Before and After: Remembering 9/11 as a New Yorker

For weeks, we could still smell the smoke—even though my apartment is about 100 blocks north of the World Trade Center. It started out as a momentous fall day, until it became an atrocity. It was supposed to be the first day of nursery school for our younger son Joshua. My husband and I were … Read more

Like a Good Wine, My Marriage Keeps Getting Better

In the second year of my MBA program, I put on my black jumpsuit and headed to the end-of-semester dance party to celebrate the completion of grueling exams and papers. At around midnight, I asked a handsome guy to dance, not knowing how this simple gesture would alter the trajectory of my life. Jacob was … Read more

A Shiny New-Used Car

I’ve never been a car person. But when I was in college, my parents bought me a used car. This is when I discovered how expectations play a significant role in how we process information. That’s because, before I saw the vehicle, my dad casually mentioned that it was a red sports car. Now, although … Read more

Up In Smoke

As acrid smoke from Canadian wildfires descended on the Northeastern United States, the red Sun ominously hung in a dark orange sky. Unfortunately, this wasn’t some newly released doomsday video game. Instead, it was just the dawn of another climate disaster dejour that activated a trauma response in me—even though I was 1,243 miles away … Read more

Gratitude: A Renewable Resource

“If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.” –Rabbi Harold Kushner Dr. Robert Emmons is a psychology professor at the University of California, a leading scientific expert on gratitude, and gratitude myth buster. He … Read more

The Mosaic of Life

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Soaringwords (@soaringwords) I adore mosaic artwork. The dazzling array of colors, the shimmering surface of tiny smashed, fragments of tiles artfully arranged to create a beautiful design. When the New York City subway stations were renovated, I was thrilled when the West 86th Street … Read more