Happy Valentine's Day!!! Just a simple little reminder that what is in your heart is what is most important today and every other day. You are the only one who can prioritize what's inside! Don't be persuaded otherwise!

Do you ever find yourself in situations where you feel you are not valued? This can happen anywhere ... in a work environment, amongst friends, in a class, on a team, etc. Our immediate response is to feel frustrated or angry. But read this excerpt that I came across this week to understand why you should move on from places your value is not appreciated .... A father said to his daughter, "You just graduated! This is a car I bought a while ago... It is a few years old. But

We've all heard the saying “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.” Memorials are a deeply meaningful illustration of this. When we lose someone, we tell stories, we reminisce, we laugh, we cry, and we try to figure out how to come together and properly deal with the new void in our lives. We say things we should have said to that person the last time we saw them or talked to them on the phone, and we talk about all the things we loved about them to the other people

Over the holidays, I had a virtual tea time with a friend's mother who was celebrating her 93rd birthday! She excitedly shared a recap of all the things she had been doing with her family, including one of her favorites, a Boston Pops holiday concert. When she finally took a breath, I asked her if her daughters were allowing her any time for a nap to refuel. She responded with "why would I waste time sleeping during the day ... I would be missing out on so much!" Life is a b

The beginning of the year is a good time for sorting and organizing things, and the relationships in your life are no exception. Over time, friendships naturally cycle through various phases, and sometimes the friends involved end up no longer being in sync with one another. This most often results in a lopsided or non-reciprocal friendship. I like to reflect on the friendships of mine that seem to be fading. Is that friend going through a period of intense life demands with

Have you ever noticed how quickly we assume that if a person is not in a "positive" mood, then they are somehow wrong, bad, or inadequate? Society has led us to believe that feeling sad, angry, or any emotion that we consider ‘negative’ is bad. This happened to me recently. My youngest son and family moved to Savannah for a new job. Watching the U-Haul drive away made me feel sad, bittersweet and melancholy. I was not in the mood to chat with people, and just wanted some time

We all have moments where we lose perspective. I know for me, I can get worked up about trivial things that at the time seem quite important, only to realize later that I had blown the situation way out of proportion. The other night, my husband and I watched "Don't Look Up" which is streaming on Netflix. The cast is what attracted us -- Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep. It is not one of those movies that I say "you have to see," but the satirical film ab

Three years ago, I sent out my first weekly Simple.Sweet.Serenity. At the time, I did not know what I would write about every week, how many readers I would have, or how long I would continue to write. I recently read how helpful it is with decisions we make in life, to set aside time to look backwards after the fact. Yes, life is lived forwards, but it can only be understood backwards. Making time for reflection helps us to learn from our right steps and our missteps in ord

Ever since I was a teenager, I have wanted to play the guitar. My husband got me one for Christmas two years ago and my goal was to teach myself how to play. After collecting dust all this time, I decided to go to Plan B and signed up for in-person guitar lessons. My very young instructor asked what my vision was :) I smiled and responded that while one day I'd like to play like James Taylor, for now I'd be happy to learn Jingle Bells by Christmas. Knowing how to read music f