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You see the headlines.  Seventy percent of C-suite executives are considering quitting due to burnout.  Over half of residents in the San Francisco Bay Area are considering leaving the area in the next five years.  Forty percent of workers are considering leaving their job soon.  Thirty-eight percent of respondents to a Hoover Institution poll said […]

First name Emily. Last name Ávila. First half American. Second half Portuguese. Just like my life. Totally one, and totally the other. Here, no one mispronounces my last name. They don’t say “uh-VEEY-uh,” forcing a fake Spanish accent. Or start off with the flat, whiney ‘A’ like “apple.” They know to emphasize the Ahhhh. But

Within hours of the devastating U.S. Supreme Court decision to rescind the constitutional protection of bodily autonomy, we started getting queries. Texts, emails, and Linked In messages came in, all with the same question: “Tell me more about living in Portugal.” There was no need to read between the lines, as Justice Thomas made clear,

I am trying to resurrect my seasonal newsletter. This month’s issue is about summer’s slow ripening, and features a recipe for cherry clafoutis, and thoughts on imposter syndrome.

I have always loved silence. I am an only child who spent a lot of time at home alone. We’ll unpack the “why” of why a 2nd grader spent days alone at home in later posts. Suffice it to say that, starting at age 8, I spent copious amounts of time on my own. Whenever

I wake up like an old fluorescent light bulb hanging in a barn — a long, slow flicker until I reach full power. My best mornings are spent in silence and stillness. I used to believe this meant I was not a morning person. But that is not true. In fact, I love mornings. Only

The following are words of wisdom from the writer Nora Ephron, quoted in this lovely article in The Atlantic on The Three Rules for Middle Age Happiness. Its intention touched me mostly because of the first line: gather friends and feed them. When I think of the moments of my life when I have been

On the morning of 1 November 1755, Lisbon suffered a massive earthquake that residents could feel as far away as North Africa. Seismologists today estimate the Lisbon earthquake had a magnitude of at least 8.4. It is considered one of the most deadly earthquakes in history, killing an estimated 30,000 people if you include the fires

Is it wrong to say I’m resurrecting a year-old blog poster for Easter? Many faith traditions celebrate significant observances this time of year. Even if none of them is part of your annual tradition, you can still observe bud break and the early bulbs coming up in the garden, and take a moment to ponder