Author Archives: ashley

It’s a crisp, clear, beautiful fall day here. I was walking to the coffee shop for my morning fix. As I approached the end of the block I jumped and let out a little squeal as there was a large dead cat pushed up against the curb. I walked out into the street so as […]

Some thoughts from Pond Rings Sometimes our mind and all it knows seeks security, faith demands that we rest in insecurity. Sometimes rational thinking invites our attention into the many possibilities that lie outside of our current experience, faith invites us to trust in those possibilities unfolding. Hope adds to our dreams of something different, […]

Meredith at Graceful Presence invites us to recognize our original face and to rest in an open place of acceptance, inhabiting our original self. As a writing exercise, I will read her words (posted in pink) and then allow my own words to freely flow, accepting whatever comes out as this moment’s expression of my […]

hearing from you, Ashley, how we have been in your thoughts recently too makes me realize how many layers of connection, community and care are active, often in ways we are not aware of. Isn’t this such a delight and powerful reminder. Christy Lee-Engel and I were talking this morning about the unique phenomena of […]

I always love it when people share a glimpse of what the world looks like through their unique human filter! From another woman who’s easily amazed, Cathy Hayden: A little hummimgbird got stuck in the garageyesterday(with the doors open). The hummingbirdfinally flew out – it was so sweet and delicate. Itmade these little chirping noises […]

Reading the stories. . . In the chaos that was Causeway Boulevard in New Orleans last Thursday, one group of survivors stood out: a 6-year-old boy walking down the road, holding a 5-month-old, surrounded by five toddlers who followed him around as if he were their leader. They were holding hands. Three of the children […]

Patti Flick mentored me in being a school counselor. Being in her presence as she moves through a school of children, one observation is immediate… The children LOVE and ADORE her and she LOVES and ADORES them. As I looked closer I saw it was because they knew without a doubt that she saw them. […]