renewal « Yellow Brick Road: Your Path to Heart & Health

Sunshine, Sidewalks and Cul de sacs

By Debra Basham, on January 1, 2025

One of the most wonderful things about being a snowbird is winter biking — New Year’s Day riding in low wind with clear skies is heavenly. Thankful for sidewalks. Especially thankful for all of the benefits of being either in a canal community or an intentional residential community designed where there are cul de sacs.

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Shame: One Hell of an Emotion

By Debra Basham, on December 30, 2024

An early morning phone call with a friend focused on shame. Her shocking statement was about being sick of feeling shame and the decision to not look at it, work with it, but to just be done with it. She decided to just say F&@K it…. if you know what she means.

I mentioned […]

Stand Wherever I am to be Blessed

By Debra Basham, on December 28, 2024

Sometimes I need only to stand wherever I am to be blessed. ~ Mary Oliver

As we have nights with no cockroach sightings we began the conversation about how we will know when it is safe for us to stop the vigilant lifestyle of keeping everything in snap tight storage bins or Ziplock bags. As […]

The Power of Love: Gecko and Cockroach

By Debra Basham, on December 7, 2024

The following article, titled “Athleticism,” was written, proof-read (by my amazing beta reader, Linda Comerford) and submitted many (MANY) weeks ago. It was scheduled to be published in our local newspaper today, December 7, 2024. The email containing the article either was not received, or it was received and misplaced or deleted because it was […]

Wicked: Part One

By Debra Basham, on November 28, 2024

“Some things I cannot change, but ’til I try I’ll never know.” ~ Elphaba, in Wicked

Becky O’Brien’s review on Cinelix gave high praise for the film version: “Having seen the film, I can’t imagine any of the songs not being there, everything feels integral to the story, and that can be attributed to the […]

Switch to a Different Puzzle

By Debra Basham, on November 17, 2024

I woke up this morning with Don Williams’ title line of his song reverberating in my head, “I Wouldn’t Want to Live if You Didn’t Love Me”.

The mind worm of the refrain was a likely result of yesterday’s conversation that turned stressful with my daughter, Stacey. We are in Tennessee with her spending […]

A Different World

By Debra Basham, on November 15, 2024

“In every age no matter how cruel the oppression carried on by those in power, there have been those who struggled for a different world. I believe this is the genius of humankind, the thing that makes us half Divine — the fact that some human beings can envision a world that has never existed.” […]

The Sublime Abiding

By Debra Basham, on November 8, 2024

Note* If you are a regular Yellow Brick Road reader you already know I write raw. This post comes with a warning.

The past few days have been busy as preparations for going south have progressed past pre-packing and accelerated to fever pitch. The pre-packing is essential because you never know what is going […]

True Confessions of an Apolitical Person

By Debra Basham, on November 6, 2024

I am making a public confession: I stopped voting 32 years ago. I thought I was doing that to be able to be a neutral witness to the differences and preferences in the world. A few days ago I had a profound sense I actually stopped voting because I had stopped trusting in my ability […]

How Now Shall We Live

By Debra Basham, on November 4, 2024

On October 17, 2024, a dharma sister sent an email sharing about a free on Youtube documentary titled “Living in the Time of Dying” a film by Michael Shaw that is 53 minutes and 31 seconds on the ‘how then shall we live’ about the climate crisis, but also about so much more.

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Yellow Brick Road: Your Path to Heart & Health