in."

Ready to take a break from the eternal vigilance of knowing when it's time to de-board, and ready to find the train destined for me to sit down, put my baggage down, and ride peacefully along for at least a little stretch of peaceful and certain countryside.

Personal growth and understanding are rewarding. But it is exhausting too.

So, if 2025 has left you feeling both excited and overwhelmed, I invite you to sit down next to meet at the train station.

Bring your baggage, bring your weathered heart and your wildest dreams.

We can sit together and watch the trains go by, waiting for ours to arrive.

​And should you board a different one, well then maybe I will see you down the tracks of life 

It is that time of year again here in New England - spring has finally arrived!

The warmer days have begun to appear more often, bringing with them our emergence into the fresh air - and our annual garden preparations.

Some of our seeds have been started in the office under grow lights, and we took advantage of the fresh air Saturday to replace the fence and netting in an attempt to keep out the deer/rabbits/groundhogs/whatever other animal decides to feast in our yard this year.

Perhaps we are learning that slowly preparing for the time when the temperatures stay consistent enough to move all of the plants outside, is better than having a single back-breaking weekend to get started!

Some years are a success. Some years the animals channel their inner-Houdini and eat everything no matter what I try. Some years the tomato plants take over everything. Some years we are barely home to give the gardens the TLC that they need. 

But the honest truth of it all - I am not really a great gardener. 
I try - I definitely give it a valiant effort each year.  But a natural green-thumb, I am not!

For me, for us, our gardens aren't necessarily about total yield or success.

I like to imagine someday it will be, but so far, my gardens have been more about a proof of faith rather than producing all of our veggies.

I painted that sign in 2023 (admittedly no expert painter either...) when I didn't just want to grow veggies, I needed to WITNESS something growing.

I needed to watch something start as a seed and evolve into something bigger, stronger, beautiful and life-giving.

I needed to garden because I needed a reminder that what exists today is growing into a beautiful tomorrow.

I needed to believe that like that little seed, I could change and grow my own reality into something new and beautiful and fulfilling.

I needed to garden because I needed a physical reminder that faith exists.

That even through the dark soil, even when we can't see what is taking place, even if we forget to water it a day here-and-there, even if they are eaten by animals instead of us, life is still in bloom.

MY life is still in bloom.

Maybe in a phase where I can't see the "end product" but magic and growth is still happening beneath the surface.

If the heaviness of your winter - whether that is actually, truly winter - or a broader meaning of winter such as loss, grief, an aching heart, an unknown future, is weighing you down right now...

Go to the store, buy some dirt, a little pot, a few seeds, and let your mini garden become more than just a garden.

Don't worry about being a master gardener. You aren't looking to be featured in a Home & Gardens magazine.

Let your little seed be your own proof of faith.

Faith in the cycle of life, the ability to start fresh and above all - that you are still growing.

Happy Blooming!


​
  

As the warmer weather slowly forces its way in through the seemingly never-ending coldness of winter, if I am not in a lunch meeting and Joey is not out in the community with his helpers, we always make sure we take a walk together at lunch time.

Joey's thoughts often have him spinning into different lands, directions, anything other than the path that we walk on a regular basis.

Like many of us, his thoughts lead him astray to anywhere and everything other than the present moment.

To help bring him back from his own thoughts, I ask him questions about what he sees, and he responds with:

"I see that nice mailbox number 57."
"I see the yellow flowers."
"I see the withered white fence that protects the forest."

We are looking for the good in the here and now, focusing on not getting lost in our own thoughts.

Away from the what-ifs and what could have beens and the will-it-evers.

As an official over-thinker in recovery, I know how challenging this is.

​Yesterday on our walk we stepped out into the breezy crisp air, but the sun was shining.

"Ahhhh, Mom, feel that sunshine."
Suddenly, we weren't just looking for the good in the present moment, we were feeling it.

These past few months have been exhilarating in ways I never imagined.

Book events, speaking events, anthology and contest submissions and even a new course I'm developing (wink, wink stay tuned...) not to mention the countless new friends and contacts I have met has been just incredible.

BUT

I have also felt bombarded with people saying:

"have you done this or that?"
"are you going to start coaching?"
"are you maximizing your website contact information?"
"are you, are you, are you..."

And honestly it started to feel overwhelming. And the old repetitive thoughts of "you aren't doing enough, being enough, trying enough, fighting enough" started to fill the pit of my stomach.

I didn't write my story to make millions. I am not focused on boosting my SEO.

I wrote it to heal, and I wrote it to give hope to others who had found themselves asking questions like:

"Is this it?"
"Is there another way, I feel like I have more inside of me."

I wrote it so that I would be reminded of the silver lining of love in every lesson and blessing of chaos that life inevitably throws at us.

I wrote it to remind others to look at life through a lens of gratitude and hope.
​
And as we walked along our usual path yesterday, something happened....

Joey stopped to smell the hyacinth. (A little too early for roses).

I mean he stopped, sat down on the sidewalk and breathed in their delicious scent.

My children humble me more often than I can count, and this was one of those moments.

When we got back home, I paused to reflect in my journal before returning to my day job.

I reflected on all of the blessings that are surrounding us every day.

I reflected on how liberated I felt in sharing my story and my authentic voice with at least a small corner of the world.

I reflected on how I know I am on the precipice of stepping out into a phase of life where the choices I make, the words I write, the people, companies, and organizations I engage with may not always be the best to "maximize my growth and potential" but they resonate with the core of my value and my beliefs.

I reflected on how I trust myself and trust the gift that this life is more than I have ever before.

In the past twelve months life has been anything BUT ordinary, nor has it been the path we had expected to be on.

Yet, there we were, on a cool Thursday in spring, sitting down to smell the flowers that have courageously fought through the soil and swinging temperatures and dared to shine their beautiful colors.

And all I could think was "Life is SO Good."

I hope that as nature comes back to life around us as we continue to creep into spring, that you don't just witness it, but that you become part of it.

That you feel it.

That you learn to ride the waves (or the spring breeze) and allow it to move you to where you can truly flourish from the center of your heart.

That you fall in love with all of the good that surrounds us.

That you stay present in a state of gratitude.

​Because it is there - everywhere - we just have to Look for the Good.