Hope Emerging from the Dust

Be vulnerable to the new day, and hold on to hope.

I was once a member of a professional reading group with several of my colleagues. Like any book club, each of us read the same new book every month. However, we each explored our own particular theme in that monthly book. My theme was hope. 

I nearly forgot about this illuminating time, until I pulled down one of the books from the collection we read. Their Eyes Were Watching God was full of dog-eared pages where I saw hope. One passage particularly catches my eye today: 

She knew that God tore down the old world every evening and built a new one by sun-up. It was wonderful to see it take form with the sun and emerge from the gray dust of its making.

What impresses me most now is how hope comes from a dark place. Even through the gray dust we are assured that something bright and new is on the horizon.

When it feels like everything around you is crumbling, keep telling yourself you will soon find:

Something new

Something needed

Something important

Something beautiful

Be vulnerable to the new day, and hold on to hope.  Be open to change along your personal path. If it still seems murky, coaching can help bring you through the gray dust toward your goals. 

Chips and Laughter

Marvelous the way we can consciously bring laughter into our day! Make it happen and see the change.

I have a deep affinity for James Hilton’s Goodbye Mr. Chips. From my years teaching, I have grown to understand the complexities of the character even though what initially drew me to the book was its endearing simplicity.  

As memories passed before me while I scanned the brittle, dog-eared pages, I landed on one particular passage about Mr. Chipping that resonated with me this week:

Laughter… laughter… wherever he went and whatever he said, there was laughter. He had earned the reputation of being a great jester, and jests were expected of him. 

“Old Chips was in fine form,” they would say afterward. “Marvelous the way he can always see the funny side of things….”

As basic as laughter seems, it is easily taken for granted, yet is so important to us. We know that laughter enhances cognitive function, relieves stress and tension, boosts the immune system, and increases resilience.

When was the last time you laughed? How easily does it come to you? How do you - or can you - bring laughter into your daily life?  

Here are a few ways to be sure you laugh daily:

• Reach out to someone who makes you laugh - even if you haven’t been in touch in a while

• Make time to watch your favorite comedy - or at least a couple of clips of it

• Listen to the laughter of strangers and take it in - make it contagious

• Laugh at yourself - we do silly things all the time and shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously

Marvelous the way we can consciously bring laughter into our day! If it is not in your nature to laugh, practice opening up to laughter. If you are going through a difficult time, remember to use laughter as a way through the haze. If you need someone to help you find laughter again, coaching can help. 

Conspiring With You

To attain your goals, try shifting your mind to believe that, when you want something, all the universe conspires with you.

Every reader has that book. The one they always go to. One so well written that they find new insight each time they read it.

Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist” is that book for me. Every time I pick it up, it tells me something that I need to learn. 

I reached for it again recently during a moment of self-doubt. One of the dog-eared pages fell open. It was a passage that explained about Personal Legend, or those things people instinctually know they want to accomplish in life. 

When they are young, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream. 

But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible.

There are times in life when that force creeps in and makes it hard to see our path. We begin to be afraid of what is around us. We forget to dream. We don’t try to accomplish what is in our hearts. 

But, clarity isn’t far away.

When it is hard to see the road ahead of you: 

• Pause to look more closely at what is within your reach. 

• Remember you are still on the right path.

• Appreciate that this place - right now - holds purpose.

• Identify the things in life that are working, and the things that are not working. 

• Decide what you want. 

• Take what works; leave what doesn’t. 

• Begin to move forward.

• Be open to new insights along the way.

Coelho encouraged, “when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” Trust this. Trust yourself. Keep moving forward.

You are here for a purpose. If it is still hard to see, coaching can help get back to your path.

“Maybe” - A Way Out of Rumination

Maybe there’s a different way to think about things.

Rumination can be harmful. I saw this regularly working in girls’ schools. 

Once something gets stuck in our heads we go down a narrow path and can’t see beyond the story we create. The story quickly becomes a false truth. 

If you start to ruminate, remember to widen your scope in order to see more clearly. Work at rewiring your own brain.

There is a Rewiring Toolbox in Kay & Shipman’s The Confidence Code for Girls, and one particular tool I’ve found helpful in coaching is creating a new, “maybe story.” 

Start every sentence with “maybe.” Even if the “maybe” is not the best explanation, even if the story is kind of silly, it works.

Flipping the switch to a slightly different way of looking at what’s bugging you will get you off the negative path. Basically, you are getting perspective, and thinking flexibly. 

When I see clients get stuck in their narratives, I direct them to create a maybe story.

• Maybe there’s a different way forward.

• Maybe I can take that risk. 

• Maybe I’ve completed more than I realize.

• Maybe I will get all that I hoped for. 

• Maybe I already know how to do it. 

Coaching helps you search through your “maybes” and get to your goals. It helps you stop fixating and focuses on problem-solving. It sets you in the right direction. Reach out if you need help in exploring the “maybes.” 

What the Tinman Already Has

If you are trying to build self-trust, work through old patterns, or care for yourself with more intention, you do not have to do it alone

I pulled my old copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz off the shelf today. It has many bent corners. I was not sure which page to revisit until I landed on the one where the Tin Woodman finally receives his heart:

Oz opened the Tin Woodman’s chest, placed a silk heart inside, and patched the tin where he had cut it.

“I’m sorry I had to put a patch on your breast,” he said.

“Never mind the patch,” the Woodman replied. “I shall never forget your kindness.”

I dog-eared this page in my twenties. At the time, I thought I marked it because of heartbreak. Now I see something different.

The Woodman’s heart mattered to him only if it was a kind one.
He welcomed the patch.
He chose to believe the process would not hurt.
And he trusted help when he needed it.

Those choices take strength.
They also take support.

If you are trying to build self-trust, work through old patterns, or care for yourself with more intention, you do not have to do it alone. I am here when you are ready.

Simmering

Simmering our thoughts is part of the creative process. Sometimes, we just need to be still.

When I worked at a girls’ school in Princeton, the chef made the kind of soups you remember years later. He once told me his grandmother insisted that soup is the most important dish to learn because it grows from attention and care.

I thought about that when I opened an old dog-ear in Rumi: Bridge to the Soul. The page folded toward the poem “Let the Soup Simmer.” The lines I had underlined long ago still feel true:

Let the soup simmer
with the lid on.
Be quiet.

Sometimes the best thing you can do is pause.
Not rush to fix.
Not force clarity.
Just let things settle long enough to understand what you have been creating.

When life feels full, the silence helps you see the adjustments you need. It also helps you notice when something is already working.

If you need support as you sort through what to hold, what to change, and what to give more time, coaching can offer a steady place to think and breathe.

A Routine to Start with Wonder

When I worked as an educator, my days ran on structure. Classes gave shape to the hours. Routine kept my mind steady and helped me stay organized.

Now that my work looks different, I protect a small morning ritual to keep that steadiness. I start the day with a short Tai Chi sequence. It grounds me even when life feels busy.

That routine came to mind when I opened a dog-eared page in The Tao of Pooh and landed on this conversation between Pooh and Piglet:

“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?”

“What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?”

“I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?”

Pooh nodded thoughtfully.

“It’s the same thing,” he said.

There is something refreshing about starting the day with simple curiosity.

A small moment of openness.

A gentle way to set the tone before responsibilities take over.

If you are navigating change or rebuilding routines of your own, you can start with one repeatable action each morning. It does not have to be elaborate. It only needs to help you step into the day with a steadier mindset.

If you want help building that structure in a way that works for your life, I am here.

Welcome to Dog-Ears

For most of my life, I could hold complex ideas with ease, but my working memory never kept pace with my reasoning. Thoughts came in quickly. They left just as fast. I needed ways to keep them still long enough to understand them.

I built habits to help myself along.
Lists.
Routines.
Annotations.
And dog-eared pages from the books that shaped me.

Those folded corners became reminders of ideas I wanted to revisit. They marked the passages that stirred something important, even if I did not yet know why.

This Journal series returns to those pages. Some come from books on education, psychology, theology, or leadership. Others come from novels, picture books, or the kinds of stories you pick up for fun and end up thinking about for years.

What matters is what those passages reveal now.
What they meant then.
What they might mean to you.

If any of these reflections spark something in you and you want guided support as you sort through your own next steps, I am here when you need me.