freedom Archives — EMMpress words and images for mindful humans Mon, 01 Sep 2025 18:22:49 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.4 https://www.emmpress.com/wp-content/uploads/cropped-Screenshot-2026-03-10-at-12.16.43-PM-32x32.png freedom Archives — EMMpress 32 32 3 little words… on my doorstep https://www.emmpress.com/3-little-words-on-my-doorstep/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=3-little-words-on-my-doorstep Mon, 01 Sep 2025 15:11:40 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=13830 A multi-media pairing for a multi-media life. Thank goodness for music, art, and poetry. In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes…

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]]> You won’t all get this, and that’s okay https://www.emmpress.com/you-wont-all-get-this/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=you-wont-all-get-this Sat, 30 Aug 2025 12:27:51 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=13826 Menopause is like a pack of wolves in a bitch’s clothing. So fun to play with tools like Facebook color boxes, then turn them on their head by…

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]]> Process sans plans & perfection https://www.emmpress.com/process-over-perfection/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=process-over-perfection Wed, 25 Jun 2025 16:13:38 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=13170 [originally published in weekly newsletter] I feel at a loss of what to say here today, but my hands love to write, and I made a commitment to…

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]]> The day you realize https://www.emmpress.com/the-day-you-realize/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-day-you-realize Tue, 20 May 2025 21:09:52 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=12513 In the past few years, I found myself saying lightheartedly, “you know, I am the center of my own universe. So are you. No one can be anything…

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]]> Judging or Perceiving | Collector or Renunciate? https://www.emmpress.com/judging-or-perceiving-collector-or-renunciate/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=judging-or-perceiving-collector-or-renunciate Mon, 12 May 2025 15:24:18 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=12098 Dualistic Mindsets in Myers Briggs and other such things I have a judgy mind. And if you’ve done a Myers-Briggs test and landed squarely with a “J” in…

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]]> Feeling Free on the Mother of all days https://www.emmpress.com/feeling-free-on-the-mother-of-all-days/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feeling-free-on-the-mother-of-all-days Sun, 11 May 2025 15:37:10 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=12093 Sunday is Mothers Day and I’m going to try again to divest myself of all planned work, chores, conversations, and responsibilities; while avoiding expectant smiles about having a…

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]]> Democracy is a practice: how (and why) to do it. https://www.emmpress.com/democracy-is-a-practice-how-to-do-it/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=democracy-is-a-practice-how-to-do-it Sun, 06 Apr 2025 15:18:42 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=11374 No matter how outraged you feel, or how erudite your arguments against Social Security cuts, NIH cuts, Veteran’s care cuts, National Parks pillaging, yanking legal immigrants off the…

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]]> Got George Washington https://www.emmpress.com/wet-george-washington/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wet-george-washington Thu, 03 Apr 2025 13:07:38 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=11311 And how attention to the present moment yields stories and signs. This rainy grey day, after dropping my son at school, I drove by Job Lot and saw…

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]]> Open Hope https://www.emmpress.com/open-hope/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=open-hope Fri, 21 Mar 2025 15:27:12 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=11127 Not everyone grew up with the privilege of taking Hope for granted. Hope is a thing of children, even in rough places. It’s a thing of the child…

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]]> Diversity https://www.emmpress.com/diversity/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=diversity Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:23:00 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=10559 If we experience life through a lens where the people we deal with seem most like us, it’s easy to think we have a leg up on navigating…

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]]> Rebellion | emergence from dark into light https://www.emmpress.com/rebellion-emergence-into-light/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rebellion-emergence-into-light Tue, 18 Feb 2025 12:30:31 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=10426 Why new voices from the subconscious matter to all of us. I admire teenagers and young people who rail against every day culture and bring new music and…

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]]> Efficiency: a dangerous game https://www.emmpress.com/efficiency-is-dangerous/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=efficiency-is-dangerous Tue, 04 Feb 2025 14:54:42 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=10036 By design it benefits only a few. Oh my goodness have I loved efficiency. I drank the Koolaid early, and developed my own flavors of fast-to-faster to boot.…

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]]> What are your Grace Goals today? https://www.emmpress.com/grace-goals/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=grace-goals Fri, 24 Jan 2025 17:26:22 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=9834 It’s Sunday morning in America1 and the texts from family & friends are coming in. “How can we get through?”“I’m freaking out inside.”“It’s like the last day before…

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]]> Surveillance is a feeling https://www.emmpress.com/surveillance-is-a-feeling/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=surveillance-is-a-feeling Mon, 06 Jan 2025 12:57:57 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=9353 And since it has no love in it, it doesn’t feel good: a note to employers (and data brokers) in a digital age. “Peering In” photo of Artist…

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]]> Tree Hugging Humour, Lychee Trees & Ways of Approach https://www.emmpress.com/tree-hugging-humour-lychee-trees-ways-of-approach/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tree-hugging-humour-lychee-trees-ways-of-approach Fri, 13 Dec 2024 19:45:03 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=9110 I need to make this quick, and I’m going for the British spelling to captivate your interest. I’ve got shopping to do and laundry, maybe even can get…

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]]> Gail Force https://www.emmpress.com/gail-force/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gail-force Fri, 22 Nov 2024 15:07:50 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=8479 Gail lived with us for several months when I was five years old. Gail was 15 years old at the time, an avid 1970s free spirit, a pot…

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]]> The Mess https://www.emmpress.com/the-mess/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-mess Mon, 28 Oct 2024 14:14:44 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=8118 I love my mess. Truly. Just like I loved it in my old Dodge Aspen with cigarette butts falling out of the ashtray onto cassette carriers filled with…

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]]> A Burning Bridge to Now-here https://www.emmpress.com/bridge-to-now-here/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bridge-to-now-here Thu, 24 Oct 2024 17:17:55 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=8007 My favorite candle sits on my dining room table. It’s inside opaque black glass and sits on its own wooden cover like a little pedestal. I refer to…

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]]> Ordinary Abortion Story https://www.emmpress.com/ordinary-abortion-story/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ordinary-abortion-story Wed, 16 Oct 2024 19:56:57 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=7746 If you know me at all, you know I try to let my work speak for itself, and I don’t like to reveal myself clearly online. It’s scary…

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]]> The Name of the Game https://www.emmpress.com/the-name-of-the-game/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-name-of-the-game Thu, 10 Oct 2024 16:17:48 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=7597 Ever wake up with a song in your mind for no apparent reason? Today was one of those, and here it is by ABBA. The song couldn’t be…

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]]> Stale questions, fresh answers https://www.emmpress.com/stale-questions-fresh-answers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=stale-questions-fresh-answers Fri, 27 Sep 2024 18:21:43 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=7333 I’m treating myself to some new questions in my self-styled spa day today, because my old questions haven’t been serving up much joy or love. I have a…

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]]> Seeing: a creative’s guide to the senses https://www.emmpress.com/seeing-a-creatives-guide-to-sketching-the-senses-part-1/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=seeing-a-creatives-guide-to-sketching-the-senses-part-1 Fri, 13 Sep 2024 18:31:45 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=6889 philosophical practices in nature -|- the art of trusting your senses The idea to put together this series came this morning in the woods. Most days, I walk…

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]]> Tracking Freedom https://www.emmpress.com/tracking-freedom/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tracking-freedom Mon, 19 Aug 2024 13:56:11 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=6339 Tracking is an ancient and natural art that brings the tracker physically into the pattern of nature, by materially connecting the seeker and the sought. When tracking has…

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]]> On citing self: academic v. experiential knowing https://www.emmpress.com/on-citing-self-academic-v-experiential-knowing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=on-citing-self-academic-v-experiential-knowing Sat, 20 Jul 2024 14:00:24 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=6252 The greatest teachers of all time rarely cite others to enhance their lessons or prove their validity. Their knowledge comes from experience, and mostly inner experience at that.…

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]]> Your ordinary, extraordinary life https://www.emmpress.com/your-ordinary-extraordinary-life/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=your-ordinary-extraordinary-life Tue, 16 Jul 2024 13:11:31 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=6192 There is a form if you’d like to share on this topic below. The first part of my life, I wanted to be extraordinary. Driven by a distant…

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]]> What you see is what you can free https://www.emmpress.com/what-you-see-is-what-you-can-free/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=what-you-see-is-what-you-can-free Sun, 07 Jul 2024 15:19:08 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=6029 Don’t get trapped in a prison of your own making. -W Leitzen

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]]> Abstinence Doesn’t Work https://www.emmpress.com/abstinence-doesnt-work/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=abstinence-doesnt-work Sat, 06 Jul 2024 16:59:35 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=5984 No one’s thrilled by the choices this upcoming election. But I don’t need thrills from my governance – that’s for reality TV. I’m writing to people not planning…

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]]> Donut Holes & Superpowers: https://www.emmpress.com/donut-holes-superpowers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=donut-holes-superpowers Fri, 28 Jun 2024 18:02:48 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=5761 probing the philosophy of nothingness in daily life How consciousness works, how it lives, dies, and transforms has been a preoccupation of mine since I was a girl…

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]]> Idealism, burnout, and collaborative missions https://www.emmpress.com/idealism-burnout-and-collaborative-missions/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=idealism-burnout-and-collaborative-missions Thu, 20 Jun 2024 16:59:47 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=5512 I’ve needed to abruptly quit a few things in my life. And each time, my departures have left people confused. In general, I’m an upbeat worker, definitely a…

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]]> The Upside Down of Spiritual Awakening https://www.emmpress.com/the-upside-down-of-spiritual-awakening/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-upside-down-of-spiritual-awakening Sun, 16 Jun 2024 12:43:54 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=5287 I used to think of spiritual awakening as a good thing: a sign that someone had accumulated enough spiritual merit to deserve to see behind the veil, and…

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]]> Speculation vs Decision: guarantee certainty and mitigate risk by front-loading choices https://www.emmpress.com/speculation-vs-decision-guarantee-certainty-and-mitigate-risk-by-front-loading-choices/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=speculation-vs-decision-guarantee-certainty-and-mitigate-risk-by-front-loading-choices Mon, 10 Jun 2024 15:54:45 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=5259 My eleven year old wakes up early and likes to go on woods-walks with me most days before school. Today, we figured out when choosing between two potential…

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]]> Matunuck https://www.emmpress.com/matunuck/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=matunuck Sat, 30 Mar 2024 14:23:25 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=4870 Escaping the sleepover fallouttwo extra boys. Legends lp playing then. And now too. The Digital. Quiet happy. Then. and video games. and airy mattress pushed up on it’s…

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]]> Slay the Protégé https://www.emmpress.com/slay-the-protege/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=slay-the-protege Wed, 28 Feb 2024 13:45:49 +0000 https://www.emmpress.com/?p=3816 In myth and in life, Proteges slaying Mentors is an age-old archetypal pattern, and one that represents an energetic exchange that can be uniquely helpful in a protege’s…

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