By Stacy Hope Small When you lose people you love, no matter the circumstances, there is a horrible feeling that hits you. It is called grief. Simply put, loss leads to grief. It’s unavoidable, but sometimes you get more than your share. I’ve had MORE than my share, losing both parents to cancer in their 60s. I was in my 30s when my dad got sick. My mom was first diagnosed with breast cancer when I was 25 and she was 49. It came and went for 18…

At a monthly event for the Bay Area travel industry last night, I looked around and was struck by how happy, engaged, and energized everyone appeared. The outdoor patio at Hotel Zelos was buzzing. I, too, was truly thrilled to be exchanging hugs and catching up with hotel GMs and…

So much of our joy in life stems from who we spend our time with. I was reminded of this on a personal and professional level yesterday. A one-day jaunt down to Silicon Valley unveiled a deeper fondness for my roots (a Syracuse University grad from upstate New York!) …

This is me, telling you, I am open for business. This is me, feeling super-inspired to sit down and write after spending an hour on ZOOM today with the iconic Anne Lamott. This quote about being “open for business” and making sure the universe knows it was just one of…

You’ve Got to Feel the Big D to Heal the Big D. This is what my very intuitive naturopath/wellness coach reminded me last week, in response to hearing my newly discovered, BIG, upsetting, hurtful news. She listened to me, and because we were on a Zoom, called me out on…

A Little Bit of Spirituality and a LOT of Letting Go Helps Us Ease Into These Very Different Times Let’s be honest. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do or where you live. For so many reasons, nothing about the past few years has felt easy or normal or precedented. That’s because it’s a whole new and different world. …

Forget the “or not to be” part of this question. Here’s why: As I rattled off to my wellness coach just a few of the things that happened the past few weeks that added uninvited stress and depleted my inner peace and joy, she asked me if I can practice…

This isn’t the first time I’ve tackled this topic, nor will it be the last. I think I first wrote a “joy is a choice” post back in 2014, shortly after my mom died. That was when I was awakening to the fact that everything happening “to” me was actually…

When it comes to what today’s high-end traveler wants, it’s pretty basic. …