LIVING UNSCRIPTED

My acupuncturist is a bit of a nut. I used to find her way over the top, with her pseudo-British accent and bizarre commentary on which flavor cupcake she thought I had most in common with (she said red velvet, I suggested strawberry shortcake), while she stuck tiny needles into my flesh or suctioned glass cups along my spine. But yesterday was different. Yesterday, she actually got me thinking more openly about few things. No surprise this change in my perspective is due

On my current quest for self compassion and spiritual enlightenment (she says with a shy smile), there is a lot going on for me right now in both heart and mind. It's dizzying, really, but in a butterflies-in-the-tummy kind of way. Like the feeling you get waiting in line for a rollercoaster, or before stepping on stage in front of a live audience. The reading, researching, writing, workshopping, self reflection, meditation, networking, web browsing, podcasting. It is lim

I've been writing a lot more lately - beyond the journal, I mean - although I'm still loyal to that routine. There's a piece that may (or may not) turn into a coming of age fiction novel (or short story); a series of prompted vignettes (or Flash Fiction work) from a Facebook writers' group I'm a part of; the (slow) start of a children's book based on true childhood experience; an outline for a story I want to tell at an open mic event next week in the city (oh wait, I haven'

In my improv class a a little while ago, I fumbled. Hard. My scene partner and I had two choices: request characters/relationship/our objectives from my teacher OR ask for a suggestion from our audience of fellow classmates. We chose the former and our teacher set us in a future-set, science fiction genre. The Commanding Officer (me) and Eager Scientist (my partner) had just disembarked from our ship and were off to uncover a thrilling discovery that could, as it turns o

I wake up each morning at 5:45am to write in my journal - or my Morning Pages, as Julia Cameron calls them. At first, I was setting my alarm, much to my husband's chagrin. ("Alexa. Alexa, cancel alarm... Alexa!") Now it is a delightful routine I treasure and look forward to. I love the solitude and the quiet time. No kids, dogs, morning breakfast and lunch-making routine for another hour. It's just me and my thoughts, made beautiful with their pre-dawn, unfiltered trut

"Too tired to care" "#PowerMama" The two women at the nail salon I visited Friday wore these slogan t-shirts with pride. And why not? Tell 'em sisters! If we can't yell it from the rooftop with a damn megaphone, may as well shout it with a tagline. For some reason, I've been thinking about these women and their t-shirts for a few days now, and I can't shake it. Why? Because they're ironic and quasi-humorous? Yep. But also because, for some reason there was so muc