Author Archives: linabranter

Notes from the Pandemic: There is only the present

Time has expanded into an eternal present, engulfing the past and the future like a large two-way tsunami. I guess that’s how it always is, really, but mostly, when I’m bustling about going from work to more work to making dinner to worrying about bills/upcoming taxes/my disengaged daughter [insert frantic worry here] it seems likeContinue reading “Notes from the Pandemic: There is only the present”

Silver Lining: Productive Isn’t Always What We Think It Is

Transcript A whole lot of time and space have suddenly been dumped on my lap as if all my backorders for my entire life have been filled all at once and honestly, I don’t quite know what to do with it. No, that’s not quite right. It is not that I don’t know what toContinue reading “Silver Lining: Productive Isn’t Always What We Think It Is”

Podcast #1: How Our Limiting Beliefs Can Hurt the World

Audio Transcript I firmly believe the next stage of evolution for humanity is self-awareness. As the world shuts down because of the Coronavirus and the stakes for taking responsibility for our actions are at a critical high, it is more important than ever that we learn how to communicate and cooperate better. The crucial firstContinue reading “Podcast #1: How Our Limiting Beliefs Can Hurt the World”

Hellish Years: Five Years Later

It has been five years. Five. Half a decade since my husband told me in one breath he was having an affair and didn’t know if he wanted to be married anymore. (Turns out he did want to be married, just not to me. But whatever. Why split hairs at this late date?) Five yearsContinue reading “Hellish Years: Five Years Later”

My Abortion: A Story of Privilege and Un-Shame

When I was 20 years old I was a total mess of a human being. The snowballing of bad choices began in my 18th year at around graduation. The end of high school coincided with the end of my first real love relationship. I was to blame for that, and because I was to blame,Continue reading “My Abortion: A Story of Privilege and Un-Shame”

A Day in the Life: Sadness in the Afternoon

I work in an office now. It is a mobile space and I am constantly surrounded by people. Every morning I fetch my computer and keyboard and everything else from my designated locker and roam the floor until I spy an available desk. I try to sit in the same spot every day, though IContinue reading “A Day in the Life: Sadness in the Afternoon”

On the Illusion of Communication

“The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”- George Bernard Shaw I’ve always thought of myself as a good communicator. I thought I was doing awesome. I could string those sentences together like nobody’s business. I was sending out clear messages to the world! Yeah, right. That illusion heldContinue reading “On the Illusion of Communication”

On my Toxic Relationship to Time

I was listening to the On Being podcast the other day and I heard a phrase that struck me the way a mallet hits a gong. It was one of the last interviews the poet and philosopher, John O’Donohue, gave before his untimely death in 2008. It is worth listening to and then listening toContinue reading “On my Toxic Relationship to Time”