Sometimes it feels as though my days are made up of running errands. Dashing from one place to another on foot slows the process, which means I get less accomplished in a day. Paradoxically, not having a car makes this daily list of to-do’s less stressful. I don’t have to deal with the anxiety of […]
The Secret Beauty of Wandering Read More »
Standing on a threshold, I fight the temptation to go back. Back to where it’s comfortable. Back to familiarity. But the reality is this: there is no going back. Because “back” no longer exists. Things have shifted, changed, moved on. “Back” is different than it was. I am different than I was. “No man ever
If I were to summarize 2019 for myself, it would be “the year of sitting in the in between,” or the interstice. Mystics and contemplatives refer to it as “liminal space.” According to Richard Rohr, some native peoples refer to it as “crazy time,” a sacred space where transformation takes place, “where we are betwixt
A Meditation on Interstitial Time Read More »
Thirty years ago, when I first landed here, I felt a deep sense of recognition. It was where my parents came from, and their parents, and their parents, and so on until my family tree seems to fade around 1600. That was the year that Maria da Silveira e Ávila was born, in Topo, São
Meetings at the Edge Read More »
There are some events and experiences that reach well beyond the realm of standard conference fare. These ephemeral gatherings are often a mix of tangible and abstract, of linear and nonlinear. I was the executive producer of one such event recently. For five days, 600 people gathered to discuss the difficult and the beautiful, to
I took one of those personality tests, the kind that promises to provide a “freakishly accurate description of who you are and why you do things the way you do.” After taking the 15-minute quiz, I received the report. It said that, when it comes to interacting with environments, I am 35% introverted. Wait, what?
Confessions of a Closet Introvert Read More »
Another family-run business in the San Francisco Bay Area is closing. This time it’s a 39-year-old bakery with locations throughout the Bay Area. Aside from the usual narrative about the rising costs of renting commercial space in Silicon Valley, this one had another common footnote: the struggle to find, hire and retain employees. San Francisco
Too Much Leading…Not Enough Doing Read More »
Out our window I see them — exhausted and disoriented tourists, their rolling luggage clack-clack-clacking on the stone calçadas. They stop at the corner, staring at their phone, then glancing up at the placard on the side of the building that tells them the street name, then back at their phone. They look up and
The Unbearable Darkness of Tourism Read More »
One year ago, on July 12*, I tearfully hugged friends good-bye and boarded a United Airlines flight to Lisbon. Memories of my mom weighed heavily on me as I walked through the airport security lines, alone, toward my gate. I imagined my mother doing the same in reverse back in 1962. My experience was nothing
Reflections After a Year Read More »
Organizing is a multi-million dollar industry. Dozens of blogs are dedicated to methods and tools for organizing your home. Pinterest and Instagram are filled with images of “worst case scenario” before photos paired with orderly collections of boxes and bins in pantries, garages, and closet. From Marie Kondo to The Container Store, it seems everyone
Organizing is Not Enough Read More »