Time to Take a Break!
I have written on several occasions about how taking time off from work benefits our mental health. So, in the spirit of “practice what you preach,” I will be on vacation for two weeks and will take a break from writing Five on Friday for the month of August. 1.
Begin Again
Uncannily familiar and utterly new. Sitting down to write this week’s Five on Friday after a month of vacation, I am a beginner again. How fortunate indeed. For “In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.” 1. Shoshin. 初心. Derived from Zen Buddhism,
Abracadabra Day
When my kids were little, we had a family tradition of Abracadabra Days. They were each entitled to one day in the fall semester and one in the spring to wake up and declare that they would take the day off from school. Maybe they needed more sleep. Maybe they
Mental Health Takes Center Court
“Fault!” That’s the call of a line referee when the tennis ball lands outside an opponent’s designated service box. This week, the cry came when Naomi Osaka, four-time Grand Slam champion and number two ranked female tennis player in the world, refused to participate in a mandatory post-match news conference
The Confess Project
Hair. It’s a major strand in the braid of our pandemic stories. Women have gone gray. Men have gone from crew cut to ponytail. People are cutting and coloring their own hair (at their own peril). Some have feverishly tracked daily public health notices, jumping at the first available appointment
Power of Community
Something happened every day this week that reminded me of the power of community to protect and promote mental health. It’s not just that being connected in community is good for our mental health, which it is. It was the aha moment – both familiar and new – that when
Another Side of Technology
Your mic is muted. You catch a glimpse of your hair and wish you washed it last night. Your connection is unstable. You are feeling fatigued and have a slight headache. You send a message about your doctor’s appointment to “Everyone” that you meant to send only to your friend
Coats of Many Colors
I have a thing for coats, so you can imagine my delight on Inauguration Day. Coats of many colors were on full display. Coats negotiate the space between inside and out. On the exterior, coats shield us from the elements. On the interior, they nestle against our bodies so we
Longing
About this time of year, many moons ago, I tiptoed out of my apartment in the dark of night to leave the urban sprawl of Tokyo on a quest. I was answering the beckoning call of Mt. Fuji. This iconic and majestic mountain rises 3776 meters above sea level and
Stress and Coping
It is cold and windy in New York. We even saw a few snow flurries today. COVID-19 cases are surging in the world. Right now, a new case is being reported every second. In the past twenty-four hours, I have received 56 emails and 31 texts about the election. We
Lose Hope, Game Over
Lose hope. Game over. The words of a dear friend ring in my ears these days. But it’s hard to stay hopeful. Just when it seems like things cannot get worse, they do. The US Presidential debate was a spectacle and a debacle. I have texts from friends who live
RIP RBG
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg bid the world farewell last Friday as Jews around the world welcomed in the new year. The Notorious RBG is the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court and is the first woman and first Jew to lie in State in the United States Capitol.
