Jan’s Blog Posts

Watching the coverage over the weekend of the U.S. 20-year anniversary of 9-11 brought up a tsunami of emotion for me. First there was sadness—sorrow—for all those innocent lives cut short on a single Tuesday morning when people were beginning their workday or in flight to an unfulfilled destination. Also, I experienced awe and admiration… Continue reading Pearls of Healthy Hearts

As a follow-up to my retirement survey of individuals ages 55-98, I asked participants to answer questions about how the pandemic affected their personal identity, how they spent their time, what they missed, what lessons they learned, and what unexpected gifts came from the pandemic. I was not surprised to find that the pandemic ordeal… Continue reading Pandemic Pearls

Pearls have been worn by 24 of our First Ladies. Martha Washington started the tradition. Her uplifting dove-shaped pearl pin is a symbol of both peace and hope. Abigail Adams wore pink faux pearl beads. A Dolly Madison portrait shows a single strand of black pearls. More recently, Jackie Kennedy, Nancy Reagan, Hillary Clinton, Laura… Continue reading United by Pearls

People are not only stingy with their money; they are stingy with their love. And as surprising as this may seem, people are stingy with love for themselves! While there is debate about how many days it takes for a person to make a change in behavior, physician Christiane Northrup recommends that you practice an… Continue reading Put a Little Love in Your Behavior Change

Birthdays have an effect on us, in one way or another. Some look forward to their birthday and some not so much. It can be a time to “take stock,” or assess your situation in life and rewire your personality for further growth. Quieting the mind with reflection helps our personality part that “runs things”… Continue reading Birthday Pearls

STOP. Embrace 3 L’s – LOOK, LISTEN, and LOVE. Do you stop completely at a stop sign or are you a rolling-stop kind of person? Many of us adopt the rolling-stop at intersections unless we see a police car near-by. It may be an indication of how we live our lives. What’s next? I can’t… Continue reading Stop. Look, Listen, and Love….

Pop bead “pearls” have flexibility as they can be pulled apart to make new combinations of beads. Sometimes people lose any sense of flexibility. They struggle to make new configurations in their personalities. There are no easy developmental paths. Most of us have tripped up, slipped up or even flipped upside-down when we encountered irritants… Continue reading Pop Bead “Pearls,” Peace and Personalities

We will be pearl farmers in this blog, pearls-of-peace farmers. I read online directions for how to “farm pearls” at home: “Place a small bead made from another oyster’s shell into the reproductive organ (if you can find it).” Hmm…this is getting interesting. “Place a piece of another oyster’s mantle (the organ which makes the… Continue reading Pearls-of-peace Farmers

Pearls have a trauma ancestry. Their family of origin story begins in marine oyster or freshwater mussel shells. Pearl conception occurs as a natural defense against an intruder. An irritant–such as a parasite–enters the innocent “parent” oyster or mussel between the mantle (or muscle) and the shell. The protective mantle gets busy, laying a fluid on… Continue reading Pearls and Trauma