by Carol S. Hyman What do you say at this time of year? Season’s greetings? Happy holidays? While these expressions may upset folks who’d like something more specific, most of us respond well to them as gestures of good cheer. Still, they can feel a bit bland. So this...
by Carol Hyman It feels risky to admit to optimism these days when doomsaying is so prevalent and irony is fashionable. But without ignoring how much work we have to do, I’m cheered by some of the changes I see unfolding around me. I don’t think it’s naïve optimism:...
by Carol Hyman If you’re going to borrow, borrow from the best. So how about this? “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the...
by Carol S. Hyman ‘Tis the season when the mind turns to giving. But how many gifts through the years are keepers? How many do we even remember? Diamonds may be forever but most stuff tends to go the way of all things. So what do we keep? Memories, of course, but...
by Carol S. Hyman Outer space has always fascinated human beings. The Webb Telescope, which recently went into orbit a million miles from the minds that conceived and executed its launch, lets us see energy dancing in space so distant we can’t measure it in miles. We...
by Carol S. Hyman In these days when individual psyches erupt in unthinkable violence and our social fabric seems to harbor dark and toxic stains, it can be tempting to turn away and ignore the ugliness and hatred. After all, even if we suspect that we are all parts...
by Carol S. Hyman Like most small children, I ran to my mother whenever I was hurt. The first time I brought her a splinter too deep for tweezers, she told me to sit tight and she’d be right back. When she returned with a needle and book of matches, I was curious,...
by Carol S. Hyman The Greeks acknowledged love’s nuances with many names. This year my Valentine goes out to America, wishing for a wave of love to sweep over our land, an upswelling of pragma, the word the Greeks used for a love built on commitment, understanding,...
by Carol S. Hyman It’s that time of year again, only this year it’s different. When I was a child, pondering the question of what I wanted for Christmas was pretty much a year-round activity. Even if my wildest desires had to be whittled down to the best I could...
by Carol S. Hyman
I caught my first wave this year at age 34. As I paddled out towards the break and the seafloor fell away beneath my feet, the familiar pit in my stomach returned. Flashes of memory zipped across my mind’s eye and I briefly became my 15-year-old self again, battling...
By Tommy Housworth “There are always flowers for those who want to see them.” — Henri Matisse Our neighbor’s tulips came up today, bursting with defiant vibrance. They rose in spite of the stubborn Shenandoah soil, the tariffs on fertilizer, and the mid-spring...
By Tommy Housworth As a teenager, I awaited Valentine’s Day with the kind of naive optimism Charlie Brown had forwinning the affections of the Little Red Haired Girl in Peanuts. My awkward high school (andcollege) years were filled with clumsy, insecure attempts at...
BY MATTHEW ROBERTSON Over the holidays, I revisited one of my favorite films: Interstellar. Framed as a sweeping space odyssey, it explores themes of love, survival, and the future of humanity. Beneath its epic scale, however, lies a quieter and more radical...
BY TOMMY HOUSWORTH “I think the world is going to be saved by millions of small things.” – Pete Seeger It was, perhaps, the last thing I expected on a Saturday morning, but you never know when paying attention will pay off – even when scrolling through social media. A...
by Tommy Housworth Our minds can sometimes seem like wild horses but even when they aren’t charging around, mindfulness takes work. For many of us, maintaining intentional awareness of the present moment is, in fact, our greatest challenge. Thankfully, there are...