Blog Article, Meditations
Kate Spencer
How to Recover Your Life After It Breaks into ...

“Ring the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering, there is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”

Leonard Cohen was right. Well, of course he was. In every life there are challenges that absolutely delight us, and other challenges that absolutely break us. The things that break us are not the challenges of small things. These are the big things of life. From lost jobs to lost friends, broken legs to broken hearts, being born into chaos, and dying all alone, we are both blessed and vulnerable to all that life can take. Every season of our lives is both a beginning and an ending.

How to Recover Your Life After It Breaks into Pieces
Meditations
Kate Spencer
Rising to the Challenge of the Pandemic Life

We are in the waiting room of the world. We are waiting to go forward to a new normal because going back to the old normal is not an option anymore. Not even close.

We are waiting parent by parent, child by child, teacher by teacher, for a reliable plan for the ongoing, steady presence of schools. And in the absence of a reliable plan, a path to incrementally getting to some reasonable facsimile, day by day.

Rising to the Challenge of the Pandemic Life
Meditations
Kate Spencer
Kick-starting a Deeply Deferred Dream

My grandmother, Mable Hopper, was a mostly stern, serious woman, at least to my 5-year-old self. Small in physical stature, Mable had a big wit, a beautiful singing voice, and a depth of intelligence that did not suffer fools or foolishness gladly. I, being five, was full of foolishness.

Kick-starting a Deeply Deferred Dream
Blog Article
Kate Spencer
A Brother’s Death: COVID-19’s Collateral Damage

There are some sounds you never forget. The sweetness of your toddler’s voice, the off-key perfection of your best friend’s singing, the dependable snore of your snoozing dog.

There are some sounds that are so close to the heart and soul of your life that you never forget them. Sweet, reassuring sounds, like the joy and consolation of your big brother’s laughter.

A Brother’s Death: COVID-19’s Collateral Damage
Meditations
Kate Spencer
First Lessons From COVID-19

When the virus hit the United States, Washington State was brought to its knees. Washington is my home state and I live in the Eastern part of it, the part that by comparison, has been dealt a significantly less lethal blow than our west side neighbors. And still, in some fundamental, essential way, each of our lives across the entire planet have been dealt a lethal blow. Within that devastation may come our salvation.

First Lessons From COVID-19

humanity

How to Stay Buoyant in Choppy Times

How to Stay Buoyant in Choppy Times

We all have them. We all have those days, weeks or months that drain the color from our cheeks, the spring from our step and the buoyancy from our hearts. We all have those times.

We all have those drains in our lives. Whether it’s a person, a project, or an ongoing set of trying circumstances that can’t be easily, or readily, or even ever changed, we all have something that drains our energy, decreases our resilience and detours or derails our plans. And sometimes, we’re the catalyst for all that mayhem in our own or other people’s lives, intended or not.

The Finder and the Found

The Finder and the Found

Closely-following events give us extraordinary opportunities to see the world, and each other, with new eyes. The eclipse reminded us of how small we are in relation to the universe, and Hurricanes Harvey and Irma remind us how integral we are to each other in the wake of disaster on the home planet.

The Heart of Forgiveness

The Heart of Forgiveness

Some moments in life shake you to your core and take your breath away. In these moments, the only way out is to find a path through. If you’re a hiker, then you know if you ever find yourself lost in the woods, you should almost always seek to take the path of least resistance to conserve energy and strength. This means stepping over, not up, walking around and not scaling whatever obstacles you encounter.

Five Things Every Superhero Caregiver Should Have in Their Batman Utility Belt

Five Things Every Superhero Caregiver Should Have in Their Batman Utility Belt

Chances are, if you are deeply connected to the people in your life, you may find yourself in the role of a caregiver someday. It’s part of the “all-in, for better or worse” deal that we choose to make with our partners, kids,  parents, siblings and friends.  It can be the deep end of a seemingly endless, dark sea of physical, emotional and, often, financial support for someone whose future is uncertain. Recognize that caregiving can be one of the sweetest, most meaningful experiences of your life, or leave you gutted and bone dry. In reality, if you take that role on, it will likely do both, sometimes in the same hour.