I love social media because it creates a web of connective tissue that runs back and forth between us like an elegant spiders web made up of seemingly lightweight strands – vacation snaps, silliness, inspired thoughts and polemic. We share fragments of our lives over great distances on invisible frequencies, and because our souls…
Category: ALL
The Pope – nature can be your church
‘It is not necessary to believe in God to be a good person. In a way, the traditional notion of God is outdated. One can be spiritual but not religious. It is not necessary to go to church and give money – for many, nature can be a church. Some of the best people in…
Divine Timing
A dear friend, surrounded by her family and loved ones, said goodbye to her beloved mom last week. As I stood graveside listening to the heart felt speeches, I felt like I was standing in a painting with all the beautiful fall colors daubed around us. But my heart skipped a beat as my friend…
Connecting with the Departed
Here’s Abraham Hicks explaining what it feels like to connect to a departed loved one’s spirit. Note – you usually you need to meditate first and be in a positive frame of mind (not depressed or grieving): ‘It will seem odd at first. You will think you are making it up. But you won’t be….
Fall
I used to dread autumn, ’50 shades of slush’, or whatever the acerbic British writer Julie Burchill called it. Sure, I could appreciate the big bravura show of red, gold and purple leaves, the ‘fireworks’ before winter. But I felt a strong undertow of dread. Autumn heralded the end of all I loved; the long…
James Turrell
One of my all time favorite interviewees was artist James Turrell. I interviewed him for the New York Times Magazine about one of his sky spaces (little enclosures that frame the sky in magical ways). He referred to his work as. ‘a luminous emptiness..a meditation..abstract music.. a celebration of the senses..’ and jokingly added: ‘I sell…
On Faith
There is a subtle kind of faith, which is like connective tissue, which under-pins my life and spreads a growing sense of ease and harmony through my days. It is a simple belief that even though I can’t see it immediately, things are always working out for the best. It is a form of relaxing…
Psalm 30
“You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.’ Laura and I loved psalm 23 (we had it read at our wedding). But now this little fragment of psalm 30 speaks to my heart.
Villa Romana del Casale
I’ve spent 20 years writing about travel and interiors and never seen anything as astonishing as the Villa Romana del Casale. It makes most Hollywood homes look like cardboard. It is a 4th century BC Roman villa in the center of Sicily. And although it is partly ruined, it gives an extraordinary sense of how…
Delizioso
Sicilians don’t stoop to modesty. Yesterday we had ‘the world’s best ice cream’ at Dolceria Costanzo in Noto. An extraordinary mix of creamy deliciousness and nuanced flavors (my favorite was mandorla made with sweet local almonds). Earlier in the day we had ‘the world’s best sandwich’ at Caseificio Borderi in Syracusa. We queued for an…
Who are we..really?
Lying on the beach in Sicily, watching pretty Italian men play football (with a pair of flip flops wedged in the sand for a goal) reminded me of another favorite holiday sight. A decade ago, my friend Michelle and I were sitting poolside at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, when the Indian cricket team…
Vacances en Europe
Arrived back in England on Friday to find my 80-year old parents practicing their Italian, in readiness for our vacation in Sicily next week. Spent the weekend in Cambridge with my sister and her family; roller blading, zip lining, Segway-ing around a local forest and baking cakes. My polenta, grapefruit, orange, honey and marscapone cake-…
Lighten Up
‘What is our purpose? The Talmud says the earth is the densest place in the universe and when you can lighten up here, the reverberations go through time and space and it changes the whole universe.’ – Dr Christiane Northrup
Lily Spoons
Is it only me, or do you also feel that life is full of patterns and leitmotifs that we can only see clearly with time and distance? Laura knew I loved spoons (and yes, spooning!), so she tried to woo me with her spoon collection on our second date. Over lunch, she whipped out of…
Soul Love Forever 