• Having a Bad Day? Head Here…

    Bad days happen. Sometimes you know why you are stuck and struggling, but don’t see how to change it. Other times you can’t see a reason for your mood, but still can’t get out of it. I know what that’s like, and I’ve made a list of tiny actions to shift your energy, your thinking, your perspective and hopefully shift your mood too. I hope these tiny actions make your day, (however dark) a little brighter. (Click to Tweet!) * Wear a hat, because hats change perspective and make nearly everything better. * Watch a duckling running. * Read something that makes you smile. * Wrap up in a soft quilt with…

  • ~ Behind the Scenes ~ My TEDx Talk: Dreaming BIG…and Being Invited

    You read that headline right, friend. I am on my way to becoming a TEDx speaker. (Click to Tweet!) Like, officially. (Yeahhhhhh!!!) Come May 9th of this year, yours truly will take the stage at the Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury to give a Ted talk, on a theme near and dear to me: Misfits and Pioneers. To say I am thrilled to pieces would be a huge understatement. Pause. Rewind to 2013. I sat my writer-speaker self down and wrote three lofty goals: To be featured on the Huffington Post To speak at TEDx, and To sell my Healing Boxes in hospitals. These goals seemed next to impossible. Unachievable. Especially, the…

  • Trailblazer Interview: Esmé Wang & Creativity in Healing

    Esmé Weijun Wang is a writer and speaker. Her site, at esmewang.com, is where she provides resources for artists, writers, and makers seeking to build a creative legacy. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, she attended Yale, Stanford, and the University of Michigan, went from intern to Assistant Editor for an international lifestyle magazine, and was a writer and editor at ModCloth before launching Esmé Weijun Wang Productions. Author of the book Light Gets In, Wang has written for and about in The New Inquiry, Salon, the New Yorker Online, the New York Times, and Clementine Daily. I’ve admired Esmé’s work for many years and I’m delighted and honoured to share this interview.…

  • Disability Creativity: Co-opting Clothing for Accessibility Part 2

    Living with disability can ignite creativity – at least it has for me in terms of my wardrobe. Check out Disability Creativity: Co-opting Clothing for Accessibility Part 1 – Outerwear here. Companies design clothes for people with disabilities, however, most of those clothes are what I imagine the companies think ‘elderly’ people will wear. But I’m sure most of us will value style and self expression, as well as comfort, at every age. (Click to Tweet!) Clothes that work for your body and life can be challenging to find. Maybe you need Velcro, not buttons, or perhaps things that are easy to pull on and off, or don’t get caught…

  • Disability Creativity: Co-opting Clothing for Accessibility

    Peek inside my wardrobe and you’ll see the evidence of a life spent in pursuit of adventure. From wetsuits and jodhpurs to ski wear and jewel-bright dresses. But the mix is misleading – they’re all ideas I’ve borrowed from other disciplines to make living with disability and dressing for wheelchair use easier. What’s neoprene got to do with life on wheels? Read on… I’ve lived with disability for 13 years and learned to get creative. Disability doesn’t have to mean dismal dressing. (Click to Tweet!) I’ve yet to find disability clothing brands that suit my sense of style, so instead I’ve co-opted clothes from other areas that work for wheelchairs…