A Beacon of Light

“You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” ~ Louise Hay Why is it so challenging for us to lovingly embrace who we are? What is it about the human condition which causes us to be so self-critical? Well, for starters, for years advertisers…

“God invented whiskey to keep the Irish from ruling the world.” ~ Ed McMahon I wrote and originally published this poem in 2017. Today seems like an appropriate day to share it once again. It’s simply called “Saint Patrick’s Day.” I drank some pints of Guinness, then I had a little more. Before too long…

“The morning, like all San Francisco mornings, promised spring.”  ~ Elizabeth Stark Rarely, in my lifetime, have I had the opportunity to enjoy a San Francisco sunrise. Having lived my first eighteen years in the Sunset District, the sunlight had to clear Mount Davidson before shining down on the west side of The City. Even…

“Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it.”  ~ Haruki Murakami Several years ago, I attended a weekend retreat on the topic of Conscious Aging. At the first session on Friday evening, participants were given a sheet of paper with eighty blank squares — eight rows of ten squares each. We…

“A farmer’s market is worth more than everything I’ve written.”  ~ Wendell Berry Kathy and I met up with a friend for an early-morning visit at the Orchard Valley Coffee shop in downtown Campbell this morning. While I frequent the establishment on a regular basis, it was the first time I’d been there on a…

“You may find that making a difference for others makes the biggest difference in you.”  Brian Williams NBC Bay Area news reporter Garvin Thomas is making a difference — a positive difference — in the lives of television viewers throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area. A couple of times each week, Thomas airs an…

“Coffee, the favorite drink of the civilized world.”  Thomas Jefferson I am not a coffee drinker. I grew up in a home where the preferred hot beverage was tea. The only times I can recall coffee brewing in our 38th Avenue home in San Francisco was when my parents had company for dinner and when…

“The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.”  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Kathy and I arrived in Ojai, California in the early evening hours on Wednesday. Kathy, and her sister Clare, are here to attend a conference at the Ojai Retreat. I came along for the ride to be their…