The spring Equinox is today, and I think it is supposed to warm up later in the afternoon. This week in Asheville, NC the morning temperatures were well below freezing. There were flurries and we needed our woollies. I had my fireplace going during my morning meditation and covered myself with a heavy blanket. I swear my blood is thinner since I moved to Florida over a decade ago. But no complaining. I live in the mountains and by the sea. It’s dreamy, until it isn’t.   So wh

Forty years is a lifetime. Almost. Our son, Zachary Horner Mitnick was born forty years ago and survived the challenges of his prematurity for only a few days. Those days were filled with what seemed like a thousand life and death decisions. Bearing witness to his suffering was the least I could do as his mother. There was no space between my husband and me as we decided “no heroic medical intervention.” The likelihood of his survival was extremely low. If he could miraculous

I’ve written recently on values driven planning and decision making as an introduction to my systems consulting seminars. Much of my research and writing has revolved around women and work, specifically work/life integration. For many women, including me, there isn’t a balance between home and work—especially if your place of business is in your home—fax machines, phone lines, employees, and the like. The kitchen sink and the laundry room sometimes double as executive dining

We are enduring the most challenging times I have witnessed in my lifetime. So many of us feel unsafe, insecure, unstable, anxious, and unsure of what to do. It seems we are inundated daily with the effects of bad players at home and abroad. The horrors seem to have no end: Women’s rights are being revoked, gay rights are evaporating, antisemitism and crimes against Jews are on the rise. Gun violence has seeped into every area of our lives, even our children’s schools. Our go

Happy New Year one and all! Like many of you, I was thrilled to put 2025 behind me and look forward to more Joy in 2026. However, the news at home and abroad does not offer a hopeful outlook for the year ahead, no matter how hard I try to put a spin on positivity. What I have learned through some of the challenges of the past year is that we make our own hope, find our unique pockets of Joy daily, and without tuning out, find comfort in touch, Love, and thoughtfulness of thos

Something happened this year. I do not have the usual Holiday Fever—the rush to plan and implement activities throughout December. I think I am somewhat depressed, largely due to the worsening conditions in the world and our country’s role in all of it. But I think there’s more to my story. Perhaps my children’s busy lives on the Left Coast making it impossible for them to come visit this year is bearing down harder on me than I thought. Maybe it’s my friendship that went sou

I am officially beyond the halfway mark of my seventieth revolution around the sun. This impending milestone birthday has me in a whirlwind of activity. The kind of activity that speaks to a person who lives her life on a trajectory that often feels fated, due in part to the many circumstances beyond anyone’s control, especially mine. And yet, the most cherished aspects of my life—my story—were indeed, chosen by me.   My birth in 1956 was celebrated by a large extended family

Halloween was just ten days ago, and today is Veterans Day. A big thank you to all those military service people past and present. We owe you a debt of gratitude for your investment in democracy and freedom. It is because of you, brave men and women, that we have the freedoms we hold so dear and hope to preserve for generations. But today I am in the throes of “love stuff”.   We celebrated my parents’ 70 th wedding anniversary the last week of October. Seventy years is a lif

I often wonder how far women have come in the journey to find balance between work and home. Mostly, because I don’t know anyone who feels like she has yet figured it out. In the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Sunday, September 30 th edition there was an interview by David Gergen with Sandra Day O’Connor which touched on this subject. When Sandra Day graduated from Stanford Law School she couldn’t find a firm that would hire a woman for anything other than secretarial work. Afte

One year ago today, Stephen and I were journeying home to Siesta Key (Sarasota), Florida in the aftermath of the disaster hurricane...

Four years ago, my husband found his happy place here in the Blue Ridge Mountains, just outside of Asheville, NC, when we were wrapping...

"I am surrounded with many people of varying degrees of closeness, and I have learned that each of these people is essential to supporting the regulation of my emotional ecosystem."