This is the season for new life. It does not come about without death, loss, and letting go….and embracing change and what’s to come. The gardener does not fret over last year’s bounty or famine, but sows the seeds for new growth and welcomes each leaf as it unfolds.
Author Archives: Jeanie Stephens
Lessons Learned: The 12 Most Significant Growth-Inducing Realizations of my Life (in the last 12 years)…
Like most people, I’ve learned many valuable lessons over the course of my life…..assimilating them into my world view until the memory of when and how I learned them was lost and it seemed there was never a time before when I hadn’t known their truths. But that’s not yet the case with the lessonsContinue reading “Lessons Learned: The 12 Most Significant Growth-Inducing Realizations of my Life (in the last 12 years)…”
Treehouse Living in Asheville…
When my friend Sarah moved to the mountains of North Carolina last year, I couldn’t wait to visit her. An accomplished stained glass artist, she had moved into a large rustic artist studio just outside of Asheville with her boyfriend Kelly, a blacksmith and artist working in metal and various other mediums. The studio, itself,Continue reading “Treehouse Living in Asheville…”
Amid the chaos…
Jetting from jacuzzi walls, small pockets of air rise and escape to the pool’s steamy surface in mini geodesic domes before being released back into the atmosphere. Forming, disappearing, and replaced within mere seconds, each half-dome spends its short and insignificant existence among others of its kind…..above the water but below the sky. Large andContinue reading “Amid the chaos…”
Not really your friends…
About a year before we married, my late husband traveled to Japan, where he taught English for about six months. At the time he left, in the spring of 1991, we had been dating for over two years. Sitting across from each other in a booth at a local restaurant the day before his flight,Continue reading “Not really your friends…”
As many lives as you want…
This may come as a surprise to some….or not….but you can live as many lives as you want. Think I’m wrong or not following me? Chances are, you’ve already lived more than one. Did you party in your 20s and then settle down with a spouse and kids in your 30s? Or, have you triedContinue reading “As many lives as you want…”
Do it anyway…
By listening to our fears, we protect ourselves…sometimes from our worst nightmares. Overcoming fear, as I have learned from a few hugely impactful and distinct experiences in my life over the past 10 years, does not mean a discovery that the fears were irrational, invalid, illegitimate, and unjustified. We don’t conquer fear and that’s it…we’reContinue reading “Do it anyway…”
The 5 Deadly Fears of Loss (and what we gain by letting go)…
As I contemplated divorce more than a decade ago, I encountered a number of fears and uncertainties with the idea ending a 15 year-long marriage. Although I was pretty sure it’s what I wanted, I found that fear hides in the most unexpected places and in abundance. Furthermore, it’s not something one overcomes once, butContinue reading “The 5 Deadly Fears of Loss (and what we gain by letting go)…”
Looking for extraordinary…
I never wanted to live an ordinary life. In fact, I wonder if you can even live an ordinary life at all, since the very idea of “living” seems to be at odds with the concept of ordinary. So too do I question the idea that one can “lead” an ordinary existence, since leading atContinue reading “Looking for extraordinary…”
Ireland and the Crow…
Ireland… This is the moment I succumb….the soft wind caressing my face, playing in my hair, and kissing my bare skin as I lie in emerald green fields and glades, completely charmed by the depth of oceanic blue eyes and magic of many smiling shores. I don’t want to leave the embrace of this place…thisContinue reading “Ireland and the Crow…”
You have to be it to see it…
“So far, I have failed. What a miserable and devastating feeling. The worst.” These were my first words in a journal entry dated March 28, 2018. Perhaps you can relate. Perhaps you, too, have experienced the feeling of complete and utter failure in something you’ve attempted….whether in your life, your career, or your personal relationships. Continue reading “You have to be it to see it…”
The Wall Cat…(a ‘sort of’ allegory)
During a date one night with a new romantic interest, the person I was seeing shared a story with me about a stray cat that once had gotten into a 10-inch wall space between his house’s original foundation and its addition. For the better part of a year, he never really saw the cat andContinue reading “The Wall Cat…(a ‘sort of’ allegory)”
Deserving better…
It is often said that children learn by example and, specifically, by what they observe in the actions of their parents. A son who sees his father abuse his mother has a good chance of repeating the behavior with his own spouse. A daughter who watches her mother be abused is at risk of beingContinue reading “Deserving better…”
Just a chance…
We’ve all seen it before. Someone wins big in a state lottery and all of their financial woes are seemingly gone in an instant. If they play their cards right, they should never have to struggle again. And yet, within a period of just a few years, they somehow blow all of their winnings andContinue reading “Just a chance…”
The one who bought my chairs…
On the sometimes rare occasion, one has the ever so fortunate experience of being transformed by another person. Like a comet passing by a dark world on its way somewhere else or perhaps a meteorite penetrating a lone planet’s atmosphere in a fantastic display of streaking light before leaving its permanent and indelible mark onContinue reading “The one who bought my chairs…”
Jeanie Unbottled 