This past weekend, I was at the California coast with a group of women I lived with in the dorms during college. We hadn’t seen each other since before the pandemic and there was a lot of catching up to do.
At one point, one of the […]
Last summer, I started writing a book about living with intention so that I didn’t die with regrets. My working title: Not Dead Yet.
The writing was going well. I was exchanging pages regularly with another coach. I was starting to believe that maybe, just maybe, I might see this […]
Three months ago, fearing my life had gotten too comfortable, I decided to stretch myself and do something that scared me, something for which I had no inherent talent.
I signed up for singing lessons.
It took every ounce of resolve I possessed to make it to the first lesson. When I […]
There was a time in my early forties when I once spent the better part of a day shopping for a soap dish and toothbrush holder that would perfectly match the brushed nickel faucets in my newly remodeled spa bathroom. Back then, I was extremely proud of my just-spicy-enough jambalaya […]
I contemplated writing a memoir for four years before I started writing one in earnest. During those years, I took notes, wrote some scenes, created a list of memories, read other memoirs, played with structure. But I didn’t write consistently. Instead, I wrote when I felt like it, when I […]
I was recently interviewed for a podcast sponsored by the Hoffman Institute. If you’ve never heard of Hoffman, well, let me say that if you’re ready to make some important changes in your life–or, if you’re stuck and have no idea where to turn–you may want to check […]
I have no scientific data to back this up, but I would say—based on experience and observation—that it takes an average of four years to write a memoir, and by that I mean the kind of well-crafted story others would want to read.
In the process, memoirists not only […]
The last two weeks I’ve been avoiding my piano, and two nights ago, after a particularly frustrating night of practice, I realized why.
Whenever I’d sit down to play—or, more accurately, clonk my way through the beginner’s book—I’d find myself confronting patterns of behavior that have plagued me my entire life.
I […]
I suck. I’m not a real writer. I’m not Mary Karr. I’m not David Sedaris. I’m not Cheryl Strayed. I mean… who am I kidding? I hear comments like these from my coaching clients all the time, and it saddens me to hear how mean […]
“What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it.”
~Krishnamurti
*(Copyright 2013, Brian Whetten, used with permission)
When we […]
