uncertainty
Time for another poem.... uncertainty hanging in the hall corner on a spider web… knowing i now know uncertainty with quiet...
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OWLcourage
a blog invested in hope and creative possibility
Phyllis Kritek
- Aug 1
- 7 min
White Women
At its inception, the OWL in the name of this blog, OWLcourage referred not only to “owls”, the iconic image of wisdom which presented my...
Phyllis Kritek
- Jul 19
- 9 min
$1,651.99
At 6:30 AM on June 17, 2024, I tested positive for Covid 19 for the fourth time. Eight hours later, I went to my CVS and paid $1,651.99...
Phyllis Kritek
- May 30
- 6 min
Johnny Appleseed
The year my oldest daughter was ready to start kindergarten, we moved to a new city and rented an apartment while searching for a home to...
Phyllis Kritek
- May 14
- 8 min
Integrity
The word “integrity” has two somewhat complementary but distinct meanings. One focuses on “the quality of being honest and having strong...
Phyllis Kritek
- May 4
- 6 min
Productivity
Productivity is defined as the state or quality of producing something. This simple, seemingly harmless definition is amplified with...
Phyllis Kritek
- Apr 24
- 7 min
Competencies
My educational preparation as a professional registered nurse was in a collegiate baccalaureate program, an emergent leap forward in the...
Phyllis Kritek
- Apr 15
- 4 min
Flowers
Spring comes early in Goleta, with harbingers announced in February, a shock to my midwestern system of weather management. Suddenly I...
Phyllis Kritek
- Apr 9
- 1 min
Corridors
(This poem showed up early this morning, unexpected and uninvited, and volunteered to be my next blog post. I was startled, skeptical,...
Phyllis Kritek
- Mar 4
- 9 min
Belief Systems
The concept of “belief systems” has a wide variety of meanings, so my first intention here is to share what meaning that concept has for...
Phyllis Kritek
- Feb 25
- 6 min
Taylor and Caitlin
If you immediately added the last names, you may, like me, have taken note of these two amazing women who have captured the imagination...
Phyllis Kritek
- Feb 21
- 4 min
Life Lessons
Like many humans, I have spent a portion of my life grappling with the lurking uncertainty about the meaning of my existence, always...
Phyllis Kritek
- Feb 7
- 5 min
Improvement
Few national values are as readily observable as the one that incessantly declares that we Americans seek “Improvement”. Indeed, we...
Phyllis Kritek
- Jan 8
- 6 min
Letting Go
Virtually every wisdom system I have studied, and of course my pattern is insistent and persistent, eventually advises me to learn to...
Phyllis Kritek
- Dec 19, 2023
- 6 min
Expectations
Over time, I have learned to think of this time of the year in the US as the season of “Great Expectations”, explanatory without being...
Phyllis Kritek
- Dec 10, 2023
- 5 min
Kindness
I have been the recipient of thousands of acts of kindness during my life. I think most people could say the same thing if they reflected...
Phyllis Kritek
- Oct 28, 2023
- 5 min
Bearing Witness
On January 25, 2024 I will provide a one-day workshop on Creative Conflict Engagement to a group of nurses as part of their fellowship...
Phyllis Kritek
- Oct 2, 2023
- 5 min
Chumash Intertribal Powwow
Yesterday I attended the Chumash Intertribal Powwow in St. Inez, my first powwow in California. I have attended powwows in Wisconsin,...
Phyllis Kritek
- Sep 23, 2023
- 5 min
I'm 80
Shortly after my 80th birthday last February, I started “field testing” the statement “I’m 80”. I did so out of a curiosity catalyzed by...
Phyllis Kritek
- Sep 8, 2023
- 6 min
Gooseberries
A gooseberry is defined as “a round edible yellowish-green or reddish berry with a thin translucent hairy skin.” Just reading this...
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