How can we maximize the memorable moments in our lives?  How can we live fully, with grace and grit and gratitude?  For two years I have had a blog to share these and other themes related to my book Becoming: Journeying Toward Authenticity.  And now it’s time for a change: a new look, expanded format and links, and a renewed invitation to reflect on our lives and times, individually and together.

It is a indeed a time of new beginnings:  it’s spring, leaves are bursting forth, fresh and vibrant, yellow and minty green;  Canadians have gone to the polls and the political landscape is radically different — a shock to many, and definitely new beginnings, including the election of the first Green Party member of Parliament; Osama Bin Laden is no more — eliciting cascades of mixed emotions; we have just celebrated May Day, sensing its Celtic roots as the holiday of fertility, transformation, unfolding.  Oh, and Kate and William have opened a new chapter!

What is new in your life?  What is challenging?  What are you grateful for?  What has happened recently that you might take to a deeper level, toward greater understanding, or that might perhaps bring a surge of joy?  

For me, it involves my ‘Dinner Group,’ three couples who come together every few months.  At our recent gathering we offered appreciations of and for each other as we dined.  Hearing  others’ comments, experiencing how each of us was touched, realizing dimensions of ourselves as seen through friends’ eyes, and thus learning qualities about ourselves and each other that we hadn’t known or noticed…  held great gifts, and took my gratitude to a deeper level.  It was nourishing to feel how friendship and appreciation transcend the vicissitudes of politics, seasons….and I might even add, aging!

If you are new to the site, have a look at BECOMING: Journeying Toward Authenticity. Check our website for a sample chapter, or view the reviews to get a flavor for the volume.