Feeling Overwhelmed This December? A Gentle Practice to Begin the Season The Month That Arrives Too Fast I read recently that there were once serious proposals to move us to a 13-month calendar  — a whole extra month, neat and tidy, all the same length. And I’ll be honest: standing here at the edge of December, part of me wishes they’d gone through with it. Because somehow every year, one minute I’m hanging skeletons, and the next I’m tripping over Christmas lights in the garage and grabbing...

I had coffee with a friend recently — she lost her brother this year — and as we sat there savoring a quiet moment before the holiday rush, she glanced around the café at the families and children and sighed. “I’m the last of my family sitting at the Thanksgiving table this year.” My heart ached for her… and, if I’m honest, for myself too.Because in her words, I felt the shrinking of my own family — the once-rowdy household of five daughters and two parents that has slowly grown quieter over...

“Mending Fences”: Boundaries That Breathe On growing up with no privacy, learning boundaries in sobriety, and why healthy fences still let love in. I have a problem with the term “boundaries” – with what it means and how to do it. It probably started with sharing one bathroom with four sisters and my parents. I’d be showering and someone would rush in, leaving me with a cold blast mid‑shampoo, or there’d be pounding on the door: “Hurry up!” My poor father would stand at the bottom of the...