Here is an idea for a way to share the gift of story this season. It works well in the cozy circle of family that many of us won’t have in person this year. But it also works beautifully in a Zoom gathering!

“Story Seeds” is a game anyone can play that makes spontaneous storytellers of us all. I often play it in my workshops where there are several people, but you could play it with just two people if you don’t have a whole group nearby.......

The wisdom of the ancients understood the place for both light and darkness. Although we might like to have all light all the time, we live on the physical plane where without one, the other does not exist. Solstice is a celebration of equal measure light and dark. It comes on December 21, around the time when many festivals of light are celebrated around the world such as Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza, Yule, and St. Lucia Day.

I’m all for joy and good cheer, the more the better. However, I’ve often struggled with relentless holiday merriment when, as an adult, holidays bear a mixed bag of childhood memories and current reality, some delightful, some difficult.

Several years ago, it occurred to me that during the holiday ......