Some 12 years back, I went on a life changing adventure that still serves as a source of inspiration for me. I spent three months living amongst Benedictine and Trappist monks. I had no idea at the beginning what my venture would lead to – I was on a mission to do research for a novel that had captured my…
Category: Totable Muse
Career Check-Up
If you find yourself answering I don’t know to the big questions in your life, today is the day to start exploring. If you don’t know what you seek, then surely no one, including yourself, will be able to help you to get where you’re going. We live in a world that is constantly evolving – careers that existed…
The Woman on the Bus: a tribute to my mentors
Lee K. Abbot, the author and professor, was one of my most favorite writing teachers. He had a human element to him both inside and outside of the classroom. He was a man’s man, but also a sensitive soul, who was not afraid of letting his students experience his blend of stern and soft. Most importantly, he was not afraid…
9/11 – In Remembrance of the Missing People
I remember that September morning well – the air was crisp and breezy with a hint of fall. The sun bright and commanding. At around 6 am, I ran my favorite 6.2 mile loop in Central Park. There was something about the park that day, the pool-blue sky, the hopefulness I always feel in September, that made me want to linger…
A Guide to Living in the World
A memo to myself for when I forget the basics Happiness is hard work. It is a choice, not a given or a guarantee. It requires a commitment to believing in yourself, your capabilities, and the endless possibilities ahead. It demands a belief that there is always a positive side to every incident. And once you achieve happiness, it requires…
Why You Do Anything
The great thing about life is, in part, that you get to partake in the lives of others. I am continually amazed at the stories I hear from dear friends and new acquaintances – stories of hope, inspiration, hard work; stories of chance, catastrophe, and positive outcomes, too. More often than not, it’s people who inspire me – they help…
What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?
For the past decade, I’ve interacted with Millennials and Generation Z students in a college classroom setting, which means that twice a week I get to hear their gripes, their joys, what they care about, and I learn quickly the fastest route to boring them: preaching. Like everyone else, college kids do not want to hear me or anyone else…
Floating Time: turning off & tuning in
It takes time and self-exploration to find what makes each of us tick. Some folks know early on what their passion is, as if they were born knowing, while others are late bloomers, discovering their passions later in life – sometimes by luck, and other times by overcoming the voice that says no, you can’t, and going for it. And…
Happiness: It’s an Inside Job
It seems that the majority of us are always trying to get somewhere, whether it is to a meeting on time, to run an errand, or to the next level of our career. But you don’t often hear people talking about needing to get inside, to where the quiet, the peace, the possibility of making sense, resides. I’ve been writing…
LOSS
The Beginning My cat, an irresistible, affectionate main coon, moved into my life 13 years back, when I lived on the Upper East Side in Manhattan. My not-yet husband asked me if he could bring Buddhi with him when he flew in to visit me from Los Angeles. “Sure,” I said. Buddhi adopted me from the get go, following me…