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Feeding the Soul Archives - All The Single Girlfriends

Happy 2013 .. On Your Terms

Jan 1, 2013 by

Happy 2013 .. On Your Terms

The 2012 Holiday Season for this Single Girlfriends is one of profound gratitude. My second breast biopsy came back negative. That is despite the fact that breast/colon cancer tends to cluster in families and that it does in my family. My eyes are okay. My teeth, at least the ones which matter, are keeps, for the current time. I also have learned to make friends, something I initially got the hang of in the Single Girlfriends. As we Baby Boomers used to say in our youth, “My dance card is full.” People are coming into my life, rather than my chasing them. Toby Bloomberg helped make this possible. Thanks, Toby. In addition, my business is going along fine. I have reconfigured it from the focus on social media (no $, big glut) back to my...

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Happy 2013 .. On Your Terms

Jan 1, 2013 by

Happy 2013 .. On Your Terms

As 2013 opens its door to us we stand on the threshold of seemingly unlimited possibilities. However, as  I watch the rain drops fall (and think thank goodness it’s not snowing in Atlanta!)  it seems like I’ve been given a small gift to begin the new year. With the gray clouds overhead today I don’t feel a need to go and do. There will be time to think about that  in the 364 days to come. Today is for taking a small breath, to listen to the quiet, to be satisfied with the now without the pressure of achieving goals. There will be time to think about that in the 364 days to come. Happiness comes in unexpected ways. Today it’s a rain drop. Tomorrow it might be something that drives career success or the nurturing of...

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In Case Of Emergency Break Glass...

Jun 19, 2012 by

In Case Of Emergency Break Glass

While being alone in the world has tremendous advantages, there is one major disadvantage – accidents. And accidents to tend to occur when you least expect them. Case in point, last year when I was in an automobile accident – exactly one week from my birthday a driver, on her mobile phone no less, hit my car from behind forcing me into the vehicle in front of me. My car was totaled, my ribs were cracked.  The adrenaline was rushing so quickly through my veins that I could not feel anything other than a sharp pain in my abdomen and shoulder. Having been hit so hard, the airbags in my vehicle deployed and I was hit directly in the face by the drivers’s side airbag. Smoke and this strange white dust were filling my...

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OM is in hOMe

Mar 27, 2012 by

OM is in hOMe

One of the things I find missing in our fast pace lives is an inclusion of Spirit in the everyday. Now I’m not talking religion, but rather a sense of the mystical, the magical and the very breath of life. For me, one of the easiest ways to be with spirit is through a little bit of beauty. Beauty is one of those intangible elements that speaks to our spirit, uplifts our soul and makes us feel good.  When we are surrounded by beauty it is generally difficult to be negative or depressed. Yes, beauty matters! It almost always makes us want to stop, and breathe it in. Natural beauty is filled with grace and style.  And, I believe it should be an intrinsic part of every space, whether our home or workspace. What are some...

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Failure + Girlfriends = New Directions at Age 66...

Feb 14, 2012 by

Failure + Girlfriends = New Directions at Age 66

The meme of our time is failure.  In fact, the folks at the HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW are all worried about Mark Zuckerberg’s leadership at Facebook since he hasn’t as yet failed and therefore not proved he has what it takes to come back Well, I got really lucky there.  In 2003, I lost it all, ranging from my executive communications boutique to my mind.  Nine years later, sure, I agree it was the best thing that happened to me. At the very least the fear of failure is gone.  That in itself breaks us open to using our talent instead of blindly following some rules we grabbed onto chasing success.  And that in itself is a lot. But it wasn’t enough to help me move out of hiding out inside myself.  The missing piece...

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Encore!

Feb 9, 2012 by

Encore!

Now that the New Year is over a month old I am finally getting myself grounded enough to share what’s happening in my life again. I have started what some call an ‘Encore Career.’ Check out the website that supports the concept. I am the Executive Director of the Northwest Center for Creative Aging (NWCCA).  As our intro says, “We help adults find their purpose and live into their potential as they age. We enrich lives by creating conversations, fostering connections and serving as an educational resource. Our philosophy addresses the whole person – mind, body and spirit – with a range of programs committed to creative aging. We welcome people of all ages and stages.” I wasn’t looking for a new job and it happened in the same way that other jobs and experiences have happened...

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The One Thing I Will Do In 2012 Come Hell or High Water!...

Jan 3, 2012 by

The One Thing I Will Do In 2012 Come Hell or High Water!

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day. ~  Edith Lovejoy Pierce This quote from Edith Lovejoy Pierce seems particularly relevant for an online community, since of course, each new post begins with a blank page. On All The Single Girlfriends our posts wrap around the stories of our life experiences. Often they reflect our dreams, joys, hopes and sometimes our sadnesses. Our Gf authors are amazing and I wondered how they were going to fill the blank pages of their 2012 books .. what did they want to do in 2012 .. come hell or high water!   Debra Pearlman ~ Resolutions … been there, broke that.  I’d rather say that I’d focus...

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Girlfriends Helping Girlfriends...

Nov 14, 2011 by

Girlfriends Helping Girlfriends

Girlfriends Helping Girlfriends shines a virtual spotlight on amazing women who have been supporting women and girls over a period of time. This interview is extra special for us .. Yvonne DiVita is one of our own Gf Authors. Yvonne DiVita founder of the Lipsticking one of the longest sustained and most successful digital communities for women. atsGf/Toby:  What is your favorite quote? Yvonne DiVita:  From Harriet Beecher Stowe: Women are the real architects of society. atsGf/Toby:  Who are you beyond your professional resume? Yvonne DiVita: I’m just a Mom and Grandma, to some “hooman” kids and some “fur” kids. I love reading and writing and watching HGTV. I dream of someday having my own big log cabin where my ‘kids’ can run around free, indoors and out. atsFg/Toby: What is your favorite “Girlfriend” activity? Yvonne DiVita:...

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Acting Like a Grown-Up

Aug 31, 2011 by

Acting Like a Grown-Up

Some believe this means being boring. Staid. No fun. All responsibility and no spontaneity. Au Contraire.  Of course this is just my perspective, but… Being a (single) grown-up means: You can decide when it’s time to act silly…and enjoy doing so…without worrying about what others think. You can designate one day a week as the “blob day.”  Mine is Sunday.  With a few rare exceptions, I do absolutely nothing that I don’t absolutely want to do.  Oddly enough, some Sundays are my most productive days… You can choose to have cold cereal for dinner, and enjoy it. (Some nights this is JUST the thing for me. No sad little single moaning here.  I love Weetabix, with very, very cold milk.) You’ve learned that kindness is both a virtue AND a skill. A skill that...

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Girlfriends Helping Girlfriends...

Aug 3, 2011 by

Girlfriends Helping Girlfriends

Girlfriends Helping Girlfriends is an ongoing series that shines a virtual spotlight on girlfriends who have been helping girls and women. Ellen Dorsch and I go back more than 50 years.  We were high school friends, staying in touch via the ‘two degrees of separation’ principle:  mutual friends filling in the broad brushstrokes of each other’s lives for us.  We reignited our friendship at a mini 65th birthday reunion and again at our 50th high school reunion last fall. She invited me to visit her home in Vermont sometime and I took her up on it. (Fair warning: when you invite a newly retired person to ‘visit sometime,’ there is a good chance they will do it.) Ellen and her husband, Bill – she’s still married to her high school sweetheart – run Creative...

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Voting for Birthdays

May 31, 2011 by

Voting for Birthdays

“Do you have a birthday coming up?”, I wrote.  “Skipping it, thanks.”, my friend wrote back. Really? I find this hard to understand. Why would anyone skip an opportunity for birthday cake, balloons and the possibility of sparkly confetti? It’s not just the bright colors that make birthdays a delight.  Every birthday is a chance to celebrate the lives of those we love, and even those we merely like!  What makes them so fearsome to adults? Whatever you think about aging, it’s hard to argue for the alternative.  Someone ought to caution us not to let the inexperience of youth inform our opinion of age.  What treasures will the lucky ones find?  What does a person know at 95 that she didn’t know at 55?  Why decide we don’t want to be older before we...

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Chicken Faith

May 16, 2011 by

Chicken Faith

“…And their sayings appeared before them as idle talk, and they were not believing them.” So says Luke 24:11 about the reaction of Jesus’ disciples when the women told them Jesus was risen.  Silly, irrational girls.  Don’t worry your pretty little heads about such weighty spiritual matters. I learned about this at an Easter service last month.  I love Easter.  It’s a holiday of second chances, what with its story of springtime after such a bitter winter.  Our weather here in Colorado mimics the metaphor.  We had snow last night and a luscious rain today.  My chickens hide under the deck when it snows, but they run around looking like tiny, passionate dinosaurs in the rain. Aren’t women sometimes compared to hens?  No doubt, the idea comes from our similarities.  Hens are usually found...

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