Radical Self-Care for the Holidays

“Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example.  To yourself, respect.”   Oren Arnold I was asked to facilitate a women’s retreat in Idaho at the beginning of November. Our 3-day retreat was held at […]

The Power of Gratitude

Many years ago I was in one of those “dark night of the soul” places. I seemed to be going nowhere in every aspect of my life. I had just broken up with a boyfriend, I was cleaning houses for a living, I had no opportunites for singing or expressing myself, and every door that […]

Telling The Truth

I just found out today that a friend of mine died. He was not in my immediate circle of close friends, but someone that I swam with on my team. He was someone that I saw just about everyday, sometimes more than my friends or family. He woke up with a headache a year and […]

Give Yourself the Gold

The Olympics are over. New stars were born right before our eyes with their amazing victories, and there were would-be stars who saw their moment come and go in defeat in a nanosecond.  Since I grew up as a competitive swimmer, logging hundreds of hours in the pool, going to swimmeets every weekend, and having […]

One Small Step

I had a big thrill this week. Did I get a major record deal? Win the lottery? Get an all expenses paid trip to my heaven on earth: Hawaii? No, I had a validation that I had made a difference. A small one – but a difference nonetheless, and it felt really good. I live […]

Celebrate Your Life

It’s the month of June – a time for graduations, when summer officially begins, and it is also a time of celebrations and sometimes of moving on.  Every June I travel to Southern California to sing at the graduation of a school for emotionally handicapped kids that my sister owns.  These are kids that may […]

My Religion is Kindness

Download the song “My Religion is Kindness” from the CD “Beloved” It seems that I wind up writing these monthly newsletters on the plane, and this month is no different. Right now I am coming home from co-facilitating a women’s retreat with my beloved friend, Rev. Cynthia James, for the women of Mile Hi Church […]