It’s hardly controversial — or even all that original — to say that each of us has a complicated relationship with our own body. Some of us feel good about the one we have; others not so much. We’re each healthy — more or less, or sometimes not at all. In any case, the challenge of staying fit and/or well is real. Four years ago, I wrote in this online journal my thoughts on my body image, and...
🌸 This March 8, I want to shine a light on the women whose names we may never know, yet whose courage, sacrifice, and brilliance have shaped and are reshaping our world right now. These are the unsung heroines whose stories deserve to be told—not as overlooked historical footnotes, but as urgent, living chapters unfolding today. 🌸 The brave ones: Women in present conflicts Right now, as you read...
On our walk in a nature park today, we came upon two teenagers gingerly traversing a huge felled tree. The mother stood below, calmly watching them. My honey, a China-born and raised Canadian, smiled and said, “A Chinese, or any Asian, mother would scream at them to get down.” Having lived in Asia for over three decades, his observation rang true to me. Yet I answered that there didn’t seem a...
My writer friend, Ardis of The Reflective Pen, recently wrote a poignant blog post about crying. In it she describes how too soon after our celebrated first cries out of our mother’s womb, we are hushed to be quiet, to be strong—no need for tears. She invites her readers to reflect on whether a person can live without tears. And whether that is even healthy. As I read her words, she sees stifling...