Have you ever experienced something so scary that you thought your life was over? Perhaps your entire life flashed before your eyes? Maybe you even felt frozen, or felt a rush of adrenalin so powerful that you could have sprinted a marathon? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may have experienced something that psychologists call ‘trauma’.

Our self-perception can shift throughout any given day in response to our daily roles and circumstances, but life after loss abruptly shifts everything all at once–including our identity.

“I’ve always been a big dog person!“ It’s a phrase I find myself using over and over again seemingly defending myself over having a small dog.

“Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.” — Thich Nhat Hahn

We may know how emotions feel and how they affect us, but do we know exactly what they are?

When we initially experience loss, our inner world feels as though it has come to a screeching halt, and on some level it actually has.

I’ve been in a good place spiritually for the past few years, and it wasn’t until—in the twilight of my life as it were—my first book was published that things started to go awry.

My mother died the same day I had an emergency appendectomy.

I never thought my life was abnormal as a kid. Even after my father abandoned all seven of us kids along with my mother.

As with any major setback, whether it be a pandemic or economic failure on a wide scale, people and businesses suffer. But, from these setbacks, there are people great and small that rise from this to prosper at different levels, not only helping themselves, but providing a service to others.

Growing up as a white, middle class Protestant girl of German and English-descent, it seemed as though I must be in the mainstream. But I knew I wasn’t.

Five ways to check in with yourself

Imagine you have 16 enthusiastic, 40- to 60-pound dogs wearing brightly colored harnesses. They are all barking excitedly at you.

I recently visited Saltwater Farm Vineyard in Stonington, Connecticut with the Eastern Connecticut Chapter of the American Wine Society.

What is your first thought when someone says, “9/11”? The majority of people in the U.S. would reply without effort: “Twin Towers,” “World Trade Center,” or “terrorist attack.”

The season of change is upon us! Equinox energy is abundant with opportunities for transition and transformation. In the northern hemisphere, the fall equinox celebrates balance with the pinnacle day of equal dark and light, presaging a shift into more dark than light.

Each one of us has an experience of being human that is particular to who we are at our core and what we’ve lived over time.

In investigating the cork for this blog and for the Spaz on Wine, Uncorked Podcast, I was delighted to find that there are many reasons, all good, to buy wines with natural cork stoppers. The history, romance, and earth saving qualities of the natural cork is captivating. Read on, my friend!

To offset less balanced days, I choose to support my health with specially chosen supplements that assure my body is getting what it needs—not just to live but to thrive. I am not alone in this quest to feel my best.

Americans love wine. We drink so much of it that we actually consume more wine than any other nation in the world! It’s the Millennials who are largely responsible for pushing our charts of wine consumption skyward.