“You know you’re my friend!” I first met Mr. Green in the Fall of 2018 at the information booth entering Florida Gulf Coast University. As you enter the main road to campus, you pull off to a building just big enough for one person. The miniature dark green metal roof and white walls match the …Read More
Blog
Hold fast to dreams ~ Langston Hughes
“Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly.” ~ excerpt from the poem “Dreams” by Langston Hughes On December 25, 1925, a century ago, Langston Hughes was working as a busboy at the Wardman Park Hotel dining room in Washington D.C. At twenty-three years old, the young …Read More
The Place I Want to Get Back To ~ Mary Oliver
The Place I Want to Get Back To~ by Mary Oliver The place I want to get back to is where in the pinewoods in the moments between the darkness and first light two deer came walking down the hill and when they saw me they said to each other, okay, this one is okay, …Read More
Gratitude: Uncovering Your Mission
The Thanksgiving Holiday in America is one of extended families coming together for dinner in the spirit of gratitude. Most families spread the table with the classic dishes of turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, green beans, and pumpkin pie. For many holiday celebrations in my childhood, we walked across the backyard canopy of mango and …Read More
Field Guide to the Apocalypse ~ Athena Aktipis
“It’s the end of the world as we know it…” ~ Beetles “Stop freaking out. Do this instead,” says Athena Aktipis, the psychologist who wrote “A Field Guide to the Apocalypse.” Inside the book, you’ll find advice (with singalongs) for stressful times. Rather than promoting paranoia or isolationism, Aktipis encourages embracing uncertainty—forming “survival teams,” practicing …Read More
For One Who Is Exhausted ~ John O’Donohue
For One Who Is Exhausted~ by John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic,Time takes on the strain until it breaks;Then all the unattended stress falls inOn the mind like an endless, increasing weight. The light in the mind becomes dim.Things you could …Read More
Art Comes Alive ~ “Can’t Help Myself”
Art imitates life. In that imitation, we see ourselves and what it means to be human. Art is a medium to tell a story–emotions of joy or pain, the experience of the beautiful, inspiration or frustration, trapped in limiting beliefs or opened to an infinity of choices, … the possibilities seem endless. In that expression …Read More
Finding Your Sacred Mission
Companies have mission statements to inspire them. What’s your personal mission? The mission statement is short and powerful, like a north star that you can return to over and over to inspire and guide you. By holding a mission statement in your mind and heart, you can live fully in the present moment and create …Read More
300 Years of Classical Music
Imagine a world without music. Today, music is everywhere. With our personal devices and headphones, we can walk around in our own personal soundscape. However, in the memories of some of those alive today, music was something heard only in live performance. I imagine the wonder of hearing the beautiful voice of the violin for …Read More
After My Mother Died ~ Joel Ying
The year after my mother diedWas filled with angerSleepless nightsGetting upAnd walking through my dayWhere the best and worst thingThat I could do was forgetEven for a momentThe second year after my mother diedWas filled with angerAnd joyThinking ofThe way that she would laugh beforeHer own punchlinesCross her legs and say“I have to pee!”And laugh …Read More