I remember hugging my friend when she lost her mother. “I wish you knew my mom,” she said. “I did know your mom,” I replied. “Because I know you.” I could grasp what she was trying to convey. My friend loved her mother so much she wanted me to identify both the love and the…

I always say, “If I like you great. If I respect you – even better.” Divorce is a process. At first, it appears to present overwhelming losses, yet in many ways, it is emotionally clear cutting your life. Of course, through the tears and the tissues, this can be tremendously difficult to see.  Divorce is…

I need a 12 step program for ‘long-texting.’ My friend who I like to refer to as ‘Oprah’ (again, names always changed to protect the innocent who hang out with me) recently told me as much. It went something along the lines that somehow during work she might not have time to read my novelesque…

I hear from a lot of people in the throws of divorce angst. Undoubtedly one of the hardest things seems to be the overall sense of loss. The holidays just intensify the lack of true belonging many divorcing people feel. The good news? They will one day feel it again but that is of little comfort…

If you look up the word ‘bully’ in the dictionary the words to not do the term justice. I believe a bully is a person who takes out their pain on another human being. A degree of bullying is to be expected in life. It is a part of the complex journey of enough conflict…

I sit in the coffee shop about to write this column.  Someone I know stops to sit at my table. “Colleen, I just wanted to let you know I have brain cancer.” I am at a loss. What do you say to someone who has just received this news? These are the days the world…

Most people think of ‘intimacy’ strictly in terms of romantic liaisons. The reality? An increasingly fast-paced, technology driven, take-out dinner society is hurting intimacy in all of our relationships. Intimacy is a sharing of one’s self. A few ways to restore emotional intimacy in your life: Pick up the phone: Nothing is perhaps more shocking…

I sink comfortably into the couch and toss the blanket over me. I grab the clicker and flip through the channels and land on a program about first-time mothers. A few tears take residence in my eyes. I remember being a first-time mom. I remember the playgroup girls I started out with that gave me…

I am in the local coffee shop. It is what my friends call my real office. I run into two of my favorite people in the world. “How are you?” I ask. My one friend, who I will name “Sunshine” (an alias as I always do) responds, “I am tired.” “Sunshine” is with our friend…

There are people you know. And then, there are people who know you. These are the people who view every single emotional bump and bruise as what chiseled you – not whittled you. They believe your shortcomings attract – not detract. They buy the whole package – not just the value added features. Some believe…

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