JenWReeve

I’ve had a hard time paying attention to current events lately. Here’s my struggle: How do I stay abreast of all that’s going on in the world without getting emotionally swamped by it? There is so much suffering. And I’m suffering over the suffering. Earlier this summer, I read a passage from a book called, The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman, that provides daily meditations from the perspective of Stoicism, a school of thought that flourished in Greek and Roman antiquity. The passage, based on a quote by slave-turned-philosopher Epictetus, advises not to allow someone else’s tragedy to take you away from your […]

I recently watched the movie, 127 Hours, a true story about Aron Ralston, the hiker who in 2003 got trapped in a Utah canyon by an 800-pound boulder and had to cut off part of his arm to save his life. You likely have heard the story. One of the things that struck me while watching the film was how brave Aron was. And not just about severing his own body part. Even before he was pinned in the canyon, he was portrayed sailing over rocks on his mountain bike and plunging several stories down a slot canyon into a pool […]

I’ve been away visiting family so I took a break from blog writing this week. Instead, I share a post from a year ago that oddly and sadly could have been written today. I’ve been waking up lately to the smell of smoke. I’m sure you have too if you live in the West, as it’s wildfire season. This one has been heartbreaking. Because I live in the forest, I’m terrified of wildfire, even though, gratefully, I’ve never been through one. Still, I feel so vulnerable! Vulnerability is a place of discomfort for most of us. It’s typically viewed as […]

Three of my girlfriends and I road-tripped to Santa Fe a couple of weekends ago, and I brought back something unexpected–a truer version of myself. The desert-y landscape of New Mexico has always felt healing. Although Santa Fe is technically not high desert (it’s semi-arid steppe) there is an openness to the land and sky there that seduces me. It feels vast and vulnerable at the same time, like a dancing woman slowly removing her clothing. Like the truth. Our truth-telling began before we left Colorado. At a lunch stop in Pueblo, for some reason we got into a conversation […]

Trains and cake. These two simple things were my granddaughter’s heart’s desire on her third birthday last weekend. Of course, there were birthday presents, family members, beach play and singing, but those seemed to be extras in her opinion. Her wish was streamlined: a train ride and a piece of birthday cake. She relished both with every ounce of her being. Our children are such wise teachers. My granddaughter innately knows what I’ve been trying to re-learn for years–to manifest what I want in life, I simply need to listen to my heart’s desire. I hear a lot of talk […]

We described ourselves as tired, unfocused, scattered, off-kilter and too busy. Just a typical group of women gathered virtually for a new moon circle. Some of us have children at home, most do not. Many of us have jobs, others of us are retired. Our commonality: most, if not all of us, were experiencing some degree of overwhelm. We didn’t discuss as a group why we came to the circle feeling this way, but I have my suspicions. Let me speak for myself. Growing up, I was rewarded for being “good.” I earned good grades, was involved in school activities, […]

Three days after the full moon in Capricorn I found myself in a goat yoga class. Are you getting the synchronicity here? Capricorn…sign of the sea goat? Goats were just what I needed. I’d been feeling a bit fragmented and scattered after some big waves of emotion that came up during the eclipse season that preceded the full moon. So this stabilizing Capricorn energy–like a goat with all four feet on the ground–was welcome medicine. That, and actual goats jumping on my back. And, above all, laughter. If you haven’t done goat yoga before, you can probably imagine that it’s […]