I don't mean to sound gloomy, but these days after Christmas often make me think of death. They always have.
But I've been more aware of life's fleeting, poignant character in recent years. My mother died four years ago on January 3rd, and she labored under hospice care during this normally festive week.
So now, for me, the twelve days of Christmas have an exquisitely melancholy luster. Initially, this was upsetting, but now I see the silver lining. In the sadness, there is something shining.
My mother had experienced a really bad stroke. She was 77. There was no coming back. And she'd already almost died once in the hosptial. I am grateful that, thanks to hospice care, Mom got to die quietly in her own bed.
But here's what was wonderful about the night of her passing: When the hospice people dressed her body for the funeral home, they placed an afghan blanket on her. It was just an old throw Mom kept around, but woven into this blanket were the words of the 23rd Psalm.
When the funeral director came in at around eight that evening, he took Mom's body and left the blanket folded at the bottom of the bed. Four hours later, I went to sleep in a twin bed in the same room where my mother had died. I lay down and had a good cry.
But when I casually placed that 23rd Psalm blanket over me, to my surprise the blanket began to pop and radiate a very specific, active energy. Since I had not been looking for a "big experience," I actually pulled the blanket down from my chest, then up again to feel where the sparkling, popping energy was. It was definitely IN the blanket--and it seemed to snap in little sparkles when it came into contact with the surface of my skin.
I have some training in Reiki--a method of divine healing through the hands. And since that training, I have been more aware of the existence of this sort of energy. But this popping sensation, I think, would have been noticed by anyone. It was very obvious. What was it? Pure life force, I guess. I don't think it was motherly love. It didn't seem like something being given specifically to me. It had an odd neutrality to it. It wasn't sentimental. But it was real. That's what I'm telling you.
The Reverend Laurie Sue Brockway says that "when the doors of heaven open and your loved one passes through, the energies of heaven come and kiss those left behind when they are quiet enough to be open to that kind of experience."
Have you ever had a similar experience? I'd love to hear back from you on this.
THE BEST OF CHATTERING MIND.
December 2006 Archives
Friday December 29, 2006
The Energy Left After a Mother's Death
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Add to NewsvineFriday December 29, 2006
Clutter Is One Thing We All Share
You know, this Chattering Mind blog is currently attracting some 25,000 unique visitors a month. And usually, you readers are a relatively quiet bunch. But inspiring chatter was indeed released by my three-part series on the clutter we keep in our closets and basements! My play-ZZTop-to-your-stagnating-garbage suggestion really hit ya'll in the right spot! I find it remarkable that worldly possessions are such real-life burdens, and that keeping our living spaces free of stuff we don't use is indeed a spiritual challenge.
"I am in great need of being able to tackle the clutter that I have held onto for decades. I ask for prayerful guidance and the energy to go to it," wrote one anonymous reader.
Wrote Eva: "As we Jews are approaching the New Year, glorified by the Day of Atonment...cleaning our our spiritual closet...is exactly what the Holy days of Awe are all about."
Myrna said that she could use a "daily or weekly prayer specifically on our shared need to clean out old energy." Good idea.
Said Patty: "I lost my father-in-law, husband and both parents in 3 years time. You want to talk clutter, and it's not all mine. How do I part with their lives? A lot of us need help."
Laurie wrote of the house cleaning we all inspired: "The first thing to go? The old, dried petals from the roses that my ex-husband gave me ten years ago--the only time he gave me flowers. Wow! Now that was a purge--and as I spread them on my garden, I did so with a prayer that his new marriage will be fulfilling and joyous for both of them...I released many old dreams with those petals, and many of the things surrounding that container began to take on new significance...Namaste."
BEST OF CHATTERING MIND
"I am in great need of being able to tackle the clutter that I have held onto for decades. I ask for prayerful guidance and the energy to go to it," wrote one anonymous reader.
Wrote Eva: "As we Jews are approaching the New Year, glorified by the Day of Atonment...cleaning our our spiritual closet...is exactly what the Holy days of Awe are all about."
Myrna said that she could use a "daily or weekly prayer specifically on our shared need to clean out old energy." Good idea.
Said Patty: "I lost my father-in-law, husband and both parents in 3 years time. You want to talk clutter, and it's not all mine. How do I part with their lives? A lot of us need help."
Laurie wrote of the house cleaning we all inspired: "The first thing to go? The old, dried petals from the roses that my ex-husband gave me ten years ago--the only time he gave me flowers. Wow! Now that was a purge--and as I spread them on my garden, I did so with a prayer that his new marriage will be fulfilling and joyous for both of them...I released many old dreams with those petals, and many of the things surrounding that container began to take on new significance...Namaste."
BEST OF CHATTERING MIND
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Friday December 29, 2006
All Smiles Now
I once wrote an essay called "Why Women Smile" for the women's magazine Lear's. More than fifteen years later, I'm still receiving checks from academic presses planning to re-run the article because, apparently, it "teaches well" in first-year college writing classes. This smile piece has also been featured in a lovely textbook called "The Writer's Presence," where yours truly is wedged in with writers like Virginia Woolf and Joan Didion!
But here's the quandry: I now know that a whole chunk of my article is incorrect. Next time they call me, I'm going to say "Stop. Don't use it. Don't tell another generation of women not to smile. They should smile broadly."
In the actual piece, I argue that women smile more than men because they're insecure and want to be liked. I confess in the article that I am trying to smile less. I also say that if you fake a smile, the smile doesn't do anything good for you.
For my research at the time, I interviewed noted psychologist and facial expression expert Paul Ekman. I remember that when the piece was published, Ekman didn't seem so thrilled with it. He didn't write me back. I now know that's because he had been trying to tell me that he was conceiving of the human smile in a new way, and that the feminists who thought women should smile less weren't approaching smiles from the right perspective. But I couldn't hear him. Ekman then was just a short time from researching Tibetan monks and the Dalai Lama's smiling meditations. He was on his way to substantiating that smiles--even fake plastered-on smiles--CAN indeed lift our moods and keep us happier. So actually, smiling women have had the right idea all along.
But I was so attached to the notion that feminine niceness was some kind of pathology that I couldn't hear what Ekman--an incredibly nice guy, by the way--was telling me. Indeed, I couldn't imagine that if you smiled while seated quietly in meditation, you would spread the energy of cheer throughout the world and rise up feeling better. I couldn't conceive of the topic spiritually.
Since then, Ekman has published his findings. And my melancholy little prose piece (which my mother always hated anyway) is out there like the Ever-Ready Bunny banging its drum. So until I can make this wrong a right, do me a favor: Smile generously and freely. There are smile meditations all over the web. Try them. Here's one to start with: Get happy.
THE BEST OF CHATTERING MIND.
But here's the quandry: I now know that a whole chunk of my article is incorrect. Next time they call me, I'm going to say "Stop. Don't use it. Don't tell another generation of women not to smile. They should smile broadly."
In the actual piece, I argue that women smile more than men because they're insecure and want to be liked. I confess in the article that I am trying to smile less. I also say that if you fake a smile, the smile doesn't do anything good for you.
For my research at the time, I interviewed noted psychologist and facial expression expert Paul Ekman. I remember that when the piece was published, Ekman didn't seem so thrilled with it. He didn't write me back. I now know that's because he had been trying to tell me that he was conceiving of the human smile in a new way, and that the feminists who thought women should smile less weren't approaching smiles from the right perspective. But I couldn't hear him. Ekman then was just a short time from researching Tibetan monks and the Dalai Lama's smiling meditations. He was on his way to substantiating that smiles--even fake plastered-on smiles--CAN indeed lift our moods and keep us happier. So actually, smiling women have had the right idea all along.
But I was so attached to the notion that feminine niceness was some kind of pathology that I couldn't hear what Ekman--an incredibly nice guy, by the way--was telling me. Indeed, I couldn't imagine that if you smiled while seated quietly in meditation, you would spread the energy of cheer throughout the world and rise up feeling better. I couldn't conceive of the topic spiritually.
Since then, Ekman has published his findings. And my melancholy little prose piece (which my mother always hated anyway) is out there like the Ever-Ready Bunny banging its drum. So until I can make this wrong a right, do me a favor: Smile generously and freely. There are smile meditations all over the web. Try them. Here's one to start with: Get happy.
THE BEST OF CHATTERING MIND.
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Friday December 29, 2006
Bridging the Generation Gap
"Who is the audience for this thing?" my 91-year-old father asked, clearly perplexed.
I had my laptop out, and I was kneeling beside him, scrolling through my weblog, stopping at items I'd written that he might like. He awkwardly leaned forward to read through his trifocals, and I kept adjusting the angle of the portable screen. "Can you see it?" I asked, "because there might be a glare..."
He was impressed that readers could quickly post their responses to whatever I'd written. "Isn't that marvelous!" he said. But since he derives all his knowledge of the World Wide Web from "Wall Street Journal" articles, and since he has never answered an email or gone online, he doesn't really know what a blog is.
His question about my audience was important though, so I tried to answer it.
"Well," I said, pausing to arrange my chattering thoughts, "there's a vast and growing group of people who...um, they may be Christian, or they may be Jewish, or they may be anything, but they have an avid interest in spirituality. They want to experience daily some kind of observance or, well, the word 'ecstacy' might be too strong, but..."
I feared I was tanking, but I could see that he was still listening intently.
I went on to say: "These people I'm addressing may or may not attend a religious service weekly, BUT they want to tune into a spiritual side of themselves every day through some kind of contemplative practice, so I'm there, with my column, to support them or give them ideas."
"What is a contemplative practice?" he asked sensibly.
"Well, I'm referring in part to Asian or Eastern contemplative practices like meditation, but also..." I cleared my throat.
"Oh," my father sat back with a Presbyterian huff. "I really don't think that Asian stuff is going anywhere."
"Oh, no, Dad! No, no, no. It is! Look at all the ladies doing yoga in their church basements!"
He wasn't convinced. But he liked my blog, or professed to.
He was born at a time when horses still pulled the neighborhood fire engine. He lost two younger brothers in World War II. He worked at a job for many years that didn't fulfill him. He didn't notice his kids until we forced him to.
But yesterday, I saw him reaching out to me, leaning forward through the decades, trying to understand what I do. He was especially glad that I loved my work, that everything seemed to be congealing for me as a writer. I have a purpose. He could see that.
BEST OF CHATTERING MIND.
I had my laptop out, and I was kneeling beside him, scrolling through my weblog, stopping at items I'd written that he might like. He awkwardly leaned forward to read through his trifocals, and I kept adjusting the angle of the portable screen. "Can you see it?" I asked, "because there might be a glare..."
He was impressed that readers could quickly post their responses to whatever I'd written. "Isn't that marvelous!" he said. But since he derives all his knowledge of the World Wide Web from "Wall Street Journal" articles, and since he has never answered an email or gone online, he doesn't really know what a blog is.
His question about my audience was important though, so I tried to answer it.
"Well," I said, pausing to arrange my chattering thoughts, "there's a vast and growing group of people who...um, they may be Christian, or they may be Jewish, or they may be anything, but they have an avid interest in spirituality. They want to experience daily some kind of observance or, well, the word 'ecstacy' might be too strong, but..."
I feared I was tanking, but I could see that he was still listening intently.
I went on to say: "These people I'm addressing may or may not attend a religious service weekly, BUT they want to tune into a spiritual side of themselves every day through some kind of contemplative practice, so I'm there, with my column, to support them or give them ideas."
"What is a contemplative practice?" he asked sensibly.
"Well, I'm referring in part to Asian or Eastern contemplative practices like meditation, but also..." I cleared my throat.
"Oh," my father sat back with a Presbyterian huff. "I really don't think that Asian stuff is going anywhere."
"Oh, no, Dad! No, no, no. It is! Look at all the ladies doing yoga in their church basements!"
He wasn't convinced. But he liked my blog, or professed to.
He was born at a time when horses still pulled the neighborhood fire engine. He lost two younger brothers in World War II. He worked at a job for many years that didn't fulfill him. He didn't notice his kids until we forced him to.
But yesterday, I saw him reaching out to me, leaning forward through the decades, trying to understand what I do. He was especially glad that I loved my work, that everything seemed to be congealing for me as a writer. I have a purpose. He could see that.
BEST OF CHATTERING MIND.
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Thursday December 28, 2006
How to Feng Shui a Purse--My Own Amusing Method
The time has come to face the facts. I cannot live with my purse any longer, in its current chaotic state. Only the powers of the Asian art of Feng Shui alignment can help. If your handbag is insanely disorganized too, just follow these easy steps. Same rules apply for backpacks.
1. Buy a new wallet at a large department store.
2. Come home. Rest.
3. Put on some spiritual background music.
4. Locate a sturdy cardboard box (16" square should be fine), several large manilla envelopes, and one of those black "Lawn & Leaf" garbage bags.
5. Sit down on the floor with your purse and all the above equipment.
6. Pray for healing, and for a better-organized life.
7. Ask your purse's permission to empty its contents. If your purse says, "No," then explain to it that it's only a matter of time before you buy a far more elegant bag at Saks Fifth Avenue (of course this isn't true, but it is easy to fool a purse).
8. Empty the contents of your purse into the box (you may briefly stand up to catch some air).
9. Remove from the box anything that looks like food, and throw that in the Lawn & Leaf bag.
10. Take the tattered receipts you have saved for years, and place them in one of the manilla envelopes. Label this envelope "Receipts." Bless your receipts, especially those business-related expenses you will probably get reimbursed for at a later date.
11. Oh shoot, I forgot to mention the little makeup mirror. Feng Shui practioners believe that mirrors stored next to, or within, a new wallet will augment your finances. I've seen sweet little lipstick mirrors at dime stores that are framed or wrapped in soft fabrics. They would work. They are made for women who apply lipstick after meals. I have never mastered this ritual art form, but I sit mesmerized before women who pull it off.
12. Where were we? My, this Feng Shui-ing a purse is a big job! I'll break here, for fear that people who do not like long blog items will stop reading. A little daily maintenance will help your purse from ever getting into such a terrible mess again.
THE BEST OF CHATTERING MIND.
1. Buy a new wallet at a large department store.
2. Come home. Rest.
3. Put on some spiritual background music.
4. Locate a sturdy cardboard box (16" square should be fine), several large manilla envelopes, and one of those black "Lawn & Leaf" garbage bags.
5. Sit down on the floor with your purse and all the above equipment.
6. Pray for healing, and for a better-organized life.
7. Ask your purse's permission to empty its contents. If your purse says, "No," then explain to it that it's only a matter of time before you buy a far more elegant bag at Saks Fifth Avenue (of course this isn't true, but it is easy to fool a purse).
8. Empty the contents of your purse into the box (you may briefly stand up to catch some air).
9. Remove from the box anything that looks like food, and throw that in the Lawn & Leaf bag.
10. Take the tattered receipts you have saved for years, and place them in one of the manilla envelopes. Label this envelope "Receipts." Bless your receipts, especially those business-related expenses you will probably get reimbursed for at a later date.
11. Oh shoot, I forgot to mention the little makeup mirror. Feng Shui practioners believe that mirrors stored next to, or within, a new wallet will augment your finances. I've seen sweet little lipstick mirrors at dime stores that are framed or wrapped in soft fabrics. They would work. They are made for women who apply lipstick after meals. I have never mastered this ritual art form, but I sit mesmerized before women who pull it off.
12. Where were we? My, this Feng Shui-ing a purse is a big job! I'll break here, for fear that people who do not like long blog items will stop reading. A little daily maintenance will help your purse from ever getting into such a terrible mess again.
THE BEST OF CHATTERING MIND.
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Chattering Mind
@ 6:07pm
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Wednesday December 27, 2006
House Blessings
I like the old-fashioned idea of hanging a framed prayer or poem near a home's entrance to bless the house, so I was happy to find this hand-written blessing that's probably sixty years old at a Brooklyn flea market recently....
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Wednesday December 27, 2006
Taped Above My Desk
"Take off from here. And don't be so earnest,let others wear the sackcloth and the ashes.Let go, let fly, forget.You've listened long enough. Now strike your note."From "Station Island," by Seamus Heaney...
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Tuesday December 26, 2006
For the Love of a Chiming Clock
This morning, as I entered our house after shopping, I heard our old chiming clock mark the hour. I noticed then that it was running slow, so I put down my bags and wound it with the clock key I...
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Tuesday December 26, 2006
Building a Better Miso
Ever wonder why the miso made from store-bought miso paste isn't as good as the miso you're served in Japanese restaurants? Not long ago, I asked the man behind the counter of our local sushi carryout about this, and he...
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Monday December 25, 2006
The Weights We Bear in Life
The other afternoon, I was walking in Manhattan and the large handbag I carry everywhere suddenly felt incredibly heavy. Oh God, what was in there anyway? I'd been out all day. So I opened my bag and peered in. Aooohhh......
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Monday December 25, 2006
My Favorite Yoga Story
So I showed up on time for my yoga class, feeling down in the mouth and fat. Class began and I moved through the sun salutations, focused on my unattractiveness. Too heavy. Too old. Oh woe, woe, woe.It's amazing how...
Friday December 22, 2006
Reasons to Love CyberHymnal.org
Here's why I love CyberHymnal.org: * It boasts 6,100 Christian hymns and gospel songs, and can play any one you want to hear immediately upon request.* Its web pages are sweetly under-art-directed.* Its computer-generated piano playing is straight-laced and nearly...
Friday December 22, 2006
Bless Your Mess
This NYT article about messy desks (and closets and basements) possibly being a symptom of a creative, lively existence is of some comfort. I still want to unload more of the clutter in our basement come 2007, and help you...
Friday December 22, 2006
Here's Our Plan for Next Week
The folks at Beliefnet who watch over me and push the buttons to publish Chattering Mind will be off next week. This means that no matter how much I want to blog, I'll have to enjoy my children, do some...
Thursday December 21, 2006
A Sea of Seasonal Red and White
Here's a shot of a recent, large Santa Rampage in New York City's Central Park. Santa Rampages (also known as Red Menaces, SantaCons or Santa Conferences) are exuberant expressions of the holiday spirit. Folks wearing rented or purchased Santa suits...
Thursday December 21, 2006
The Scrooge Sutra
I have great love for a writer who calls himself Corax (after the first teacher of rhetoric in Greece, I guess). Corax was the author of the now defunct Buddhist blog "Ow, My Blog" (where did it go? I can't...
Wednesday December 20, 2006
Solstice: A Time of Such Richness!
Please attend to the marvelous posts about December 21st and the Winter Solstice that Waverly Fitzgerald has on her site, SchooloftheSeasons.com, as well as the excellent solstice summary she wrote for Beliefnet.This day in December is the feast day of...
Wednesday December 20, 2006
Remembering the Christmas Truce of 1914
Did you know that on one Christmas Day during World War I, German and British soldiers on the Western Front crawled out of their trenches, shook hands, shared cigarettes, and then played soccer for one peaceful hour, improvising when they...
Tuesday December 19, 2006
You Can Always Be Spiritual and Religious
Do you ever describe yourself as "spiritual, but not religious?" I actually don't since my personal faith leaves room for a lot of doubt. I don't reject religious affiliation by insisting that I'm merely a "spiritual" person. I can stay...
Tuesday December 19, 2006
A Christmas Meditation
I found this prayer by Christine Robinson on the Unitarian Universalist Association's website today and thought some of you might be able to adapt it for use with family and friends this week. An excerpt: Like the harried innkeeper, may...
Monday December 18, 2006
Can Spices Bolster Auto-Immune Health?
A recent Third Age newsletter discusses the medicinal impact of common spices, citing Victoria Zak's book "The Magic Teaspoon." For instance:* A diet rich in cayenne-spiced chili can protect against the formation of LDL ("bad") cholesterol. * When you add...
Monday December 18, 2006
Is Soy Making Our Children Gay?
I know soy messes with estrogen, but this strikes me as extreme. Here's the conservative Jim Rutz writing for World Net Daily, revving readers up to eat less soy: Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the...
Monday December 18, 2006
Dance on a Moonbeam With Bill Crofut
It's not a new album (in fact, the responsible folk artist Bill Crofut died in 1999), but "Dance on a Moonbeam" is so beloved by me and my children that I want to turn you on to it anyway....
Friday December 15, 2006
Try A Yoga Gingerbread Person!
These guys make me feel so joyous. But in cute (and reasonably accurate) poses like down dog, plow, and warrior two, how could anyone ever bite into them? I send heartfelt thanks to Patty Paige Baked Ideas in New York...
Friday December 15, 2006
Jungle All the Way?
Another 2006 innovation: Traditional Christmas music channeled through African percussive instruments. No lyrics, just carols made tropical. The effect is truly relaxing and highly unusual....
Friday December 15, 2006
Meet Ellen Burstyn's Gracious Spirit
You may know Ellen Burstyn as an actor, the kind of natural performer who isn't self conscious, but did you also know she's a deeply spiritual person with a passion for Sufism? Read Valerie Reiss's interview with Burstyn here. An...
Thursday December 14, 2006
Do You Keep a Shoe-free Home?
I'm attending a birthday party next week in a shoe-free home. The invitation warns all guests of this in advance, and has playfully suggested that we come in "clean socks!"Of course, I have no problem with this, but I'm wondering...
Thursday December 14, 2006
Some Government Officials Can't Tell Sunnis from Shiites
Here's a hugely important article by Congressional Quarterly's Jeff Stein. It reveals the sorry truth that government officials of both parties don't always know who's who and what's what in the Arab world. Five years post-9/11, it's everyone's personal responsibility...
Thursday December 14, 2006
Book of Bird Song
If you know someone who cares about birds and the songs they sing, this is a lovely holiday gift--it's a book that actually utters 250 (!) bird songs for you at the touch of a button. I recently purchased a...
Wednesday December 13, 2006
How the Chatterings Deck the Halls
"But I don't know how to buy a Christmas tree," lamented the Jewish Mr. Chattering. "You'll do fine, honey, just buy one that's seven or eight feet high and don't pay too much for it." "I'm not Christian!" "But this...
Wednesday December 13, 2006
Are Mixed/Blended Faith Celebrations the New Normal?
There is no set way to celebrate the December holidays anymore. I'm not an advocate of "mixing everything up." I'm just saying a lot of us are mixing it up through mixed-faith marriage, conversion, or inventive experiment. Last Christmas eve,...
Friday December 8, 2006
What is Mary Cheney's Teaching?
If you are of the Everything-Happens-for-a-Reason school, you might be saying "Oh, Mary Cheney's pregnancy is designed to teach those frumpy Cheney parents and the Religious Right that it's not immoral for gays to have kids."Could be. But actually, I...
Friday December 8, 2006
Throw a Party In Honor of Seasonal Darkness!
Thanks to "MettaMusings" blogger/CM reader "Story Midwife" for writing about the parties she throws in honor of the seasonal darkness."Ah, the nourishing dark. Though I cringe at the cold and snow of winter (not a helpful thing as I live...
Friday December 8, 2006
Phillip-Morris Was Forced to Run Anti-smoking Ads
Yes, Cindi, you're right. Phillip-Morris is not producing those talk-to-your-kids-about-smoking ads out of the kindness of its heart. The company was forced to create those public service ads as part of a lawsuit settlement. Here are the opinions of one...
Thursday December 7, 2006
The New Fab Four
If you want to have a good giggle and experience a noticeable surge in your vital life force, click here and scroll down half a page to watch the four charismatic guys known as "Il Divo" sing "Somewhere," that compelling...
Thursday December 7, 2006
Just Do One Thing
Though countless stars illumine the nightAnd the moon brightly ornaments the earth,Only the sun provides light for the dayAnd gives meaning to the terms "east" and "west."The man who accomplishes completely One single actExcels all sentient beings.The moon when full...
Thursday December 7, 2006
Beware the Truths You Know
If you know in advance what the truth will be, you will never find it. - Marchette Chute....
Wednesday December 6, 2006
Make Your Own Bath Salts
You could become your own little bath salt factory this month! Here are some tips for creating soothing salt bags that can be great gifts for your friends.Click here to buy a 20-pound bag of Dead Sea salt, which you...
Wednesday December 6, 2006
How Do You Renew Your "Flow"?
"There are hundreds of activities designed for protection that are supposed to prevent negative energy from disrupting the healthy or healing state, such as wearing amulets or saying magical words. I've probably tried them all! "After a lot of disappointment,...
Wednesday December 6, 2006
This Week Marks Buddha's Day of Enlightenment
Many Buddhists are observing an intensive period of meditation this week. You can learn more about Rohatsu, the commemoration of Buddha's enlightenment, by reading the marvelous articles here and here. Writes Shodo Harada Roshi: The Buddha was enlightened on the...
Tuesday December 5, 2006
Embrace the Dark As We Head Toward Solstice
From now until the Winter Solstice on December 21st, we will be experiencing some of the year's darkest, shortest days. I used to hate stumbling around with the kids and their bookbags at 5 p.m. in the early dark. I...
Monday December 4, 2006
Phillip-Morris Doesn't Want Kids to Smoke
As an act of atonement, I guess, Phillip-Morris has launched a television ad campaign and a website to counsel parents on how to prevent their kids from smoking cigarettes. Here's a chart they use to explain why kids keep smoking:...
Sunday December 3, 2006
Why Santa Matters
Here is the most beautiful description of why believing in something made-up and then not believing in it is a wonderful part of growing up. What follows is from Betty Smith's famous novel "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"; it was...
Sunday December 3, 2006
Who Do You Believe About Kids & Cellphones?
Well, the eldest Chattering son desperately wants a cellphone for Christmas. To him, it's a symbol of being grown up. I am in the minority of parents concerned about cellphone health risks; my own cell leaves my cranium with a...
Sunday December 3, 2006
Don't Send Me This
Thanks to Beliefnet's Valerie Reiss for blogging so beautifully in my absence. I took last week off to rest my tired typing hands, massage my elbows, see my optometrist, clean the house, and get ready for the holidays. I didn't...
Friday December 1, 2006
Stress-Busting Holiday Gifts
My fellow Beliefnetters and I have been working over the last few weeks to gather a collection of some of the lovelier holiday gifts on the web this season. We just published them last night.We've got a list of relaxing...
Friday December 1, 2006
It's AstrologyZone Day!
It's the beginning of a new month. Which means one great thing in my world: horoscopes! Susan Miller, beloved astrologer to many, comes out with her ever-lengthening monthly forecast on AstrologyZone.com for each astrological sign on the first of ever...
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