NEWSLETTERMay 2025 Today’s newsletter is inspired by an email my friend, Cara Bradley, sent me recently. The title of the email was ‘You Don’t Know How Great You Are.’ Really, just the title alone hits me. Because she’s so right -– you don’t know how great you are. Somehow we think that most of what we do is just ‘status quo,’ what’s expected. I know this for a fact because I’ve pointed out to friends, family members, and clients how incredible they are. How hard they work. How much patience...
about 2 months ago • 6 min read
NEWSLETTERApril 2025 A few weeks ago, I attended part of a board meeting for my temple. Before business is conducted at these meetings, our rabbi talks a bit about the Torah portion for that week. The Torah is made up of the first five books of the Bible – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deutoronomy. And, just as there is a weekly sermon in a church, each week there is a parshah, the Torah portion for that week. The topic. And the d’var Torah is the commentary on that section, that...
3 months ago • 6 min read
NEWSLETTERMarch 2025 A few weeks ago I had a JOY SCHOOL call where folks submitted some really incredible questions. I always get great questions but this one question has stuck with me. Gotten under my skin. Every time I read it, I feel some prickling behind my eyes. So today I want to share the question with you and my answer to it. But what I’d really love is for you to mull the question over and share your thoughts with me too. Here’s the question: I did something really bad many years...
4 months ago • 7 min read
NEWSLETTERFebruary 2025 For some reason when I say the phrase in the middle of the night – I think of that Billy Joel song "The River of Dreams" – "In the middle of the night/I go walking in my sleep..." Maybe rather than go through my litany of thoughts during the middle of the night, I should just try and remember the lyrics to "The River of Dreams" –- that could be a good strategy. Like counting sheep. I should tell you right now, lest you think I’m someone who can remember song lyrics, I...
5 months ago • 7 min read
NEWSLETTERJanuary 2025 This time of year, I hear a lot of conversations about bodies: goals, commitments, how to tame them: this is the year I’m going to get my butt in gear. I’m sure you’ve heard someone mention this flavor of resolution. There's a fair amount of regret and guilt floating around – about not having cared for our bodies. I've let myself down or I haven't treated my body well. And then there are illnesses, especially chronic ones. Cancer, auto-immune diseases, long Covid. Or...
6 months ago • 6 min read
NEWSLETTERNovember 2024 Sometimes we all come down with a case of the worries. It’s been running through the house. First COVID, now the worries. I’ve had to stock up on Kleenex like crazy! I think as adults we all have a worry baseline – that series of items that kind of stays on the list. Consistent worries. Maybe about parents or kids, money, elections, health. But, sometimes, the worry level starts to rise above sea level. And then each worry seems to feed off the next. Do you find that?...
8 months ago • 6 min read
NEWSLETTEROctober 2024 We just concluded a ten day period called The Days of Awe -- beginning with Rosh Hashanah and ending with Yom Kippur. It’s funny that our Gregorian calendar has only one new year day when many cultures and religions have a multi-day period in which to celebrate the ringing in of a new year. And a multi-day period seems appropriate, doesn’t it? Because an end and a new beginning bring a whole slew of emotions – I like to call this kind of mix an emotional stew. There’s...
9 months ago • 6 min read
NEWSLETTERSeptember 2024 There’s been a lot of college talk in our house lately. It’s mostly good but I can feel some stress, stress that hasn’t been in our home before, creeping in. Ben, my oldest son, and I went on a short northeast college road trip this past June. We had fun: we listened to comedy specials, ate Chipotle every night (well, I think that was fun for Ben – my GI system was crying just a bit towards the end), watched movies. And Ben, who is the most present-focused person I’ve...
9 months ago • 6 min read