The Little Things — those happy little accidents that make our day, those niggling little worries that won’t leave us alone, those small accents that finish off an outfit to perfection.    Little things: mosquitoes, engagement rings, snowflakes, blisters.   But how important are they?   It’s the little things that give us such satisfaction when we’re coming to the end of a big project. All the big stuff is done and we can simply have fun with it. Editing to find exactly the right words, the perfect turn of phrase, or getting the final catchlight in the eye of a painted portrait just the right size, colour and shape.   And…

One major difficulty we run into when we start writing our memoirs is an inability to face or process troubling emotions. When we write things down, naturally, we have to think about them, and most of us would prefer that they just go away. We try to avoid thinking about the painful, traumatic events in our lives, burying them deep down so that we won’t have to look at them.   But there’s a problem with this particular coping mechanism. These hidden traumas can come back on us in all kinds of unexpected ways. Inhibition or suppression of emotions, traumatic events, or aspects of our identity can result in long-term, low-level…

One of the most important life lessons I’ve learned is to listen to my own inner voice.     We all have that “still, small voice” inside that tells us when something’s not right — whether it be a subconscious distrust of someone but we can’t put our finger on quite why, or a family or personal situation that makes us uncomfortable, or simply a feeling that what we’re about to do is wrong or selfish. Call it a gut feeling, conscience, instinct or bad vibes, it’s important to listen to it. It’s our subconscious doing its best to keep us safe.   Now, there are two sides to this inner monologue…

Three years ago, I wrote a blog post that is still relevant today.  In that post, I talked about the necessity of reining in our big hairy audacious goals so that we can start small.    In the three years since I wrote that post, I have to admit, I haven’t accomplished as much as I’d hoped I would.  I’ve accomplished a lot, but the goals I set myself back then were unrealistic.  So, of course, I failed.  And failing, beat myself up because I screwed up. Again.  And again.  And again.     What I didn’t take into account was how much I’ve learned in the meantime. I didn’t…