When we think about book author dreams, we often think of writing the next great memoir, but did you know that every 4 seconds a romance novel is sold somewhere in the world? Who are these authors and why have they chosen romance novels as their dream passion? And why do readers buy them? PBS [...]
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Taking A Leap Forward on A Longtime Dream
I first started reading Martha Beck’s advice column in Oprah’s O Magazine a few years ago. Little did I know that in the fall of 2011 I’d be chatting with her on a coaching call, and have her tell me that my life story, of overcoming trauma and becoming happier as I age, was the story of a shaman…
How To Live With More Peace While Reaching For Our Dreams
Lately I’ve been focusing on how to live with more peace while reaching for my big dream of being a published author. I had an opportunity to do just this at the Peace Pagoda in Grafton, MA. It was a version of the Lotus Sutra, and Jun-San said we were offering this prayer for the children, since May 5th is Children’s Day in Japan. May 5th is also Enlightenment Day and the Buddha’s birthday, in Sri Lanka. [...]
How to Win the Championship Called Life With M.L. Carr
When the 6’6″ former Celtics player walked up to the podium in the elegantly decorated ballroom, looking out over the 30 skirted tables with tall centerpieces of elegant white and violet floral arrangements in illuminated vases, the guests in their suits and cocktail dresses began waving their white napkins in the air and whooping. He laughed [...]
How Spring Cleaning Helped Me Get a New Start on My Dream
It had been the door that simply remained closed in my house, the room I didn’t show anyone. Right behind my kitchen table where I normally sit with my laptop, writing this blog and doing work for clients in my bright and sunny kitchen, I just kept that white door tightly shut when giving house [...]
Celebrating Another Turn on the Planet and Imagining Peace for All
It was a perfect spring day in New York City, cherry blossoms in bloom, sunny, 70s and breezy. We sat on a bench at the edge of Central Park, just a block or two from the legendary Dakota Building where Yoko Ono still lives and where visionary songwriter, poet and prophet of peace John Lennon [...]
5 Steps to Reconnect with Your Joy
For years, I had the vague notion that I wanted to be a “Joy Teacher.” What that looked like exactly, I didn’t know, nor did I know how one could make a living this way. As someone who overcame trauma earlier in my life and who feels like a “walking miracle” to still be alive, I spent years working with spiritual teachers, life coaches and reading personal development books to “find” joy and to cultivate peace in my heart. [...]
Life As a Conscious Practice
When we learn a martial art, or ballet, or gymnastics, or soccer … we consciously practice movements in a deliberate way, repeatedly. By conscious, repeated practice, we become good at those movements. Our entire lives are like this, but we’re often less conscious of the practice. [...]
How to Debunk the Perfection Myth and Just Be Happy, Part II
Last weekend, I finally “let go” of something inside of me that was still determined to turn me into something I’m not. Here I am, a 40-year-old woman with the personal mission of achieving enlightenment in this lifetime for the sake of all beings (that’s the “Bodhisattva” vow I have taken for my life!) and I am still concerned some days about having a “perfect” home, “perfect” body, or “perfect career.” [...]
How to Debunk the Perfection Myth And Just Be Happy, Part I
I always like to joke that I am a “Recovering Perfectionist.” I could totally lead those “Perfectionists Anonymous” 12-step meetings, stand up in the front of the room, sweep my long red bangs off to the side as they fall into my eyes, and declare to the crowd: “Hi, my name is Lisa, and I’m [...]
How to Make Peace with the Road Not Taken, Part II
Did I still want to become the first female elected mayor of Troy, New York? When we last left off in Part I of this post, I was reevaluating my long-time dream. The universe had led me back to Troy, New York from San Francisco, to rebuild my house after a fire. I spent a year getting the house put back together, and decided it was time to talk to the Democrats again. There would be an election that year, in 2009, and I wanted to see what my options might be.
How to Make Peace with the Road Not Taken, Part I
The first book idea I ever pitched to an agent was called BELIEVE: Hope for America’s Cities. I wanted to profile some of the top young mayors in the United States, including Martin O’Malley, now the governor of Maryland and mayor of Baltimore at the time, and Corey Booker, the new hotshot mayor of Newark, just freshly elected. I was obsessed with these men. They were two of my biggest heroes, and I followed their escapades and e-newsletter updates religiously.
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