Cultivate Your Inner Garden
"The design of our garden of life keeps growing and changing."

Dear Friend,
  Now that two-thirds of the winter is behind us, this is a good time to think about spring cleaning.  Many of my friends are poring over seed and flower catalogs right about now, dreaming up what they want to grow this year.
Making choices in our lives is very much like planning our gardens - only the seeds that we "order" represent the thoughts and behaviors that create the circumstances around and within us. Over time, these seeds are the basis for what grows and develops, both in our bodies and our lives. March and April are the perfect months to take stock of the new thoughts we want to sow, and which old favorites we want to continue ordering and planting. The design of our garden of life keeps growing and changing, and constantly requires weeding, pruning, fertilizing, and turning over the soil. Just so, creating a life worth living requires the same process.
To help cultivate your garden of life, I've focused this issue of my newsletter on certain subjects that tend to spread strangling weeds in many people's lives: addictions and chonic pain. The good news is that it's completely possible to remove those offending plants so that something new and more vital can grow in their place.

   The first step is getting to the core of what's bothering you. And that's exactly what my articles on "Healing Chronic Pain" and the book Holy Hunger will help you do.
In addition, I've featured the work of birth intuitive Teresa Robertson, a midwife who has assisted many of my patiens and friends conceive and gestate healthy babies. Connecting with the mind, body, and spirit in fertility and pregnancy is the path that propelled my lifework years ago. And the principles that help women have healthy pregnancies are exactly the ones that help create healthy bodies and healthy lives. (I've written extensively on this topic in my new book Mother - Daughter Wisdom: Creating a Legacy of Physical and Emotional Health [Bantam, 2005] - the first four chapters of which are dedicated to conception, pregnancy, labor and birth, and the postpartum period!)
   Then on a lighter note, I've included in this issue my review of the exquisite movie De-Lovely, showcasing the life and music of Cole Porter (portrayed by Kevin Kline) and the extraordinary relationship he had with his wife (played by Ashley Judd).

Welcome to Spring!