Midsummer’s Eve: Night of Empowerment
June 23 is Midsummer’s Eve ~ the night women gather together to empower each other. It is a night for fairies and spirits. It is a time for rejoicing and dancing around bonfires.
Category Archives: Survive Thrive Joy
Father’s Day: Pleasure or Pain?
My concern is for my readers for whom Father’s Day is painful. Sadly, too many of us had fathers who were absent or abusive or molestors. How do we celebrate them? Should we?
Windmills of Our Minds: Faith or Fear?
Instinctively, we react to threats to our safety with a fight or flight response. It ramps up our adrenaline and sends us into a temporary high.
It can, at times, help us to literally move mountains to remove ourselves and those we love from peril.
For those of us who have experienced abuse, it can also ruin our health (see 4/29/09 post). We can end up with health concerns like complex PTSD (C-PTSD), auto-immune disorders, and cardio-vascular problems.
My Protection Circle
We all need “protection circles” ~ to be surrounded by people who are there for us ~ to celebrate the good times and to weather stormy seas. Yet, by definition, […]
Congratulations, Carole May!!!
Our intrepid photographer Carole May >won two prizes in the Essence of Bellingham (WA) photography contest! Congratulations and way to go, Carole! As Elizabeth Wiggs says, “Yippee, Skippy!” Carole received […]
Little Engine that Could
We’re three months old today. We’ve been chugging along like the little engine that could. I’ve had more visitors than I ever dreamed. So, I’m doing a happy dance!
Practicing What I Preach, Part 2
A “protection circle” of friends and family can take us only so far. If we’re smart, we’ll know when it is time to bring in a “posse” of professional people who are trained to deal with bullies, abusive people, and gang members.
Practicing What I Preach
Did I fail to pay my rent? Nope. My crime is feeding the squirrels and stellar jays who light up my life each day. My crime was escalated to a capital offense because I decorate my balcony with beautiful flowers.
Before We Can Soar Like an Eagle: Intellectual Curiosity, Healthy Sense of Responsibility, and Self-confidence
To thrive and be successful, we need to master three essential traits: intellectual curiosity, a healthy sense of responsibility, and self-confidence. As soon as each person developed this trio of traits, they began to blossom and flourish. The good news is that it is never too late.
John Wayne Bobbitt: Pit Bull
It is difficult to explain the difference between a “pit bull” abuser ~ the kind that won’t let go ~ and a “cobra” abuser ~ the kind who will strike to kill when he/she feels threatened.
John Wayne Bobbitt is a quintessential “pit bull” abuser. For those of you who need to understand the difference in order to craft a viable safety plan, I strongly urge you to visit The Insider web site and look at tonight’s clip several times.
Anne Caroline Drake 