300 Days of Sunshine

Happy Spring!   We have had gorgeous weather this week  with 50+ degree sunny afternoons, but snow is in the forecast and I know we realistically have several more weeks of winter.   I’ve learned my lesson to not begin any spring gardening in Santa Fe until after Mother’s Day.   I am keeping my fingers crossed that the bulbs I planted last fall will bloom!   While cooped up inside all winter, I have recently renewed my interest in jigsaw puzzles.   A friend of mine invited me to join a puzzle group (basically chain mail with jigsaw puzzles!) and it has been really fun to complete a puzzle and pass it along to the next person in the chain.   Growing up, my family always had a jigsaw puzzle set up on a card table during winter vacation, where the whole family could work on it throughout the week while watching Christmas movies and lounging around the house.   Until this year, though, I’ve never completed a whole puzzle on my own, and I had forgotten the simple joy and sense of accom

When life gets hectic and my schedule is monopolized by commitments to other people, I crave time alone to recharge and reset my mind.  There is a lot of evidence to suggest that spending time in solitude can help clear our brains, allowing more creative thinking and improved problem-solving, and can also strengthen relationships by allowing us a new perspective and more confidence within ourselves, not to mention the benefits of relaxation and restoration.  For an introvert working in a job that requires a lot of socialization and leadership, alone time is a necessity for me.  This week I was blessed with an unexpected day to myself, and instead of doing housework or running errands I decided to take a "me day."  There was a snowstorm the night before and the fresh powder on the hiking trails was calling my name.  In an effort to avoid ski basin traffic I opted to snowshoe on the Chamisa Trail, one of the first trailheads located along Hyde Park Road in the Santa Fe National

Working in healthcare these days can be physically and emotionally taxing,  especially when caring for critically ill patients who are suffering and distressed, in a setting where many patients don't get better, despite our best efforts, and in an atmosphere that is driven by demands in productivity, staffing, and revenue.  I find that there are days when I feel very far from my original intentions and ambitions that called me to this career.  It's easy to become task-oriented in this setting, treating patients like they are items on a checklist, rather than connecting and spreading joy.  To prevent burnout, it's absolutely  essential for caregivers and providers to revisit our purpose, ground ourselves in mindfulness and body awareness, and renew our minds and hearts to providing compassionate care.  The G.R.A.C.E. training/retreat I attended last week at the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe did just that.   G.R.A.C.E.® is an acronym that stands for: G ather attentio

This past weekend after gymnastics class another parent complimented Ady on her shirt, a pink, long-sleeved tee depicting the slogan "The Future is Female."  The other parent asked me where I bought it, because he wants to buy one for his son.  This just warmed my heart and filled me with hope.  Despite the obvious and overwhelming challenges of raising a daughter in the current political and social climate we live in, where sexism is prevalent everywhere we turn and impossible expectations are placed on women to "do it all" and do it all perfectly, I believe the challenges that parents of boys face are equally demanding. It's one thing to raise girls to be feminists, to stand up for their rights, to fight stereotypes, and to be a leader in the classroom and in the workforce, a task that a lot of parents I know are accomplishing successfully (thanks, in part, to women leaders like Hillary Clinton and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie), but it's another thing to rai