On Life, Hope y todo lo demás...

It’s youth’s time. Let’s lead by example.

It’s not our time anymore. It’s youth’s time. We have failed them miserably and even more when we don’t, as adults, send them a message of hope, letting them know that there may be a brighter future and that they are the change. We cannot cry, complain and only allow them to see the dark […]

by Laura Basset Carbonell

The end of hosting Thanksgiving dinner

For the fifteen years that I was married I prepared Thanksgiving dinner for my friends who like us were displaced and didn’t have a family to celebrate it with. My friends were the only reason I actually celebrated Thanksgiving. I had my Peruvian, Irish, German, Thai, Spanish, Polish, friends come over and we had […]

by Laura Basset Carbonell

The fight to be right is wrong

We all think we are right when we have a conversation and happen to disagree, which often leads to anger and hurt feelings. And that’s the key: feelings are not expressed and neither the reasons why we feel hurt. That’s where we make the mistake, we don’t question what’s behind this person’s stance on a […]

by Laura Basset Carbonell

Those gloom and doom days

All my life I’ve suffered from “Gloom and doom days.” They come, run me over like a speeding truck and then, the next day, for no reason at all, the cloud lifts and I feel OK again. I can face another day, unlike the day before when my mind is so fogged by negative thoughts […]

by Laura Basset Carbonell

Floating between lives

Sometimes we float between lives. The one we had and the one that is to come. And while we try to figure out the future we miss the moment and know that we’ll look back and regret not having enjoyed this floating time. I’m floating, unattached to anything, which should be a pleasurable experience but […]

by Laura Basset Carbonell

Fun craft for Día de los Muertos

I find myself gearing up for the upcoming Día de los Muertos. As a Spanish teacher, I like to have the kids in my classes work on some aspect of the Hispanic culture. What better example of a colorful and beautiful celebration than Día de los Muertos? I´m having them create fun, but easy decorations […]

by Laura Basset Carbonell

When I want to die

Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but sometimes when I’m down and life gets too hard, it helps me to say aloud, with no one around, that I want to die. How can this help? It does, and a lot. Saying and acknowledging this feeling, this wanting to die, is like choosing to live. I let it […]

by Laura Basset Carbonell

Having a bad day doesn’t mean you have a bad life, but…

Having a bad day doesn’t mean you have a bad life, but those moments surely make it feel that way. How does one get over that feeling when everything suddenly feels wrong, hard and off? I had one of those days recently where the cloud hovered and then went onto enveloping me in a dense […]

by Laura Basset Carbonell

I stand corrected, I’m no longer single and will never be; I’m divorced.

It happened. I actually didn’t know that once you divorce you are no longer single and will never be. I was shocked at this realization when someone pointed it out to me on a legal form when I was renewing my Spanish passport. It was last week that I went to renew my passport at the Spanish […]

by Laura Basset Carbonell

Think white light

“Think white light” was what my friend Tom used to tell me when I was stressed or down. What he meant was to sit, breathe and simply focus on the white light taking over, covering me and cleansing my thoughts. It worked and still works but I have to remember the white light. It’s there […]