In the 80s, I was young and impressionable, living in a spiritual community, cooking for visiting luminaries like Buckminster Fuller, Barbara Marx Hubbard and Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. And my astrology back then said I ate idealism for breakfast. One day, my teacher told a group of […]
HuffPost Interview: Parenting In A Blended Family
I became a Contributor to HuffPost in 2015. And after posting more than 65 articles on effective living through focused thought, HuffPost asked to interview me for its Blended Family Feature. HP: How many family members do you have? Grace: My husband, Ron, and I share four […]
Why We Isolate By Choice
Utrecht is a medieval city in the Netherlands, known for its centuries-old city center and its lively cafes and terraces at water level along the canals. Records show that in 47AD, Roman emperor Claudius had a fortress built on the Rhine River, and it eventually […]
How To Teach Kids What’s Right Without Making Them Feel Wrong
If we’re ever unkind to people, just because they’re unkind to us, returning like for like, we’re usually left with an uncomfortable feeling that lets us know it wasn’t our best response to the situation. It was a fear-based, defensive response, because we’ve learned to […]
Every Argument Begins With The Second Sentence
One of our most valuable tools in relating to other people is the ability to argue effectively. And even before red-hot issues reach the level of an argument, there are steps we can take for handling conflict, including three necessary elements for reaching resolution. The […]
Manifesting What We Want
In my 30s, I attended a workshop with peak-performance coach, Tony Robbins. He began the first evening by saying to the audience, “Do what you’ve always done, and you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten.” Then he invited us to do something unique and extraordinary […]
Being Deliberately Conscious
One of my friends lost out on a promotion at work and felt betrayed by his company. Then he kept talking about being abused, because he didn’t want anyone to forget what had happened to him. And if anyone encouraged him to consider a different […]
A Perfect Partner Isn’t Supposed To Be Perfect
My first husband and I divorced after eleven years. I believed that getting a divorce would end my problems with him. Big surprise! Divorce ended the marriage but not the problems. I took them with me and continued resolving them through other people. Divorce can […]
5 Steps To A Better Future
In my 20s, I took part in an exercise where I had to identify my “grandiose dream.” And four decades later, it seems to be coming true. It took belief, boldness, focus and maybe some magic! My dream was to be “a good communicator of […]
Deciding About Love
One evening more than three decades ago, Ron left the Haarlem hospital where he was a Resident and headed to Rotterdam for a Paul Winter concert in Sint-Laurenskerk, a gothic basilica from the 15th century. He didn’t know it yet, but he was rushing to […]
Life’s Three Acts
During my years as a single parent, there were times when we ate oatmeal for dinner because it was what we had. And there were times when I kept the school proofs because I couldn’t afford to buy the actual photos. And there was one […]
Who’s Training Our Expectations?
People comprise endless possibilities. And whatever we see in them reflects what’s active in us concerning them. So it helps to understand where we’re coming from, in our behavior toward people. Are we reacting from autopilot, based on expectations that they’ve trained us toward? Or […]
My Main Takeaway From Visiting Qumran
In my 20s, I lived on a kibbutz in Israel. I first considered leaving America and moving to Israel when I was working in a school for children with special needs in Atlanta, where I became close friends with a 65-year-old foster mother of several […]
Kids Need To Know That Life Is Supportive By Nature
The future will be determined by our children. So parenting effectively is a top priority. How can we ensure that we’re doing a good job? By being good to ourselves, by enjoying life, and by being positive, adventurous people. If we’re juggling jobs and life, […]
