When just being where you are is enough. With more free time on my hands, I’ve begun to venture out and explore more of the local area. It’s full of hiking trails, winding side roads, small towns, art galleries and restaurants—of which I’ve only explored a small fraction. On a beautiful sunny day last week, when

Outer change can be quick, but inner change takes time and patience. The outer circumstances of my life have shifted in some very obvious ways over the past few months, but at this point I’d say that the more inner transformative change I’ve been trying to nurture is progressing less noticeably and far more gradually.

Inner tension builds when you decide to “stay the course” and put off responding to a “calling.” Hearing the news of the earthquakes that devastated parts of central Italy the first week of April 2009 served as another reminder of the uncertainty and preciousness of this life, and the importance of not squandering it.  

After years of dreaming and planning and taking small steps, Richard Lawton is making the leap, downshifting from corporate executive to forest dweller. After years of dreaming and planning, I finally made the transition from working full-time in a corporate office to moving to the Catskills full-time, downshifting to part-time work from home. The many scenarios that I created