By nature, we are diverse. We have individual wants, cultures, beliefs, gender identities, and ages. By design, we are united within a hodgepodge of humanity by our needs: food, shelter, hope, a sense of belonging, a sense of faith beyond ourselves, to be loved and to love. Within our growing years and onward, we live many lives as “one” person, spirit, or soul. However we label it.
Are we lined up at the Graduation Gate? Are we seasoned souls with years of experience? No matter where we are in life, we can begin to be more than we were yesterday.
University of Southern California senior Kaitlyn Chu started boldly. Living through the pandemic with the rest of us, Kaitlyn understood how isolation, empty cities, and covered faces has created an uncommon world for us, especially for children. She wanted to help calm the shivers that children get seeing masked faces. On strangers. On those they love. On themselves.
Sub-zero weather and my cat ventures out. No wonder felines have nine lives. My cat’s only three and she’s on her eighth life.
Her snowprints remind me of how we all leave impressions every day by our words, our actions, our silence. Sometimes our impact is small, even unnoticed. Other times we do something bold, outside of the safe zone.
Finding the inspiration to stay positive during a pandemic year of “unusuals” was draining, if not pointblank depressing. Amid the chaotic climate of 2020, patience and impatience for “normalcy” bounced out of balance. All across...
Early this morning, I rolled out my cat-scratched, hole-poked mat once again and pressed Shuffle for my yoga tunes. With bones shouting and muscles complaining, I ebbed and flowed through my poses. As I ended in the calming tree pose with one leg bent and a foot to my knee, my arms stretched from my heart to the sky. I gazed at the tree outside my window. Oddly enough, it posed in mirror image to me. We bent and swayed together in a ridiculous dance…
Bursts of belly-laughs. Raised eye-brows. Teary trickles. Heart tugs. Grumbly mutters and more. Good storytelling sparks emotions and memories in us. It connects cultures and generations. The best words create melodies on a page we can sing reading aloud. These story songs expand, challenge, affirm, and delight us. My hope is that my storytelling creates this magic for you.
