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For the Experimenter in All of Us
It is true that the majority of wisdom is gleaned from experience. It is also true that experience is the bitterest of all teachers. But, for those of us who can’t shake the urge to continually experiment with new ideas—to take them out into the world and “test them out” or “try them on for […]
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Fitness as Spiritual Quest
Many of the most valuable life lessons I have learned, I’ve learned from fitness. Whether I’m just working out for fun or sticking to a more arduous training schedule, I love every aspect of the process of bettering myself through physical activity. But, it’s not just a sense of self-improvement, or accomplishment, that drives me. […]
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On the Art of Entertaining
I think of myself as a maker of experiences. The most satisfying of all creative enterprises for me, acts of writing and design included, are those tailored toward giving. Those that represent a fecundity of mind and spirit and that are crafted for the express purpose of giving others a unique and memorable experience. You […]
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Finding the Challenge
I cherish those moments in which I have the final say over how I occupy my time. (Which of us, honestly, doesn’t?) I have been that way for as long as I can remember, and the biggest reason I have for wanting to control my time has to do with boredom—and my attempts to stave […]
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Darling, Forget What You’re Wearing. On Elegance.
In On the Art of Femininity, I talk at length about my vision of femininity and what it means to me, as a woman, to apply the essence of the feminine in everyday life. As that post is, at present, overwhelmingly the most liked and viewed post on this (still very new) blog, I thought it would […]
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Simplicity as Art and Spiritual Practice
It is often said that creativity manifests from chaos. I’d imagine that most creative individuals wouldn’t disagree. That chaos, whether it involves a flurry of contradictory emotions, the unrestrained proliferation of ideas, or that bizarre clashing of insight—a knowledge that far exceeds one’s years—with the playfulness of a small child, requires balance. I’ve written previously […]
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What Cooking Taught Me about Relationships
I did not learn to cook until I was in my early twenties. Although I grew up in an Italian family that encouraged me, from an early age, to develop a proficiency in the culinary arts (or at the very least learn how to roll a proper meatball to accompany my grandmother’s marinara sauce), I […]
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When You Have Too Much Life…
I don’t know that I believe there is such a thing as having too much life within you. I tend to think that some of us are simply more adept than others at using our energies and our intelligence harmoniously. When you are creative, or when you are a person of many interests who feels […]
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What Triathlon Taught Me about Creativity, Learning, & Achievement
With regard to athletics, swimming is my first love, although I never wanted to just be a swimmer. It was an affinity for cycling, which developed over the course of the last several years, that made me consider fusing my passion for swimming with other activities. That would create a whole separate challenge and a brand new way to test […]
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On the Art of Femininity
I believe there is no more influential factor in forging a creative life, for women, than harnessing the power of femininity. In fact, it rankles me whenever I hear femininity dismissed as “absence” or “ornament” (especially when women do it) because I think it represents a fundamental misunderstanding of how to utilize the power of our feminine traits. If we look […]
The Used Life 