Confession Tuesday

Time to confess! Don’t worry—we can handle whatever it is. Share a little of yourself and we’ll do the same.

On my way home from work yesterday, I listened to the tail-end of an interview on Oprah Radio (satellite radio). She was interviewing some expert (didn’t catch his name) but they were taking about living your best life—Oprah’s mantra. He was promoting a book, and in it, he asks readers to answer two questions as a means of self evaluation.

1. What is your sentence?
2. Am I better person today than I was yesterday?

For question #1, most of us describe ourselves in paragraphs, but if you had to distill who you are to your essence—call it your elevator pitch—how would you describe yourself?

I thought Oprah’s answer was pretty good (I’m paraphrasing because I was driving at the time): “I inspire people to live their best life by living my own.”

Me? “I am a woman, mother, poet, daughter, and friend, using my life to honor the people around me.“

By distilling your life down to a sentence, it cuts out the BS and defines a direction for me and my family

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As for question #2, “Am I a better person today than I was yesterday?” Honestly, day after day, I’d have to say no. Some days I feel like I make the lives of the people around me better. Other days it just doesn’t happen. Rarely do I feel negative two days in a row.

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This is why I think writers are some of the luckiest people around: we have the ability to examine our lives on a regular basis. Doesn’t make us better, but maybe it brings us a tad closer to the person we were always meant to be.

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I forgot to mention that while we were in NYC this past weekend, a group of us went to get manicures. Turns out the spa was doing a promotion for Kirstie Alley’s new show Big Life, which premiered on A&E Sunday night. Apparently, she has her own signature color—this is it.


I didn’t watch the show, but was happy to get the free manicure.

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Really enjoyed this past week with two readings and spending time at Poets House. I’m taking that energy forward into this week by:

1. Writing four poems
2. Workshopping with local poets
3. Visiting a writers group
4. Reading a new poetry collection (haven’t decided which one yet)