catalyzing compassionate action one community at a time
My husband slows the car on our way into the park while I squirm to turn in the passenger seat. “Girls!”
My 10-year-old slowly looks up from her screen. “What?”
“Turn off the screen and look out the window—we’re here!”
Continue reading “How to Make Family Time Happen: Stop Trying”
Sleep. We all need enough of it to maintain healthy immune systems and stay sharp in our work and personal lives. When it comes to parenting, sleep is a loaded subject. Continue reading “Preserving Sleep Through Time Changes”
In the United States, skeletons, skulls and white painted faces more often than not make you think of haunted houses, creepy monsters and scary stories. Just across the border in Mexico, however, these symbols of death are all about joy and thanksgiving. That’s because Mexican culture celebrates death and the deceased while we often find it difficult to discuss death at all, let alone with comfort and ease. Continue reading “Dia de los Muertos Helps Us Honor Our Ancestors With Love and Joy”
The autumn equinox recently occurred, officially heralding the return of the fall season. Can you feel fall in the air yet? The changing of the seasons is exciting. Perhaps we’re looking forward to pumpkin spice flavors, falling leaves and upcoming holidays. For many of us, however, life goes on as usual. We don’t always notice the days are getting shorter and the nights longer, and simply continue on with our activities and priorities. Continue reading “Honoring the Changing Seasons: Fall”
Mindfulness and compassion have been in Laura Traxler’s blood for as long as she can remember. A longtime Orinda resident, Laura consciously planted seeds of compassion in her two sons throughout their childhood that are now beginning to bloom as they enter adulthood. How did she do it? And what can us mothers of young children learn from her that we can incorporate into our lives now? Here is Laura’s story …
Continue reading “Fostering Compassion Through “Voluntourism”: One Mom’s Inspiring Story”
My husband and I joined 26 beautiful souls on Just Be Yoga’s Manifest Maui retreat. The life-changing experience was nothing short of extraordinary. We took the trip in celebration of my...
A few months ago one afternoon, I was at my wit's end with the girls, and I could tell that I was on the verge of losing my cool with them. It was one of those everyday parenting moments that we...
It's hard to believe that Hurricane Harvey occurred less than two months ago. Given the onslaught of disasters from Irma to Maria to Mexico to Vegas and now the California fires, the devastating...
Last school year I co-facilitated a monthly mindfulness community meet-up with a local high school counselor. During our meet-ups we met with local parents and educators to talk about secular...
One night a few weeks ago when the girls were taking a bath, they got into a tiff over a bath toy. My 2-year old wanted the toy that my older daughter was playing with. My older daughter...