By: Michelle Whipple March 21, 2021March 21, 2021 Travel, Uncategorizedfeatured, Female solo travel, Feminist, girls just want to feel safe, safe travel, solo travel, Travel, violence against womenLeave a Comment

What if I decided I was safe?

When I was first married, I lived in a laundromat. I say it that way because the apartment was actually IN the building of the laundromat, but I wasn’t sleeping on washing machines at night. During my short time there, I encountered a man who used the bathroom sink every morning to bathe and then…

By: Michelle Whipple March 7, 2021March 7, 2021 Creativity, UncategorizedCreativity, Elizabeth Gilbert, featured, Jungian Psychology, Muse, music, play, Positive Psychology, Writing2 Comments

A Well-Tended Muse

When there are too many things for the hours in the day, call upon a well-tended muse.

By: Michelle Whipple March 6, 2021March 7, 2021 Poetry, UncategorizedCreativity, Ease, featured, Nature, Poetry, Self TrustLeave a Comment

Be.

Rest in cool water. Dance in flame. Lick up morsels lobbed onto my plate. I was born in ease, In the universe, In myself. Hung the world round my neck, Its weight pulling nearer, nearer to the floor. Stop that. Let it clatter on the floorboards. Skip into the mud forest. Find a shelf fungus,…

By: Michelle Whipple February 21, 2021February 21, 2021 Mental Health, Travel, UncategorizedConsciousness, featured, Getaway, Maui, Mental Health, Positive Psychology, TravelLeave a Comment

Hello, Righteous Rant

Learning to be conscious through a travel delay in a pandemic year, while mercury is in retrograde.

By: Michelle Whipple November 15, 2020February 19, 2021 Mental Health, Spirituality, Uncategorizedfeatured, happiness, Kundalini Yoga, Memoir, Mindfulness, Personal Narrative, Positive Psychology, YogaLeave a Comment

Happiness: The Basics

You know, Michelle’s not happy. A few weeks ago I was talking to a friend who recently went through divorce. She mentioned that in the course of her separation process, someone we both know, pointed to me and my situation and said THAT. First, WTF. How does someone in another state who I talk to…

By: Michelle Whipple November 1, 2020February 19, 2021 Spirituality, Uncategorized90s, confidence, faith, featured, Positive Psychology, SpiritualityLeave a Comment

Conversion

I was thinking about the boom box at Baskin Robbins the other day. The tinny sound of Mix 105.5 floating over the trickle of water through the scoop basins and the chorus hum of freezers. I can’t hear a Billy Idol song without thinking of that boom box (was every night 80s night?). Natalie Imbruglia,…

By: Michelle Whipple October 4, 2020February 19, 2021 Spirituality, Uncategorizedbreakups, featured, relationships, SpiritualityLeave a Comment

Boyfriends

A year ago this month, my then-boyfriend of four or five months abruptly broke up with me with little explanation. And he did it in sort of an angry way, four days after my grandpa passed away. I went to the funeral devastated. I went to work. I took my son to swimming lessons. I…

By: Michelle Whipple September 29, 2020February 20, 2021 Mental Health, Motherhood, UncategorizedDrug Addiction, featured, Heroin, Mental Health, Positive Psychology, Psychology, Substance UseLeave a Comment

The thorns we keep

Do you, my dear reader, have a story you can put down?

It’s just a story, after all.

Poem A Day: Week 4

By: Michelle Whipple May 16, 2021

Creativity, PoetryAmy Kay Poetry, Creativity, PoetryLeave a Comment

Phewph! as R likes today. That was a lot of poems and I did lose momentum at the end because–life. But I have a couple of thoughts about completing the challenge. First, it was really fun! Not that I always loved the obligation of writing so many poems in such a short time, but it…

Poem A Day: Week 3

By: Michelle Whipple April 25, 2021

Creativity, PoetryAmy Kay Poetry, National Poetry Month, Poetry, Shel SilversteinLeave a Comment

Whew! Week three is done–one more week to go. It’s been really fun to get feedback from my readers about these. I’m updating as I go on Instagram, if you want to follow there @michelledwhipple. I also just added a mom jean exposé to my Highlights. If you asked me to explain what makes a…

Poem A Day: Week 2

By: Michelle Whipple April 18, 2021

Creativity, Poetry, UncategorizedAmy Kay Poetry, Creativity, National Poetry Month, PoetryLeave a Comment

Lots of feelings this week on and off the page. I got a little worn out on poetry writing but I’m also halfway through! Thanks again to @amykaypoetry for providing the prompts. And if you aren’t following me on Instagram, you’re missing some of my content! Find me @michelledwhipple 🙂 Day 8: Mildly Interesting As…

Poem A Day: Week 1

By: Michelle Whipple April 9, 2021April 9, 2021

Creativity, Poetry, UncategorizedCreativity, PoetryLeave a Comment

April is National Poetry Month and I’ve been writing a pome a day for the #amykaypoemaday challenge. It’s been really fun! Here’s what I’ve got from week one. If you feel inspired, follow @amykaypoetry on Instagram and you can see the prompts every day. This challenge is completely about participation points. You get points for…