Two courage quotes from Abraham Maslow on the power of confidence: “The history of the human race is the story of men and women selling themselves short.” “We fear to know the fearsome and the unsavory aspects of ourselves but we fear ever more to know the godlike in ourselves.” Advice for the day: Don’t […] Read More

After a summer of neglect, my flower garden was full of reproach when I started a bit of weeding this afternoon. It’s just too hot here to enjoy such activities in summer, plus I’d rather be on the water then. (Or lounging in the AC reading a novel.) So I expect a garden to look […] Read More

At a party last night, I had a talk with the hostess, a woman in her seventies whom I’d never met before, and was impressed by the fact that she seemed entirely “for real” through the whole conversation. I asked myself what gave me that feeling. She seemed: * relaxed, but not ostentatiously so* forthcoming […] Read More

A friend with a martial arts testing this weekend is dealing with a stiff back. It would be possible for him to get the test put off. Here’s what he says about that possibility: “My default setting is to ‘go for it.’ The back would have to be really bad for me to ask for […] Read More

“We must insist that the future does not belong to fear.” —President Barack Obama, speaking to the U.N. Add to del.icio.us - Stumble It! - Subscribe to this feed - Digg it Read More

Recently I spent a day working on my sofa–and napping on my sofa–from roughly 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Not my usual workday but I got a fair amount done. And caught up on my sleep. (I think.) And I didn’t let my laptop crash to the floor and die. Variations like that in my […] Read More

Just noted a new “follower” of this blog named FumblingConfidence. The name grabbed me. Anybody who admits to fumbling with confidence has a fair amount, as well as courage. And then I went to her blog, and discovered that, yes, her views are clear and bold. It takes some spunkiness to admit to less than […] Read More

Sitting in my husband‘s office, I’m keeping him company while he embarks on a massive and daunting cleanup. His style is to have books and papers and interesting objets strewn everywhere. And that has its charm, but lately the expression of this style has gotten a tad out of hand. There’s a finite amount of […] Read More

A curious little discovery. Being a writer and so far not a bestselling one, I usually earn less than friends who are not in the arts. My car rolled off the line in ’92, etc. I never thought that embarrassed me at all. It’s merely a cost of my calling in life, and most of […] Read More

You must go to Salon.com and read Garrison Keillor’s story about having a stroke. It is GK at his best, which is very very good. And he makes this brush with death charming and funny, as well as, with a deft hand, profound and an argument for political action. Tough to do under any circumstances. […] Read More