Susan Mary Malone

I lived much of my life as a worrier.  In fact, I’ve been known for it!  As friends often said, “Oh, I know you’ll worry.”  Doesn’t much matter what the “about” was.  I just worried. Fretted, may be a better word! As one friend said, “You always go to the dark side.”  Yep! Once something […]

All through Latin America, a myth is told about the woman weeping upon the river bank in the dead of night.  She weeps eternally, for she has drowned her children in the dark waters below. Well, now, that’s a lovely myth, you say! Ah, the beauty of myths—the true ones have teeth to them. And […]

The Internal Predator: The true monster at the gate. But you don’t have one of those, right?  No evil haunts your dreams, chasing you through the night.  You gave that up long ago, you say?  No hairy beasts nor malevolent men prey upon your nightmares like a serial killer run amok? Really? A funny thing […]

“Once, long ago, in a far-off country in a tiny village . . . “ So many myths and stories begin that way, and many folks hear that to think, oh, this is just a fairytale. And yes, yes it is a fairytale.  But the essence of true myths and fairytales slices down into our […]

Because that’s really what I went there to do! Long ago, I lived far far out in the boonies, all alone out on the farm, writing and learning my craft and loving every second of it all. But people in the country need entertainment too, you know? And there was this dancehall . . . […]

We talk a lot about fears and facing them, of pursuing goals and dreams and the fortitude necessary to achieve them.  About quests, and the myriad tasks to master, and demons to deal with along the roads to our destinies. But one thing rests below the surface of all of these things: The courage required […]

That old Protestant Work Ethic (PWE).  Many of us were brought up under it, had it instilled in us, woven into the very fabric of our beings. We found this at home, at work, even in our places of worship. “Idle hands are the Devil’s Workshop,” was seared into our brains. We did a lot […]

Well, come to find out we do!  Even though this may seem like a nebulous science, psychologists of course study these things.  Quantitatively. And have been studying happiness for long enough to give us rock-solid insights. I just love when science proves theories.  It tweaks me.  The things we once thought created happiness, most of […]

Well, doesn’t that just fly in the face of all things people working on happiness and positivity and toward a big goal focus upon.  I mean the whole point of the exercise, in whatever endeavor, is to be successful, no? Of course. But the point here is not to quit being successful, but to quit […]

Nasty little bugger, that fear.  Many times it bubbles up from the expected places.  And sometimes it flies in your face from a sudden realization or occurrence. But when it settles in, it’s always about a future event.  Having that right now.  Over the last few days news came of the truly terrible kind from […]

I bet you can list your bad habits.  Can’t’cha?  When you think of habits, what pops right up are all those things you need to change.  Been meaning to change.  Know you should change.  Promised your spouse, your mother, you would . . .   Etc. Because that’s what we tend to focus on—what we do […]

We all hate to fail.  Of course we do.  We don’t set out to accomplish anything with the thought of failing in mind. Okay, so I’ve always thought with pre-nups before marriage folks were hedging their bets.  In fact, I’d love to see a study of the percentage of people signing those whose marriages do […]