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On Solid Ground
Creating a life as an expat can sometimes feel like you’re trying to build a house in the middle of an earthquake. Just as you feel you have things figured out and you’re ready to take on your next...
View ArticleThat Was So Embarrassing!
My husband once asked the staff at a hotel in Guatemala if we could have more Satan paper in our room. He meant toilet paper. Sound familiar? As expats we perhaps have the longest list imaginable of...
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Welcome 2015!
Happy New Year from World Tree Coaching! As I find myself today coming out from the isolation of having been home with my kids for almost three weeks, I realize I’ve got a bit of catching up to do....
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My Tana Kitchen
One of the most exciting and enjoyable aspects of the Families in Global Transition Conference this past weekend was the way in which personal narrative – both written and spoken – was taken as an...
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Home
The quote above is from the third book in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I never thought it would be my type of thing, but the books have captured me completely. It's not really all that...
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Is a Move on Your Horizon?
Somebody pinch me. We’re moving again. I recently thought it would be kind of interesting to count how many times I’ve moved in my life. I gave up around 28. I figured more than that and I was...
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That Was Then…This is Now
In less than one month we leave for Japan – almost exactly fifteen years from the day we left. So much has changed. The person I was then – a 23 year-old, recently married, college grad who was just...
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All The Many Ways You Feel…
So we made it! We’re back in Japan after fifteen years away and we’re back abroad after about 18 months in the States. There’s no other way to say it – YAY!! It feels so good to be back to our typical...
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What Does It Take to Make Friends?
Whenever we transition to a new place I find myself continually amazed at how adaptable to new social situations the typical expat is. I’m certain that not everyone is an extrovert or 100% comfortable...
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My Japanese Toilet Teaches Expat Life Lessons
My 3-year-old is scared to death of Japanese toilets. Maybe you’ve been to Japan so you know what I’m talking about. Maybe you haven’t, but you’ve heard about them. I mean, they’re kind of like...
View ArticleBook Review – The Good Shufu by Tracy Slater
I don’t usually review books here, but increasingly I feel drawn to create an archive of book reviews. I read a lot. Maybe it’s a good idea. People often ask me if I can recommend books about the expat...
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Traditions and Rituals for Smoother Transitions
I recently came across a letter I wrote to myself in January 2000. It’s sealed. I haven’t opened it and I’m not sure when I will. The idea of writing letters to myself has long had this sort of...
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Back to Work and Out from Under These Boxes!
Today, with the clouds overhead and the slow drizzle that is another typhoon-season rainy day in Tokyo – I begin to crawl out from under the pile of boxes that has been my life since mid-June. I’m...
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Happy New Year 2017!
Happy, happy New Year my dear friends! I can’t quite figure out if I should spend some time here writing about the insanity of 2016 or if I should just ignore it and get on with the show. I mean, in...
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Not Lost At All
Last year, in the space of 9 months, we lost my step-dad and both of my maternal grandparents. They were all people who’s influence in my life cannot be overstated. You know those people who say or do...
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These Things Have a Way of Working Themselves Out
Last night my husband and I drifted off to sleep talking about where we might live next. We have two more years here before we move and since our oldest will be in high school by then it feels like...
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You Are Layers Upon Layers Upon Layers
Every one of us is made up of layers and layers of experience. Our personalities, our likes and dislikes, our success and failures and our dreams and nightmares are all part of who we are. For those...
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Back to School and Back to YOU!
Let's face it - you love your kids, but you might...just might...be happy they're all back at school. Right now it’s possible you look like the lady in that photo…right? If there's one thing I hear...
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Happy Fourth Birthday World Tree Coaching!
I was looking back at some past World Tree Coaching birthday posts and it turns out I write pretty much the same things every year! Seriously. Year one. Year two. Year three. It's clearly a birthday...
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Coaching Opportunities in 2018
In the past two days I’ve had the incredible pleasure to conduct “get-to-know-you” sessions with the participants in the beta-test of my Finding Your Way: Everyday Mindfulness for Critical Moments...
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