This is a narrated essay from my Substack newsletter, Glorious Ordinary.

The kernel of this essay is the still image from the 1950’s melodrama, All That Heaven Allows: an older woman looking at her reflection in a TV screen. I saw this Douglas Sirk movie for the first time decades ago and this particular image stuck with me. Apt for our times, and I thought I would write about screens and their deleterious effects, but happily the essay is not that dull!

It’s about a delicious morning without screens but it’s also about sons misunderstanding what their mothers really need, running away with the gardener; a cabin, a cat and a writing desk, and how understanding matters and how it absolutely doesn’t.

“If you understand, things are just as they are. If you do not understand, things are just as they are.” ~Zen proverb

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* I am passionate writer and poet on Substack. * A mindfulness teacher on Insight Timer offering guided meditations and talks. Download the app for access to an amazing array of free and premium content, including mine! *I’m a life & executive coach with a niche helping women navigate the consequences of leaving an abusive workplaces. Message me here or on LinkedIn to schedule a free initial meeting and learn more.

NOTE regarding AI use: I do not AI in any part of my writing process: from conceiving and nurturing ideas, to editing drafts, to writing the final essay. This is the work of one human doing her best to write essays and poetry on a somewhat regular schedule. We don’t need more content, we need heart-centered human content. Sometimes that takes longer.

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