A Mindful Life

Life flows over death as water closes over a stone dropped into a pool.
–Winifred Holtby, in Vera Brittain, Testament of Friendship (1940)

Tomorrow, November 1, is All Saints Day, also known as The Day of the Dead in Mexico. Tradition exists to remember the lives of those whom we have loved and lost. I’m keen on ritual and symbolism. I participated at an observance while in graduate school and found it very meaningful.
Well, Heather [...]

However often marriage is dissolved, it remains indissoluble. Real divorce, the divorce of heart and nerve and fiber, does not exist, since there is no divorce from memory.
–Virgilia Peterson, A Matter of Life and Death (1961)

With the fact of life that divorce will continue, something constructive for the community good can result.
$15 divorce filing fee added in Williamson County

A $15 Family Protection Fee was added to the cost of a divorce in Williamson County.
County commissioners added the fee to help fight domestic violence and said it will generate [...]

Choose well: your choice is brief and yet endless.
–Ella Winter, And Not to Yield (1963)

A quiz of sorts is making the rounds in email; it’s a series of questions about your tastes in food, what you’re reading, what you like and don’t like, and so on. The recipient is supposed to answer the questions and forward it on to people who might care to know.
I had [...]

To the person who found my leather day planner at Barnes & Noble in the Arboretum, I thank you for turning it into the lost and found.
Thank you for respecting my property and privacy. Thank you for doing the right thing rather than keeping it for your use. Thank you for [...]

The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another’s desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread [...]

When I’m beginning to work with clients, as individuals and especially as couples, I often encourage them to create a genogram. The genogram is useful in identifying the medical history of one’s family. In the context of counseling, a genogram provides a means to create a family map. It helps us to [...]

I want to celebrate a recent accomplishment that I had a hand in creating. I am a Friend of the Wells Branch Community Library, a community resource that is growing. (They have no residency requirement, which means anyone not living within the city limits of Austin can get a free card.) They’ll [...]