Freezing to Death for 3000 Miles On the Back of a BMW Motorcycle

Semi trucks started edging us sideways, pushing into our lane, trying to run us off the road. Gas stations and roadside restaurants saw us coming, switched their ‘open’ signs to ‘closed’ in their windows and front doors. 1966. I was … Continue reading

“Something Amazing Is About to Happen,” He Said…

It can be painfully hard to let go of the what-ifs and the blame/shames, he-did-it-to-me’s and the she’s-such-a … — or the what-am-I-going-to-do . . . I’ve been a devoted student of metaphysics for decades. One of the most basic things I learned when I began … Continue reading

How Could You Possibly Forget that Trauma?

In sessions with my clients, I’ve heard them say, “I didn’t even remember that until today! It’s been years since it happened!” I’ve experienced that same forgetting, myself: I was raped several times between the ages of 13 and 19 … Continue reading

HELPING LITTLE TINA STOP HER TANTRUMS

My friend Rachel had two grand-daughters, aged 2 and 4. The two-year-old, Tina, was prone to throwing some mean tantrums. Rachel was concentrating on finishing up a 3-year back-to-college program, and found it difficult to deal with the kids’ high … Continue reading

PATTY CAKE

Ahhh, yes! A bunch of innocent delightful critters playing in a lovely world where things are the way they’re supposed to be: open, loving, caring, fun, creative and compassionate…. PATTY CAKE, PATTY CAKE, BAKER’S MAN – Run away! Run Away! … Continue reading

BE KIND. NO MATTER WHAT.

We learn to hide the pain. We feel unacceptable. We learn to present happy faces, calm demeanors, soft voices — where what we really feel like doing is screaming until our throats rip apart. Be kind. That’s what comes to … Continue reading

JAM the LOW FREQUENCIES with the HIGHEST LOVE

How we can drum in a new era of joy, peace, beauty, and love. I guess I’m still an old hippie at heart. I look at what’s going down in the world right now, and remember the 60s, and how … Continue reading

TAKE BACK YOUR POWER!

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick to death of people telling me what I ‘should’ buy or ‘should’ do. Use the Law of Attraction! Do this technique! You should eat green! You should stop eating sugar! Use this … Continue reading

WHY WOMEN ARTISTS FAIL(ed)

I had deeply internalized all those negative, destructive messages and made them into my own beliefs that >I< was a failure, that >I< was the one to blame, and that >I< would ‘never make it’ – I attended an intense … Continue reading

DIZZY ON MY FEET

On a larger scale, there were a couple times I’d simply not be driving anymore. The first time that happened, I about lost it. How did I get home, sitting at my kitchen table… There are times in my life … Continue reading

WASABI

You know those moments where an absolutely exquisite moment of silence descends upon a space before everything erupts into chaos all around you? It was 1966. I was 21. I was new to California culture, having lived back East up … Continue reading

‘I DIDN’T SIGN UP FOR THIS!’

The secrets every last one of the characters carries are all starting to dribble out, with horrifying consequences. Everyone’s true nature is being revealed. I’ve been watching a fairly new show on Amazon called POWER. You have to know that … Continue reading

GET UPSET? OR TAKE the OPPORTUNITY to UPLIFT?

Images flooded my panicked mind of internet police coming to Get Me and Punish Me, hoards of angry women descending upon my house and doing Bad Things to me, being banned from being online forever…. The first time a customer … Continue reading

The PAINFUL WAY I LEARNED ABOUT MONEY, Part II

I guarantee you that if you do not, they will hang around and expect you to do and pay for everything for them — just like you have their whole lives! Because my parents were so tight-lipped about money, I … Continue reading

THINK, FEEL, TAKE ACTION, ASSESS, REPEAT

Despite feeling so insulted and so enraged, and so helpless to do anything about what had happened, I also knew I had to, could, and absolutely would, change How Things Were. After I got home from my sailing-across-the-Pacific journey, I … Continue reading

ELIGHTABETH, So Serioth

Granny made it very clear that she was disowning me because she thought I was a ‘sex maniac.’ Those were her exact words, conveyed with a contorted look of appropriate horror by my father. When I was a little kid, … Continue reading

HOW MY DOG FOUND ME AN UNEXPECTED FRIEND

…his voice was deep, gravelly. For some odd reason, I felt like I could totally trust him, so I told him I was just back in town, 54, no place to live, sleeping in my car, yadda yadda. Him nodding, … Continue reading

HOW BURT BECAME MY VERY BEST FRIEND

Burt is the kind of friend everyone should have. He holds little babies as if they were the gods’ own precious lights; plays with the toddlers; treats little girls and boys to merry-go-rounds, lots of colorfully illustrated books, pencils, and … Continue reading

PUBLISHED! INSIDE SECRETS: Stories I’ve Never Told Anyone: Volume VII – Stone Carver in Italy

I’m very pleased to say that my latest INSIDE SECRETS book, Volume VII, is now out and on amazon! All about my crazy trip to Italy to learn how to carve marble. You can get it in print here: https://amzn.to/41RZgk1  … Continue reading

The POWER of A PINCH and A TWIST

On a sunny late afternoon in NYC, I was on my way home from art school. Exhausted. We’d had a full day at the easel, standing on concrete floors, the instructors particularly nasty all day. As if our not knowing … Continue reading

THE REAL POWER

Last night, I happened upon a new show on Amazon prime called The Power. In it, young girls are discovering they have a new, odd sensation in their bodies — little courses of electricity that travel down their arms and make zippy … Continue reading

SUCH A BAD DRIVER!

After I left Italy, I went back to Hawaii, living there for about a year. More on that later. I then moved near San Francisco for a few months, until my friend Melissa invited me to come to New Mexico, … Continue reading

STONE CARVER, Part 6

Our first day! On a hot day in June, 1989, our carving group, comprised of five students all from the US, stood poised before the hunks of stone we’d selected, waiting for us on our sturdy, well-worn, waist-high carving tables. … Continue reading

STONE CARVER, Part V

Just by looking at people’s feet, I could always pretty much dependably tell who was American and who was European (or other nationality) before I even met them. Whereas we bumpkin Yanks almost always wore some brand of tennis shoes, … Continue reading

STONE CARVER, Part IV

Upon buying my tickets to go carve marble in Italy, I also bought a language system called Sybervision so I could study Italian. It was the easiest language system I’ve ever used. By the time I landed in Rome, I … Continue reading

STONE CARVER, Part III

I loved hanging out with the master carvers. They were there from before-god-gets-up early until 5pm, when they promptly took off their newspaper hats and scuttled home. They were incredibly skilled, and so fast! They spent most of their time … Continue reading

STONE CARVER, Part II

The Quarry In 1989, I was thrilled to be invited to go carve marble in a weeks-long workshop in Lucca, Italy, under the instruction of a bona fide marble-carving maestro, Professore Roberto Bertola. I was excited because up until that … Continue reading

UNDER THE ORDERLY NIGHT SKIES

We finally got to Huntington Beach, and stayed with T’s mom for a couple weeks. After our snowy misery back east, the good weather seemed just this side of paradise. T got to bliss out surfing every day, while I … Continue reading

THE CORNER THAT ALMOST KILLED US

The rest of our visit with my folks was blah-normal. At last it was time to go back to California. After about a nano-second of deliberation, T and I decided that finding a hire-car to deliver to the west coast … Continue reading

BILLY’S 18-WHEELER

We left the thrift store wearing every single thing we’d bought. They may have been new-old clothes, but it was beyond description how heavenly it was to be warm again. Now we were seriously hungry. Good fortune was ours — … Continue reading