– Jane
· · · Jane’s Thread · · ·
Affirming That Size Doesn’t Matter
I vividly remember a photo of NYTimes cooking columnist Mark Bittman making gorgeous food in his tiny NY kitchen. The image came back to me while feeling nostalgic for the drawers, cabinets and shelves of the large CT art studio I abandoned over 10 years ago....
All I Want to Do Is Sew
Don't get me wrong! I'm adhering to a quarantine regimen of coaching, writing, eating, sleeping and a bit of cleaning. But in between those activities, I choose not to go on social media, read, watch movies on Netflix, or leave my apartment. Which is fortunate,...
I’m Attempting One of THOSE Projects
You know what I mean. The project that you'll get to 'someday' also known as your 'Vacation to Someday Isle'. Similarly, I remember a newsletter our rabbi sent to the congregation - it had to be over 30 years ago - promising to distribute round 'tuits' to each of...
“I’m Not Going to Pivot”
...said Gabrielle Hamilton, chef/owner of Prune restaurant in the East Village, last night on a zoom talk for the McNally Jackson bookstore. She was in conversation with the Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Cunningham while over 200 people listened in,...
What’s Doing Push-ups Behind the Scenes?
There's a saying in the rooms of recovery that 'your disease is doing push-ups' while you're in there working on sobriety, abstinence, solvency or your form of mental and spiritual well-being. Translated, if you choose to go...
Have You Been Scammed Lately?
I'd love to think that my memoir, Too Much of Not Enough, is being sought after for a top award. That's what the email I received hinted at. But since their invitation included multiple typos, it was hard to buy their message-- The team are excited to have you as...
What Have You Taught Yourself Lately?
I'm feeling very Helen-Reddy-I-can-do-anything these days. Some YouTube watching, a successful outcome, and ta-dah, increased self-esteem. In today's pandemic/quarantine, a bit of self-education and achievement can go a long way. Two trips to the computer had me...
How Is Your Relationship with Time These Days?
My action partner started our call bemoaning time management. She's not a complainer, so I took note of her angst around the issue. I blurted out sympathetically, "Time management is a muscle, not a gift!" Only because she paused the conversation, and thanked me...
Tired of Self-Sufficiency?
I wasn't used to preparing three meals a day, cleaning my apartment, making household repairs and observing protocols for staying healthy the once a day I exit my home. Admittedly, I've had help along the way until 8 weeks ago. Now, it's all me all the time. Not...
How Are Your Boundaries These Days?
I credit Wayne Dyer with the quote, "You get treated in life the way you teach others to treat you." He was my first guru starting in the early 80's. It was back then that I began to question my upbringing for the first time. I began to note how that upbringing...
What Are You Grateful for Today?
There's a sign in my building's elevator reminding residents that today, May 5, is #protectallworkers day, a shout-out to the front line people, beyond medical workers, who are keeping us functioning, one day at a time. Each night at 7pm there is a cacophony of...
What’s Your Dollhouse?
Katie Settel, a long-time client, called me this morning wanting to start a movement. She is passionate about helping children during this crisis. She's come up with the idea, the organization to sponsor it, and guidelines for contribution. She wanted my help...
What Is Your Time Worth Today?
I enjoyed cleaning my Logitech keyboard last week and thought I'd tackle my slow-operating vacuum cleaner today. I took the dust receptacle apart and saw (online) that you can run water through the filter. I noticed that it didn't flow easily. On closer inspection,...
I Missed a Day
I've been tracking each day of this quarantine with a list of to-do's in my master notebook. It's my way of maintaining sanity, some sense of normalcy and, dare I say, accomplishment. Yet, today when I went to record the tasks at hand, I saw that I had blanked on...
Weird Al Made My Day
When I concentrate on my personal progress, the difficulties over which I have no control will iron themselves out. That was a sentence in my daily reader yesterday that could not be more apropos for April 2020. I'm always reminded in the Serenity Prayer to accept...