On Life and Words

What if there were a different way—a rhythm of life alive with purpose, rooted in connection rather than consumption? Imagine a village not born by chance but by intention—a community shaped by shared values, where each sunrise signals a collective opportunity. You awake, not as an individual lost in screens and errands, but as a vital thread in a broader tapestry. You tend a garden, side by side with neighbors, co-creating nourishment and learning from the soil. You collect eggs together, laugh over morning smoothies, clasp hands at the dinner table, and soak in the wisdom of elders. A real village thrives on interdependence. What if your mental health care didn’t rely solely on appointments, but on intentional check-ins: listening circles, shared struggles, and spontaneous care? Practical supports weave through your days—childcare managed collectively, elderly neighbors helped with errands, skills passed from hand to hand. In times of grief or celebration, you don’t stand ...

We dream of intentional living, but how do we make it real? First: collect your circle. Who’s in? Write a shared mission: do you want to grow food, educate each other, live off-grid, celebrate spiritual rituals? Put words to values. Next: meet regularly—kitchen table chats, outdoor walks, virtual sessions—to nurture clarity and cohesion. Step two: land & layout. Urban, suburban, rural—each has pros and cons. Look for a place with common space potential: a shared garden, a fire circle, indoor gathering rooms. Think evergreen solar exposure, accessible public transport, local schools. Third: design for coexistence. Shared meals: who cooks and when? Childcare rota: who’s awake when? Elder care: can you foster intergenerational connection? Maintenance: who mows lawns or fixes leaky roofs? Write the schedule, but test it flexibly—regular retrospectives let you adjust. Fourth: build your economy. Mutual aid thrives best when it’s reciprocal. Have a shared fund for tools, seeds, and suppl...

 Actually, I pretty much just let life and my depression take over me for awhile. So I stopped writing.  What a shame it is that the times we need people the most we end up isolated? Whether by our own doing or some other circumstance. It’s been a rough year. I’m now over a year since my hysterectomy. I still hurt with any strenuous activity and I have struggled with stomach issues and severe anxiety since my surgery.  Now trying some new medications and a new routine for self-care. We shall see how it goes.  ❤️

I have had a really difficult time over the past year; mentally, physically, emotionally, financially. It’s been a rollercoaster of seemingly limitless insanity and a bunch of bright moments scattered within a dark forest full of danger. Perhaps I exaggerate, perhaps not.  I had two surgeries within a year - one, seemingly minor, simply getting four broken teeth removed (except it affected a lot more than those four broken teeth and further impacted my ability to eat properly) and then my hysterectomy almost six months ago. A physically and mentally difficult ordeal, I got infections in my incisions, I had so much pain it was unreal and I found myself struggling to do anything physically, found myself completely exhausted with minimal stamina for much of anything.  I didn’t take the seriousness of my hysterectomy into consideration. I chose to remain blissfully unaware of the physical repercussions of having a major surgery where a part of one’s body is removed. And from an ar...

Gratitude and gratefulness. These are two very important words that everyone should know, but better yet, they should be incorporated into everyone's being and daily life. But there is a slight difference between the two. Gratitude is an abstract noun, it's a description, an abstract way to describe someone being "thankful." Most definitions used the example of someone doing one a kindness, one saying "thank you" and then being *grateful* for the other person's kindness. It's an abstract THING or emotion. Gratefulness is an attitude, an adjective, it's a way of thinking and feeling. Most definitions that I ran across for "grateful" stated that it is an adjective and it is to "show appreciation for kindness." Hmmm. That's interesting. Both describe a feeling or emotion, but from different sides. But both are so very important. It's not enough to just say "thank-you" and be thankful for another's kin...

Sometimes in life, we come to a crossroads with people or situations. We are faced with the choice of either continuing to hold on or to try to let someone or something go. This is the first step in healing from trauma or abuse, and it can also just be something as simple as needing to clear your "emotional clutter" or remove complications from your life to be able to live your best life in as healthy a way as is possible. This might need to happen in a very direct and abrupt manner. You may need to make a conscious choice to get someone or something out of your life, choosing to go no-contact with an individual or choosing to drop a habit or something else. It can seem to come out of nowhere to the other person if it's an individual, they might even get angry with you for losing their access to you. In some cases, it's just a simple case of a friend or family member and yourself losing common ground and needing to go separate ways... there's nothing wrong with...

Childhood is hard. Adulthood is hard. Being a human being is hard. Being a DECENT human being is even harder.  It's impossible to go through life completely unscathed... no one can do it. Every single moment, every single experience we have... shapes the people that we become. This can be to the better or for the worse. I don't believe that people are born "bad"  or good either one... I think they are all born "neutral" and then their experiences and basic personalities shape them into the people they become. For most of us, we're just you're average, garden variety good person. In my case, I'm a pretty good person who got handed several bad hands in life. I ended up being abused most of my life and now have to deal with the aftermath of being abused, which includes PTSD, dissociative disorder due to Complex Trauma and a host of other mental and emotional issues. The average person walking past me on the street would never be able to see or gu...