Blog

Every single step in the book process has had a delay. Despite how much I talk about surrender, I've been frustrated with every delay. In the past week, I've been in deep reflection about my relationship with time.  So I've been curious about discovering what all...

Last night I was a guest on the LifeHer podcast.  I received a question that surprised me: Does it both you that white women get called Karen? The question reminded me of a conversation I had had with one of my mentors, just last week. Her take was that most...

I love that I'm on my 100-day challenge journey with a sister, Nicole Frederickson. I love being able to read her writing day-to-day and gaining insights on how this journey is changing her. At the same time--my numbers are off from hers by 12. It's a daily reminder...

Music is the easiest way I can share this complex hodgepodge of contrasts that makes up the Weltanshauung of our culture: nostalgic, defiant, satirical, and loving. Here is a song for each trait that may give you an overall feel of where I come from.

In 1892, Ida B. Wells wrote her first article denouncing the lynching of three businessmen in Memphis, TN. In her subsequent articles, she exposed how false accusations of raping white women, were used to avoid and hide the economic motivation behind the killings. The...

One of my most profound and cherished memories, is from when I was about 10 years old. On a wintery Sunday, I sat by the fireplace with my grandmother. She took my hand, stroking it in silence for about 15 min. I felt awkward having her hold my hand like that, but I...

In our culture, we’re pretty awful at saying goodbye.
Whether we rush a hug before headiIn our culture, we’re pretty awful at saying goodbye.
Whether we rush a hug before heading out the door or we get angry at each other instead of just being sad and sharing how we want to hold on.

Yesterday, the book proofs arrived in the mail. Just the day before, I had drawn a card from a reflection deck and the card was "Patience." Picking the card made me sigh: I had had it with patience. Yet, just like the pages in my own book on the first day I got to...

Surrender Practice Practice Surrender for life Jump, Feel, Expand Surrender Practice Practice Surrender for life Expect nothing but... Surrender Practice Practice Surrender for life Spirit knows, you don't.

The printed copy of the book is in the mail. I was notified last night. Publishing this book is the bravest thing I've ever done. In this moment of my life, I am building my courage muscles. It requires all of me. All of my attention. All of my devotion. Spirit seems...

Ucraine, I’m sorry. I have a hard time feeling sad and outraged for you. Not because what is happening isn’t awful. But because, there are so many other tragedies I’m still grieving. I’m pissed about what violence generates outrage and what is considered “normal.” I...

I asked my music mentor one day, what he believed united us as Italians. I was curious about his answer. I had my own ideas, ideas I still have a tough time putting in writing. Italy is an extremely young nation. We became a nation only in 1861--without Rome as...

Thursday night I went to and open-mic event in Philly. It was raw, it was profound, it was alive. Just the way I love my art. And it was a lot more than that, too. It was a space of ancestral healing. Two poets did more than recite poems: they channeled on stage the...

My voice started with a scream. turned soft-toned down by expectations of false femininity of pretended fragility My voice has been shifting and changing with my healing sanctuary My voice is growing stronger. Flowing with more vehemence When before it blocked behind...

One of the things I’ve learned about traveling, is that getting back to an empty home in the US is hard for me. It’s the single moment in which being single hurts the most…having to get back to and empty home. For years I tried to just not make it so, trying to be...

When I look back on this trip, I notice sooo many gifts. And they are all connected to hosting. My parents are the best hosts in the world. I know this from every single person I know that has visited their home. When a guest comes, they become an absolute priority....

A dinner with a high school friend has me revisit my teenage years with new eyes.

It's time to leave this land I so love. Over the years, my goodbyes have changed. There were the years I tightened my teeth and simply moved on, shutting my heart down to the pain that felt like too much. Then there were the years I learned to open my heart again and...

This morning in my therapy session I remembered a moment after my most intense trauma when I sat on the bed crying, a age 7, while one cousin held my hand, another cousin rubbed my back, and I spoke with my mother on the phone. My body's panic released under their...

Today, I went back to the mountain to say goodbye. I leave town in a few days and Italy next week to return to the US. It was really cold today. Full sweater, jacket, scarf, and hat were barely enough to stay warm. As always, the mountain required the journey uphill...

The greatest lesson is to surrender to the journey: all of it. Journeys of life. Uphills and downhills, aches and joys, soaked feet and photographs, food and hunger, snails and dogs. The richest journeys are the ones where we savor all of it.

Reiki, Yoga, Chi Gong, are all practices grounded in cultural interpretations of energy—the realm of human health that is for the most part, unseen to the naked eye. While Western mainstream medicine is based on illness are organ or body malfunction, Western medicine...

   We all have our demons: things we’re scared to do that take so much courage. Sometimes demons are looking in the mirror and accepting responsibility for our actions. Sometimes, demons are facing the pain of past experiences. Sometimes, it’s feeling the pain of...

In October, my music mentor asked me to learn this song months ago. I was in Philly at the time, and the simple idea of it made my heart break. I had heard the whole song just once before. As soon as I heard the first line again, my heart cringed: “La meio gioventu’...

Yesterday I finished writing Not a Wallflower: Honoring Practice in Racial Healing Work. The article is in response to the usual claim that whites have to “step back to make place for people of color.” Writing the article had me focus a lot on honoring self and...

It’s  morning. I had a good night sleep that seemed to wash away lots of the physical pain and discomfort of yesterday. After reiki-ing myself in bed for a bit, I wake up to a sweet morning routine of winter in Italy. Tidying up my room, coffee, fire. My favorite is...

Along with the What do I want? exercise, Yvonne recommended a book. Like the exercise, the book recommendation came repeatedly. Like before, I was annoyed by the repetition. It was Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life by...

Just when I thought I had completed the what do I want exercise, life brought a surprise.

The exercise “What do I really, really want?” reveals a pathway forward.