Riding the Pooka

Cha-Cha-Cha Changes

Have you ever come across a missive from an earlier version of yourself? A note or writing or creative project long forgotten that upon discovery doesn’t inspire any rekindling of memory? It seems like a small miracle- finding such a small snippet. As if the younger smarter me had it all figured out, and left…

Eating well in the age of cancer.

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” -Virginia Woolf At this very moment, mothers the world over are asking their children these questions. “What did you have for breakfast?” and “What have you eaten today?” Food intimately links us to life. The first action of a baby after being born…

The Cosmic Super Bowl

Part One: What if we are all Worthy? What if we make an assumption that we are all part of an elite team of souls who are here to help each other and the Earth to transform to the next most wonderous stage? What if every person and situation you come across is delivering a…

Mama Day

Let me just say that it is a a huge privilege to be Mama to such awesome boys as the ones who showed up in my womb. Wanting babies was something that came to me early. As luck would have it, while still pretty young I shacked up with a great guy who was interested in being a…

This is where it all starts, just come as you are.

The wheel of the year goes round and round, round and round… Looking out at the emerging leaves and watching the song birds gather bits and pieces for their nests it is with some amazement that I have to realize that it is already May. Spring always seems like it ought to be the beginning…

Even Unicorns have bad days.

A week ago, April 28th, was the three year anniversary of my mastectomy. When I am feeling good that seems like the day I became a unicorn. In those times I am filled with the miracle of being granted the all clear pathology report and what feels like a new more sparkly cancer free future….

The long long road to order.

I have had my fair share of inner struggles with Stuff… I don’t know about you, but I have a pretty complex relationship with some of the stuff in my life. This seems to be an inherited condition shared by family members. The animist ideas of Shinto, in which belongings have a spiritual force makes…

Reweaving my Life: unraveling, deconstructing & reimagining

In addition to whatever else I may be, I am a weaver. String and me go way back. It started when my wonderful Aunt Phyllis helped me weave a green rag rug on her floor loom when I was seven years old. Which later set me up for the work study job I got while pursuing…

Recurrence, an Oncoming Train?

(Disclaimer: Many of you know that I just visited my oncology team last week- Just so you know, all tests came back normal. I continue to have no evidence of returning disease. I am feeling happy, humble and very grateful for being in this place in this moment.) I have thought of western treatments like…

Is it time to retire my Oncologist?

Joe sent me a thought provoking article from the New Yorker on the need for incremental medicine, the kind practiced by old fashioned generalists, contrasted with the heroic medicine practiced by specialists. Which of course had me thinking about how Cancering treatments might be different if we valued the more subtle aspects of medicine as much as…

What you need to know about Existential Suffering

Pain and Suffering are different things. This is something I have pondered in superficial ways at times. After reading quite an amazing post, Pain vs Suffering: Why they’re not the same for Patients, on the blog Heart Sisters, my mind is whirling. Carolyn Thomas’s well researched article explains so much. Though she is a longtime cardiology patient, her insights…

Use your Power for Good.

There used to be an opera programmer on Coast Community Radio when we first moved to town in the mid 1990’s. The programmer, Ed David, was quite elderly at the time. Sometimes there were long pauses while he arranged a record on the turntable, or gathered his thoughts. His thoughts and descriptions were so good,…