Category: NATURE
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MAKING MY PEACE … with raising my light quotient – micro-moments of “feel-good” nourishment
MAKING MY PEACE … with raising my light quotient – micro-moments of “feel-good” nourishment Light builds resilience. Light builds energy. Light builds hope. But what is a “Light Quotient” and why do we need to increase it? Sasha from The Pagan Homemaker describes a light quotient as simple ways to make you feel lighter, which increases resilience,…
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MAKING MY PEACE … in 2026 with visual journaling
MAKING MY PEACE … in 2026 with visual journaling This year, 2026, I have begun visual journaling using a combination of a loosely-based phenology wheel with watercolour paintings and notes. A phenology wheel is traditionally used to track natural events and cycles, such as flower plantings, bird migrations, weather patterns, daily temperatures, hours of sunlight,…
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MAKING MY PEACE … with natural disasters
MAKING MY PEACE … with natural disasters … finding hope and renewal after disaster … After a natural disaster, a flood, a fire, an earthquake – even a heartbreak –healing seems distant, but eventually it always arrives. Inspired by Liberian poet Patricia Jabbeh Wesley’s “Healing Will Come: Elegy after Natural Disaster,” I explore the stages…
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MAKING MY PEACE … with not carrying the load alone – like ants !
MAKING MY PEACE … with not carrying the load alone – like ants ! On some days, life can feel heavy. Challenges pile up, and we may wonder if we’re carrying too much alone. But nature, as it so often does, has lesson for us. In this case, the lesson is from a small but mighty…
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MAKING MY PEACE … with the lights off
MAKING MY PEACE … with the lights off … Lights on or lights off? … How lightness and darkness shape our moods and mental health … Balancing the amount and intensity of lightness and darkness in your life is deeply personal. Everyone has a preference. My mother, for example, loved to sit in near darkness, a…
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MAKING MY PEACE … with beating burnout
MAKING MY PEACE … with beating burnout … back to joy by re-balancing work and life … Burnout isn’t just tiredness or exhaustion. It’s a slow erosion of personal spark, clarity, and joy. Kamal Pathak’s Beat the Burnout Trap (2024) reminds us that healing doesn’t begin with massive changes, but with small, kind ones. He provides quick and practical tips to beat burnout, such as…
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MAKING MY PEACE … with the labyrinth of contemplation
MAKING MY PEACE … with the labyrinth of contemplation … finding stillness on the spiral Labyrinth Hill … Labyrinths have existed for thousands of years across many cultures, from stone pathways in ancient Crete to the medieval floor maze at Chartres Cathedral in France, about 80 kms (50 miles) southwest of Paris. Unlike mazes, which…
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MAKING MY PEACE … with walking in rural France
MAKING MY PEACE … with walking in rural France … walking into stillness … There are journeys we take not to arrive quickly, but to slow down. My trip to Romilly in Normandy, France, was one of those journeys. On a recent trip north of Paris, I boarded a regional train and rode out toward Romilly for 90 minutes,…
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MAKING MY PEACE … with photographing flowers
MAKING MY PEACE … with photographing flowers … sensory immersion in bloom … Flowers soothe the soul, don’t they? Whether it’s wandering through the grand displays of the Chelsea Flower Show or simply spending time in Aunt Jeanne’s flower-filled country garden in France, I’m reminded again and again of the mental health benefits flowers give to me. Being among…
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MAKING MY PEACE … with nature as the antidote
MAKING MY PEACE … with nature as the antidote … feeling overwhelmed? … this poem gets it … In a world where noise is constant and truth is blurry, the poem “For Sanity Press Pause” by Kathryn von Bergen, offers a rare thing: a poetic exhale. The poem questions modern contradictions — where good is mocked, effort goes unrewarded, and digital noise drowns our intuition. Instead of…