Higher Living Reflections

One of life’s greatest blessings is an individual’s network of friends and family. The tough part comes at the end, when a member of one’s personal tribe dies. Some pass unexpectedly;…

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,…

I enjoy being with and listening to passionate people, even on topics in which I might not have an interest. I can be a captive audience, listening raptly to those going…

Dark, white, or milk? Pure and simple, like when wrapped in foil in the form of a teardrop? Or enjoyed encasing an almond, cashew, cherry, cream, or a mixture of them?…

Every human has likely felt lonely at some point in his life. Many feel it chronically. Merriam-Webster cuts to the essentialism of loneliness in its definition: “being without company; cut off…

We must free ourselves from the prison of our everyday affairs and politics. – Epicurus Time is an illusion. It serves to sort and categorize past events and imagine future ones.…

Wishing you a beautiful, joyful… Solstice Hanukkah Christmas Kwanzaa  …

The apple tree never asks the beech how it should grow; nor the lion, the horse, how he should take his prey. – William Blake How many times have you said…

Thanksgiving has become my favorite holiday. The reason lies in its simplicity: The day is not laden with fervor. Rather, it is premised on a simple construct: Offering gratitude. My friend…

“Hello, darkness, my old friend, I’ve come to talk to you again” – Paul Simon Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend. The afternoon’s light will decrease and continue to lose its…

My friend Leadville Laurel McHargue asks her readers’ for their opinions about pumpkins. “When you first see them, do you smile, or does a chill run down your spine because you…

To err is human; to forgive, divine. – from “Essay on Criticism” by Alexander Pope It’s become a proverb in our culture. We know it, but one wonders how well we…

He had been to touch the great death, and found that, after all, it was but the great death. – The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane Death. The thought causes…

Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward. – Kurt Vonnegut Emojis. They have become…

What is it within one’s psyche that is touched, that causes the world to seem an emptier place when a certain person dies? The loss could be personal or a public…