I like this time alone, at home
to think, reassess, figure out

I have been infecting my family with the zine bug! It started with my paternal grandmother and extended to my husband, Jeff. Making a zine with my grandmother (who prefers I call her “GI” for Grandma Iris) was special.

A person who makes zines is called a “zinester.” Zinesters come from every walk of life, every ethnicity, and all types of backgrounds. Some are recent earthlings (young people), others have been around awhile (wise elders).

I came across the world of zines by accident, fortunately, a happy one. I have always been interested in comics and graphic novels, particularly those written by women — the more personal, the better.

I resonate with Gandhi's perspective that in order to change the world we must first change ourselves. For me this means developing greater awareness and respect for myself and others, and learning to accept things as they are. Even though I know that I must continue to focus on my own personal work, I also feel called to make a difference in the world, especially in areas that affect women.

Last year I participated in an incubator program through The CLUB Silicon Valley, a women's leadership group in the San Francisco Bay area. It was a great experience that helped me take charge of my career, land a new job, and grow friendships with professional women. Each month we focused on a different aspect of our career and often had experts brought in to share their wisdom.

did something about a year ago that I feel embarrassed about. I purged my Facebook account. That’s a crude, yet softer way of saying that I deleted friends. I’ve gone through periods where I loved Facebook, to times where I couldn’t stand it. It was exciting at first to search and find people I wanted to connect with, to send friend requests and receive notifications that they accepted.

Inside every writer
lives a demon

Sheryl Sandberg, COO at Facebook, was named one of The World’s Most Powerful Women in the Forbes 2013 annual report. Her seminal book, Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead, sold 140 million copies its first week in print. At the beginning of her book, Sandberg quoted statistics on the status and condition of women around the world, and despite our progress toward gender equality, it’s clear that we have a long way to go.

I recently took the Gregorc Style Delineator, a self-assessment tool designed to identify how a person makes decisions and processes information. Dr. Gregorc, who created the instrument, came up with four groupings of characteristics, which he refers to as "channels": Concrete/Sequential (CS), Abstract/Sequential (AS), Abstract/Random (AR), and Concrete/Random (CR). Although each of us functions in all four channels, he stated that most of us were strongest in one or two.

Cariño is a Spanish word for affection, but it’s more than just physical affection: It’s being warm and affectionate with one’s use of language, tone, and even one’s gaze. It’s looking at your partner lovingly, adoringly, like he or she is the most precious person on Earth.

My husband and I have been married 12 years. There’s a 19-year age gap between us so people are often surprised when they see us together. It doesn’t help that I look ten years younger than my actual age. We’ve had our share of ups and downs, like all couples, but our strength comes from our love and respect for one another.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about trailblazers, women in particular. I feel awe and inspiration when I think about women who are fully out with who they are and who are making an impact on the world. When I think about their lives it makes me reflect upon and question my own life.

Do you remember your dreams? Have you tried working with them to uncover their meaning? I’ve talked with people who think dreams are random and serve no purpose, but I’ve been actively interpreting my dreams for many years and I believe they can provide tremendous insight to understanding what’s going on in your inner life.

What do you consider to be your life purpose? Have you taken time to figure this out? How would you describe your purpose to someone? When I think about my purpose I think about using my strengths and gifts to help others become more loving and accepting of themselves and more aware of their purpose. I see life as a big adventure where we peel back layer after layer to get to who we truly are.

I turned 40 this week. I have imagined this to be the beginning of a magical time for me. My 20s and 30s were rich, but tumultuous—lots of change, lots of growth, lots of hard work. Part of my optimism stems from the fact that the more I meditate daily, the more I do my own personal and spiritual growth work, the more joy I feel.

Several months ago Jeff and I started meditating three times a day. Before that, I tried to meditate it at least once a day, but my practice was intermittent. Even though three times a day sounds difficult, I find it's actually easier because it has become habitual, kind of like drinking my daily cup of coffee each morning. We meditate for about 20 minutes in the morning when we wake up, then at lunch time, I "go under" for 30 minutes.

People are often surprised to hear that I prefer to meditate laying down. Many have been told this is not good because if you are too comfortable, you may fall asleep. Although this could be true for some, I like to feel comfortable when I meditate, and laying down is the ideal position for me.

Every now and then Jeff and I go for a walking meditation in the morning before starting our work day. Walking meditation requires greater concentration because it’s easy to get distracted by the birds, the cars, and all the other moving objects outside. Today, however, I had a new experience and breakthrough in my meditation practice. I started out with a prayer and I used prayer as my mantra every time I noticed my mind wandering, “Not my will, but thine, o Lord.”