• Thoughts

    Be Who You Are

    I used to struggle to call myself a writer, an artist, a photographer. Didn’t I have to make money at something to be that?Even if I did make money at it, did the label really fit? Sometimes I forgot that…

  • Thoughts

    Is Any of This Real?

    How many times have I heard my sister say, “I need to touch it”? Whether we were shopping at the mall, appreciating a friend’s new dress, or entertaining my kids, the words have invariably crossed her lips. She says it…

  • Thoughts

    How Real is Your World?

    The subconscious mind has no ability to question, reason or consciously comprehend and can be programmed to override basic instinct. … Our brains are amazing, yet they can be lazy if we are not mindful of driving them. Mind control…

  • Thoughts

    Who Wrote that Book?

    Most of my life was largely guided by unquestioned assumptions: my parents loved me, school was a good thing, following the rules was a guarantee of success. I know that my parents loved me, but the other stuff? Well, let’s…

  • Thoughts

    Recognizing Limits

    Leo Tostoy believed that all history is essentially false. How is it that two people can witness the same accident and give conflicting testimonies only a few minutes after it happens, with both witnesses convinced they are sharing accurate information?…

  • Thoughts

    How Absolute?

    Two chapters a day is my quota for War and Peace. It’s possible that I will make it more of a priority at some point, but for now, I am content with my pace and have been pleasantly surprised by…

  • Thoughts

    It Can Get Hazy Among Humans

    Reading Rosemary Sutcliff’s novels set in Roman Britain is a bit of a paradox. As a lover of freedom, I should be rooting for the native tribes who have had their ways of life upset, curtailed, and sometimes ruined by…

  • Thoughts

    Your Own Darkness

    Carl Jung wrote, “Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.” Jung is another one of those people I’ve not let myself explore, but it might be time to change that. The…

  • Thoughts

    Thinking and Knowing

    Art and poetry get banished from our lives, and we are impoverished. We put our hands in our empty pockets and wonder why nothing fills them. We turn to roadmaps and instruction manuals but are still unable to decipher how…

  • Thoughts

    Please Don’t Get Comfortable

    The best part of reading more than one book at any period of time is finding the connections among them. It is a conversation, and like most conversations, paying attention is important, because if you do, you’ll likely find answers…

  • Thoughts

    Not Afraid of the Dark

    There are days when taking one step, looking just far enough ahead to figure out where to place my foot, is more difficult than on others. Yesterday was one of those. A post I had seen on Instagram, warning of…