Posts from the “Roar” Category

Stop Fearing Goldilocks

Posted on October 27, 2015

Ive been trying to allow myself to see some of my emotions like I do the girls’, which is to say, with a measure of compassion. The girls are tumbling through changes and launching themselves toward new things and people. They don’t always know why. They are trying o figure out how to explain what they are feeling or make sense of a new desire not to talk about every little thing. Patience is gold and I am trying to be a diligent miner. This post is something that I posted on Medium last week. As friends have shared it I have reread it and each time I rediscover forgiveness for myself and little smidges of resolve to trust my instinct. I’d love to know…

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Categories: Roar

Limiting “All”

Posted on September 19, 2015

Six months ago, give or take, I discovered a new word. It was love at first sight. I loved the way I couldn’t say it without making a funny face or how reading its definition felt like permission granted. habseligkeiten, which I never want to capitalize because it feels as if it deserves to live forever as a lowercase word, a member of the eternal tribe of dreamers and collectors, discoverers and believers.   Montages danced before me of bits of bark, ends of ribbons, metal shavings, and dry eraser ink stained tissues. A lump threatened in my throat as guilt lanced me, all the things I’ve tossed into garbage bags. We can’t keep every single thing that we collect or sustain an impenetrable awareness…

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Categories: Me, Roar

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Weekend Breadcrumbs

Posted on April 10, 2015

Rumor has it the weekend is supposed to be glorious and you may rush to be out in the fresh air, but in the even that April gives a capricious wink and conjures up winds and rains, you can tuck into your coziest spot, with a well-loved blanket and mug of whatever flips your switch, and ingest these gorgeous words. Gratitude and awareness of blessings is a hard thing to teach, particularly when I still struggle with it myself. I love this essay from Rudri Bhatt Patel, which demonstrates so beautifully how we should never deny our kids an experience because we think it might be beyond their ability to comprehend. I want to follow her lead and do this. Let me know what you…

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Categories: Roar

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Use What Works, Discard the Rest

Posted on December 31, 2014

Growing up didn’t involve a lot of lectures for me. My mom gave me just enough structure that I knew where the boundaries were, but for the most part she said things like, “Listen to your insides. If it hurts…if you feel wrong…if they make you be someone else…” She gave me a good compass. What I didn’t know was how forcefully people would pressure me throughout my life to feel they way that they do—   to diet when they do to overindulge when they do to slack off, to stress out…you name it.   I thought I’d create a gentle space here. No challenges to create resolutions, no declarations that all of must do x, y, or z. Hopefully these are just…

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Categories: Roar

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Fighting the Darkness

Posted on October 29, 2014

Sometimes things alight on me, magical things—good moods, optimism, luck, butterflies. I revel in their arrival and do my best to enjoy them while they’re here. Other times things come to roost that aren’t the kind of thing that you share on Instagram or gush about over lunch. Anger, despair, even defeat. They cling to me without warning, more like oil than solid weight, suffocating me and defying any sort of strength or resistance. I do my best to avoid what I think may be triggers—comparisons to other people’s lives, reading the headlines, but sometimes the emotions are here before I realize it. The video that made the rounds yesterday about a woman getting catcalled switched my spirit to darkness like a switch. I cringed as…

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Categories: Roar

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