Karen’s Musings

The last few days I have felt a bit at loose ends.  My guess is that you know what I mean when I say that.  I am burning the candle at both ends, by choice, actually. I am starting the planning process on a new book, preparing to leave tomorrow for Mesa, AZ to do a program for empowering women, trying to stay tuned into this blog and allow time for all of life's other necessities: like talking to sponsees, going to meetings, working out, having quality time with my husband and getting enough rest.  I am juggling a lot of balls and not completely successfully. B[...]

Every day I take some time to read comments in response to the nearly 200 posts I have written.  I am truly amazed that so many of you take the time to read and then write back your thoughts.  I want you to know just how important you are to me.  Writing can be a lonely pursuit.  Your comments make it far less so. There are so many things that can fill our hearts and that's what this post is about.  A telephone call to or from a friend is one example.  So is an unexpected gift card or an email, or some snail mail from a long-lost friend.  Just having a s[...]

I have been away for the last week doing a workshop and speaking at an AA/ Al-Anon Jamboree in South Padre Island, TX.   I love the opportunities my work affords me to meet people from all over the world.  Doing workshops, based on books I have written, gives me such pleasure.  I feel that I have "been selected" to do the work I do.  And I'm quite sure the angels hover around me whether I am at the computer writing a post like this one, a book like the memoir I am currently writing for Hazelden, or standing before an audience in this country or abroad, sharing[...]

I love the holidays.  I love the bright lights, the decorated trees, the carols playing in the stores and on the radio, the gift giving, the joy that's so evident in the faces of many children.  The faces of some adults too, for that matter.  I truly have a childlike love of Christmas.  And I always have had. One of my favorite decorations is a small Santa and sleigh with a reindeer that is older than me.  It had a special place under our tree when I was a child.  Now it has a special place on my mantle.  But I know that for some, this holiday is extreme[...]

With the passing of Thanksgiving, the holidays are in full force.  Christmas music is already blaring through the audio system in most stores.  I don't actually mind.  I'm in the minority, no doubt.  But I love the music, any time, any where.  I still have a rather child-like reaction to the whole spectacle of Christmas.  I do honor it spiritually, as well.  I'm not solely a crass consumer and reveler.  Honoring the memories of my youth is what's brought home for me through the music, however, and those memories are worth savoring. Holiday decorations,[...]

By the time you read this the elections will be well over and the newly chosen members of Congress will be cheering the results.  The losers will be licking their wounds, wondering how they could have prevented their losses while the pendulum continues to swing.  And there's good in that.  It keeps both sides on their toes. Unfortunately, of late, it has made both sides mean and vindictive too. This blog isn't intended to be "a for or against" the outcome, but rather a plea for civility as we go forward. There has been far too little of it for the last numbe[...]