It’s Up To You

“Have you been hiking with your dog lately?” the tatted millennial groomer asked. He’d just pulled a large, bloated tick off of Rudy’s anus. “Do you want to see the wound?” he wondered. “I guess,” I hesitantly replied. Though I fancy myself a closet doctor, I’m not too interested in examining my dog’s ass.

Are We There Yet?

“Habits are undeniably useful tools, relieving us of a need to run a complex mental operation every time we’re confronted with a new task or situation. Yet they also relieve us of the need to stay awake to the world: to attend, feel, think, and then act in a deliberate manner. If you need to be reminded how completely mental habit blinds us to experience, just take a trip to an unfamiliar country. Suddenly you wake up!”– Michael Pollan

Lisa UdelsonSeptember 25, 2018aplastic anemia, cancer diagnosis, cancer support, medical diagnosis, scary diagnosis, meditating with kids, meditation, moms that meditate, mindfulness meditation, parenting

Say Anything?

“If I’ve learned one thing in life, it’s not to be so judgmental of other people” - Patti Smith

Lisa UdelsonAugust 23, 2018aplastic anemia, cancer diagnosis, cancer support, medical diagnosis, scary diagnosis, parenting, meditation, meditating with kids, mindfulness, complete blood count, moms that meditate, mindfulness meditation

Three Turkeys and the Half Full Glass

I’m all soft and vulnerable from a three-day silent meditation retreat at Spirit Rock in Northern California. Yes, a Chatty Cathy like me enjoys the quiet. The not talking isn’t the hard part. It’s the sitting for long periods til your back throbs and your knees feel like door knobs. It’s the mind tripping that goes on, and the epiphany about oneself that’s pretty much guaranteed. Those are the hard parts. Sitting with yourself. Then comes the revelation - clarity.

Lisa UdelsonJuly 19, 2018mindfulness, medical diagnosis, meditation, mindfulness meditation, complete blood count, aplastic anemia, meditating with kids, moms that meditate, scary diagnosis, cancer support, chronic illness

Getting Curiouser

“How puzzling all these changes are! I'm never sure what I'm going to be, from one minute to another.”

Alice, from Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland

Saturday was a profound day, reminders at morning noon and night that we are all hanging by a thread, to be “curiouser and curiouser”, like Alice in the book, unafraid of the rabbit hole. We can choose fear or decide to walk through the little portal into adventure, making the most of whatever time we have here on earth.

Lisa UdelsonJune 21, 2018medical diagnosis, meditating with kids, meditation, moms that meditate, mindfulness meditation, aplastic anemia, cancer diagnosis, cancer support, scary diagnosis, chronic illness, mindfulness

@#$%&!

“Anger is an Energy…” - John Lydon

Lisa UdelsonMarch 14, 2018mindfulness, medical diagnosis, meditating with kids, moms that meditate, meditation, mindfulness meditation, complete blood count, aplastic anemia, chronic illness, CBC, cancer diagnosis, cancer support, scary diagnosis

The Bodhi Tree and Me

Lisa UdelsonFebruary 1, 2018mindfulness meditation, meditation, parenting, meditating with kids, scary diagnosis, chronic illness, moms that meditate

“The waiting is the hardest part.”

My complete blood count (CBC) was in December. I get the test every three months, and had a big drop in my numbers early last fall. Over the summer, we’d been to Tuscany, Barcelona, a ranch in Montana and the wilds of suburban Ohio, and travel takes a toll on me. Besides, running around with a ten-year-old boy is tough any mom, let alone an old one like me with a rare bone marrow failure disorder.

Lisa UdelsonJanuary 4, 2018complete blood count, CBC, meditation, mindfulness meditation, aplastic anemia, cancer support, chronic illness, scary diagnosis, mindfulness, cancer diagnosis, medical diagnosis

Back from the Depths of the Drain

If you’re paying attention, the answers are right in front of you. Beware, they are easy to overlook. We are so busy being busy - it’s the message we receive – wake up earlier, work longer, try harder.

Lisa UdelsonNovember 16, 2017aplastic anemia, cancer support, cancer diagnosis, meditation, mindfulness, mindfulness meditation, chronic illness, scary diagnosis