Tag archives: inspiration
Ongoing social and political discord undermine our peace of mind. They also take a toll on physical wellbeing. This shows up for me as a churning gut and layer of fatigue behind the eyes. Others might feel agitation, low energy, headaches, tension, and dry mouth. No matter how it manifests, living through stressful times challenges […]
Girls Inc. of Carpinteria celebrated empowering women and girls at its annual Women of Inspiration luncheon recently. And what could be a more powerful example than a NASA rocket scientist, Tracy Van Houten, to give the keynote speech? Tracy is a lead engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). She calls herself a STEMinist (Science, […]
Who was Martin Luther King, Jr? Why do we celebrate a “MLK Holiday” and is he still relevant in 2022? All great questions. Joyfully, the research to explicate those answers took a full day that I will be grateful for the rest of my life. Many of us grew up in the civil rights era. […]
When I think of my friend Miguel, the word “brave” is what comes to mind. One reason is because Miguel is Native American, a member of the Santa Barbara Chumash Band, and the word “brave” refers to a Native American warrior. Although Miguel has never, as least as far as I know, gone to battle […]
On January 9, 2020, Montecito residents gathered for the second annual 1/9 debris flow memorial titled, “Raising Our Light: An Evening of Remembrance, Connection and Hope.” The inspirational event was hosted by Westmont College at the Murchison Gymnasium, its stage decorated with white roses and two small Christmas trees glistening with white lights. The event […]
Just over five years ago, Grace Fisher was a normal, healthy, happy, and extremely active high school teenager who was proficient at three musical instruments and eagerly anticipating attending the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston the following fall. Then, out of nowhere, tragedy struck at her 17th birthday party when she suddenly developed a severe […]
Inspiration is a very positive word and concept in our culture. Nobody doesn’t want to be inspired. The word, in its origin, conveys a “breathing in” – but not so much of sucking air into your own lungs (though that is never a bad idea) as of being breathed into by some benevolent power which […]