WOW: Women's Older Wisdom

Keeping My Soul Alive in Dark Times

There are too many mornings when I wake up with a heaviness.  Sometimes it’s the weight of the world. Sometimes it’s the accumulation of years, recognizing there is less time ahead of me than behind me. I have been an activist [...]

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Brene Brown4

Looking Away

“Don’t talk to me about Gaza.  It’s too depressing.” “I refuse to read anything that involves the Orange Tyrant.” A dinner party invitation:  “We’d love your company. Be forewarned: it will be a politics-free night.” –Common responses to news stories of the suffering in Gaza; Trump’s mean-spirited laws targeting [...]

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Growth Through Vulnerability

Being vulnerable is generally defined as speaking and acting in a way that involves a risk where the outcome is unpredictable.  For this reason, many take pains to avoid being vulnerable rather than chance receiving disapproval and rejection. This limited perspective overlooks the enormous benefits of being vulnerable. Abigail Thomas, the [...]

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Growing from Vulnerability

Brene Brown, the popular self-help writer and TED speaker, insists that not until we allow ourselves to be vulnerable, can we truly live. You might be scratching your head thinking, “But I feel vulnerable a lot and my life is hardly a bowl of cherries.”  This isn’t the association Brown has in mind. She wants us to embrace our vulnerability [...]

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Moving from Darkness into the Light

The other night I woke up at 3:30 am, my fears in over-drive.  I worried that it will be months before I can see family and friends, that I’m massively wasting time every day, and on a lighter note, bemoaned cutting my hibernated hair. As I was tossing and turning I had a small epiphany: I’ve been neglecting my spiritual practices, which [...]

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