Reconnect Journey: Why I’m Doing This

I talked with a woman in my hiking community who was sad that day that her daughter had stopped talking with her.  She had poured out her story that since she had started going on long backpack trips, her daughter just didn’t seem to want to talk with her. And then, her daughter’s infant died. …

Gratitude Celebration 60: Continue

I’ve reached my sixtieth post in what I had innocently started as a project to celebrate my sixtieth birthday by thanking sixty people for their contribution to my life. My first list, to see if I could come up with sixty people to thank, reached 94 within the first 45 years of my life! And …

Gratitude Celebration 59: Children

Your Children are not Your Children They are the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself.  They come through you but not from you,  And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.  You may give them your love but not your thoughts,  For they have their own thoughts.  You may …

Gratitude Celebration 58: Companion

John Lemberg is my hiking companion and someone who knows from experience what it’s like to be a middle child in a large family. He’s been the voice of hope and resilience when I needed it most. He’s been a navigator when I’m disoriented. He’s a warm body on winter backpacking trips. He’s a ridgerunning …

Gratitude Celebration 57: What’s the Word?

I need a word to describe the group of people I want to thank today. If you have one, please share it with me! What keeps coming to mind is “cotillion” because I’m seeing all the women and men who have been dancing with me and my idea of Forgiveness Walks in this sort of …

Gratitude Celebration 56: Herald

“Regina, that’s not right. You’ve got to stand up for yourself.” Rachel’s words struck terror through my whole being, but I knew that heeding her words could be a turning point in my life. This situation, I knew it, was the latest version of my repeating pattern of powerlessness and resignation.  I had been studying …

Gratitude Celebration 55: S.T.O.R.Y.

What’s missing is “relatedness”.  That’s what I was coming up with for the exercise I was doing in my Landmark Education program to explore next steps for growing my business. The assignment was to discover what was missing, the presence of which would make a difference in me getting what I wanted. I wanted clients …

Gratitude Celebration 54: Breakthroughs

Breakthroughs I love the relationships that seem to begin with a fortuitous meeting. That’s what meeting Wendy Lippard was. I had posted a request in my local neighborhood listserve for an accountant. Maureen Nolan, whom I had not met before, responded that didn’t know an accountant but that she had looked at my Forgiveness Walks …

Gratitude Celebration 53: Trail Magic

Gratitude simply gushes when I consider my community of supporters on the Appalachian Trail, and I’m talking about people supporting me as a Ridgerunner, not as a hiker!  The list of “trail angels” on my hike from Maine to Georgia in 2007 would comprise another whole list! Since April, 2010 for a three-month season each …

Gratitude Celebration 52: Dependable Mechanics

My Gratitude List would not be complete without thanks to the mechanics of my life! Wherever I have lived, I have always sought out at least one mechanic within walking distance of my house. My main criteria have been their willingness to talk with me about my car in language that I can understand and …