Loving My Body Through A Decade Living With Dystonia

Ten years a slave– To tangled limbs And a torquing spine, To a broken medical system And neural network gone offline Ten years an observer– Of the quirky, jerky movement of a marionette Compensatorily adopted two decades ago After a bike/car accident left my Body and soul bruised and bowed Ten years a student– Of physiology and the human mind; Acquiring an armchair PhD In … [Read more...]

Reclaiming When I Feel Most Alive

Reclaiming When I Feel Most Alive

I feel most alive amidst The lilting arpeggio of birdsong– Shoes crunching through scattered leaves And my eyes lifted to a sky shimmering With a web of verdant limbs I feel most alive when My fingers pluck at nylon strings– Eyes closed, head tossed back, Mouth bursting at the seams with Thought-felt phrases knitted from the soul. I feel most alive when The melody of pure laughter … [Read more...]

Seeking the Road to Recovery When Eyes Cannot See Clearly

Seeking the Road to Recovery When Eyes Cannot See Clearly

Two months ago, my life with dystonia ‘got flipped turned upside down’ and i’ve been on a rollercoaster ride of recovery from it ever since. Seemingly overnight, my plush California King-sized bed transformed into the terrifying setting for violent contortions that wiped me out for much of the next day. Accompanying this sudden change, the sights that normally inspired me as a writer and the … [Read more...]

Memoirist Reveals How to Recover A Sense of Self After Stroke, To Find Truth Through Trauma

Memoirist Reveals How to Recover A Sense of Self After Stroke, To Find Truth Through Trauma

Trauma is never simply a single, isolated event. Its impact occurs in cascading waves that ripple out in multiple directions at disparate periods in time. Present trauma builds upon trauma from our past–the experiences are distinct, yet not separate. While an initial traumatic event might have already happened once, its impact and repercussions will be felt anew again and again, until we can learn … [Read more...]

If I Toss the Obligatory To-Dos, Do I Free Myself to Peacefully Flourish?

The Zen of Doodling

For most of my adulthood, it’s felt as if I’ve been waltzing between an addictive race to accomplishment and the exhausted paralysis of perfectionism. It’s not surprising, really, that there are so many of us stuck in this precarious pas de deux. The frantic rhythm of modern society seems to thrive off this fear of not measuring up and its most reliable partner–an addiction to busyness. In a … [Read more...]

Revamping My Perspective on the Path Not Taken

Revamping My Perspective on the Path Not Taken

Through much of my adult years (and much of life, in truth), I've spent far more time than I'd like looking back on the past and wondering 'what if'? That really didn't change until the last few years when I finally learned how to breathe and stay in the moment with meditation–and when my romantic relationship solidified, gaining permanence. In retrospect, it truly is sad how much of the present I … [Read more...]

Bidding Adieu to 2016, Warmly Welcoming the New Year

Src: ChicagoHoneyCoop.com

Rather than list a myriad of well-meaning resolutions and share a stream of optimistic goals for the upcoming year, I’ve decided to welcome the new year here in a more unconventional manner. One of the greatest endeavors I embarked upon during 2016 was working toward a true recovery of my creative expression. So perhaps it’s not too surprising that I felt inspired to commemorate my journey … [Read more...]

If You Only Dare

Standing Foot Behind Head Pose

You must brave being the odd one out Before you can find your way on the less-travelled path You must leap without a safety net Before you can feel firmly grounded on your feet You must dare to roll in the mud Before you can carve out a life of true beauty You must risk the missteps, tumbles and falls Before you can finally arise steady, strong and tall © 2015 Renee L. Canada … [Read more...]

When Nature Pulls You Into the Present Moment

View From Reykjavik Bay

As I lift my face to greet the star-studded night sky, jubilant Jupiter nearly stealing the show, a harsh wind whips across my bare skin. Though passengers aboard this whaling ship the previous two nights have failed to see what we’ve come to witness, my hopes are still high. It is my love’s birthday, and this display is one of the biggest reasons why we’ve chosen to come to Iceland (instead of … [Read more...]

Finding Inspiration for the New Year From Reflections on 2014

HamletHub

As we kick off 2015, it’s the perfect time for us to start penning a brand new chapter in the story of our lives. In truth, we can have that fresh start at any point in time, if we so choose it. Yet the symbolism of stepping into a new calendar year, with its blank days and weeks to fill, wipes clean the slate of the past year, triggering the inspiration and motivation we need to manifest … [Read more...]