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One of the great gifts I receive from writing my blogs is the pleasure of receiving feedback from readers.   Last month’s Costa Rica Lessons Learned #4, The Importance of Having a Guide When You’re in Unfamiliar Territory, was no exception. My neighbor Tim, who is thoughtful, a pre-college educator and

As families change and grow, so too do the rhythms of their interactions. Over the course of many years’ experience in helping families move from the rupture of divorce to the challenge of restructuring, I’ve seen many people create beautiful, meaningful, new traditions that enhance their lives in ways which

When we listen, what do we hear?  As we hiked through the jungle, our guide would often stop when he heard sounds that he wanted us to notice.  To my ear, they initially sounded like pleasant background music, or sometimes a not-so-pleasant cacophony, but I couldn’t have told you more

In our world today, we’re almost always engaging with digital devices. So much so that I’m almost certain you will be reading these words on a digital screen (unless this blog is being read to you aloud), and perhaps on your smartphone screen. I’ll admit that my phone is often

On our first night in Costa Rica, we went on a night hike into the primordial jungle. Our guides gave us all flashlights before we set out, so we could all be on the lookout both for wildlife and for our safety as we hopped across a river by night. 

Last fall, my husband suggested that we take a winter break family trip to Costa Rica; I responded by saying that I’d do anything and go anywhere, but didn’t want to be involved in the planning. With that carte blanche, he planned away. As it turned out, some of the

Last week as I sat with my family over dinner on our final night together before leaving Costa Rica, we recapped our week in the form of “roses” (the best part of our week), “thorns” (the worst part of our week) and “buds” (what we’re looking forward to / what

As we approach the fresh start of a New Year, and at this precarious and fragile time in our world, we give thanks to our clients, our colleagues and our newly trained Consilium practitioners, and honor them by making donations to:  Mothers Out Front (local) and Evergreen Collaborative (more global). We’ve got the whole

In a recent conversation with an architect friend of mine, she said that in addition to bringing the outdoors into buildings and enhancing views, the very qualities of light and air need to be beautiful and beneficial to make buildings all that they can be. Her comment made me think