Posts tagged #time

When Life Is Cut Short

Few among us get the privilege to bypass the experience of a premature, untimely loss of a loved one. The pandemic of 2020 has added to already existing causes of mortality, making it harder than usual to deny death as an organic part of life. I recently lost two junior high/high school friends as we all turn 50. They were not my closest friends, and yet their untimely death, one due to a prolonged battle with cancer and the other to a suffering-free sudden death during sleep, was impactful nevertheless.

Posted on September 24, 2020 and filed under Death and Dying.

Slowing Down to Open Up

I’ve quite frankly found it pretty challenging to routinely bend to the gifts of quiet time. Not being much for coffee, cigarettes, or wine, it seemed I even missed the American rituals that build in a pause.

I found a pause recently, though, in a gift from a wise friend. A modern, clear, silicon hot water bottle. So handsome in its simplicity, just fill with boiling water. Then retire, cradling the hot little pillow.  And let the heat creep across, from silicon to bones. Nothing one can do to rush a hot water bottle. No dial to crank up.  But there is something about a capable hot water bottle that encourages sighs of release. An unwinding. A melding.

Posted on February 8, 2019 and filed under Children, Daily Rituals, Health and Wellness, Issue 71, mindfulness.