DISQUS

Sensitive, compassionate, funny, intuitive

Great post, thank you.

Wow. This is just what we want as moms, isn't it? For our kids to thrive.

I enjoyed dancing lessons when I was a child and I encouraged my daughter to have that experience. When she was about 8 she turned to me one day and said, "Mom, just face it. I'm not the ballet type". Dancing was not her style and she knew it. She was able to express that to me with such clarity, and a little humor, too.

Write poetry every day, take classes and workshops, send poems out to publishers.

Come on over! I find New York City a fabulous place to live. Yesterday I walked the streets for a couple of hours and sat in a bookstore cafe to write and read - sheer joy for me.

Carrie,
You do share beauty with the world - that's how I think of you.

Thanks for this post, Danielle. A wise and compassionate approach.

My favorite: pink peonies in a blue and white ceramic vase I bought in Japan. Just gorgeous. And I love these lines from the Mary Oliver poem:

This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready
to break my heart
as the sun rises,
as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers

Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,
and softly,
and exclaiming of their dearness,
fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,

with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,
their eagerness
to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are
nothing, forever?

from "Peonies" in New and Selected Poems by Mary Oliver

My husband and daughter. Good health. Family and friends. The ocean. Books. Poetry. New York City. Memories of my Nana. The colors blue and white. Tulips and peonies. Teachers and firefighters. Music. Trees.

And, the organic french roast coffee that I am sipping right now.

Books, especially cookbooks and poetry. Blue and white china. Handbags.

I focus more on myself, less on others. I'm better about letting go, less of a perfectionist. I have more fun.

Two of the best concerts I've seen are Barbra Streisand and Andrea Bocelli. They were both amazing shows, the kind of singing that gives me chills.

And I saw U2 in Tokyo and they were pretty fantastic.

Not a secret anymore!

An Hermes Birkin bag.

One of my favorites is Family Happiness by the late Laurie Colwin. I also love Rosie by Anne Lamott.

Take a long, mindful walk, write, cook a delicious meal, connect with my husband and daughter, read.

As it happens, I am mostly free today. I guess I know what to do!

perfectionism

Do you want to be happy or do you want to be right?

I'd buy a bunch of flowers, probably pink tulips.

Our home says that we like comfortable yet elegant spaces, that we love muted, calming colors, that we lived in Japan. Also that we love to cook and entertain family and friends.

I love Anne Lamott's books Traveling Mercies and Grace, Eventually. Also, The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, How Not to the Afraid of Your Own Life by Susan Piver, Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach and Younger by the Day by Victoria Moran.

Content and grateful.

What a great question! I feel so moved by all of your responses. I believe that on some level we do know we are enough just as we are. We've just forgotten.

This query today makes me think of a wonderful quote from Muriel Rukeyser: "What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would break open."

Here's to breaking the world open! And as for me, I would stop worrying about what other people think about what I say and do.

the way we die. I'm an end-of-life doula and a social worker. People need love, support and compassion at the end of life. We need to promote palliative care in order to make people as comfortable as possible in their last days. And no one should be alone at such a time.