When was the last time you chose silence over chatter? Maybe an object of beauty rendered you beyond words, or a silly argument, or even just the nonstop press of life. A friend shared her own story of resilience and “enough words” during a car ride with her teenage son. From the sound of…
Read more...The other day I presented my new workshop on resilience to a group of medical residents. I was forewarned by the physician who invited me to present not to raise my hopes about the eagerness of the audience. “These guys are overworked, burned out, and probably a bit dubious about a workshop touting individual resilience when the…
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Today marks 14 years since my first husband’s death. Brett died of a medulloblastoma brain tumor, which typically affects children ages five and under. Except he was 32 when diagnosed and 39 when he died. Some anniversaries hit especially hard. This one feels that way maybe because the date nearly slipped my mind. I got…
Read more...The holidays are a tender time for many of us. We run ourselves ragged looking for the perfect gift items and trying to squeeze in every last holiday party. Night after night someone or something requires our attention. Like clockwork, we begin the month of December with ambitious plans only to lose steam mid-month. How will…
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I recently finished Paul Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air. The memoir is wrenching, elegant, and unforgettable. For those who haven’t read it, Paul Kalanithi was a brilliant neurosurgeon at Stanford who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He and his wife Lucy, also a physician, became parents just weeks before Paul’s death. This is a book…
Read more...The other day while heading to a meeting I nearly walked into a street pole staring at a red-headed woman steps in front of me. The sun lit her long coppery hair like water on glass. It was beautiful to watch her striding in the morning light. “I love your hair,” I told her. “Thank you so much,” she…
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I love the word grit. It’s got texture, depth, and pluck. And like most juicy words, it can be more than one thing.
Read more...A few months ago my husband and I took our teenage daughter to see her first music concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater. The guest artist was none other than Lindsey Stirling, a dancing and violin virtuoso. You heard me right. Dancing AND violin.
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