Tammy Letherer, Author at

Updated on June 9, 2016January 22, 20151 CommentBlog

I am 16…going on 49

I continue to be amazed at the way life works; how seemingly random threads can begin weaving themselves into a perfect tapestry right before my eyes.

Recently I had an opportunity to take my daughter to Toledo for a voice audition. I spent several high school years just outside Toledo, and hadn’t been back in 30 years. My mother made the trip with my daughter and I, and after the audition we managed to find the house where we used to live.

Of course it looked small. And forlorn. But then this was the last place my family lived before my parents divorced. I remember a fight on the front lawn involving a wedding punch bowl that my dad was taking. Shortly after, my mom, sister, and I moved to a tiny apartment.

I was 16, and did not have a place I felt at home.

Updated on June 9, 2016January 17, 2015Leave a CommentBlog

Is Your Nest Feeling Empty?

The birds are back!

I have a bird feeder in my back yard and I recently made some homemade suet for it using bird seed, peanut butter, bacon grease, and Crisco. I was sure I would attract all the best birds and be the hit of the neighborhood. I waited and waited, but no birds came. Maybe they didn’t like what I had to offer, or maybe it was just too cold. I was disappointed.

Have you ever offered yourself in one way or another, only to have nothing happen? Do you ever feel like you’ve done all the right things, scattered all the right seeds, but you’re still waiting for love, or the right career, or a feeling of fulfillment?

Updated on June 9, 2016January 16, 2015Leave a CommentBlog

As Within, So Without

If I were to walk through your home, what story would I create about you based on your things?

I worked with a woman whose home was filled with thrift store “steals.” Everything was cheap and used. Not surprisingly, she was struggling with low self-esteem. She described herself as feeling “second-best” and didn’t understand why men used her, then “threw her away.”

This woman happened to have the lovely and enviable trait of seeing the good in all people and things. She brought a joyful, childlike wonder to her relationships and belongings. But she wasn’t acknowledging this unique quality in herself.

Updated on June 9, 2016January 12, 20151 CommentBlog

Let Beauty Interrupt Your Day

This summer my kids and I rented a cottage near Lake Michigan. The location was a beauty, but the interior was barren and plain. Never mind the mattresses on the floor, the leaky shower, the empty cupboards, or the dirty, crooked window blinds. As we told each other, it was a step up from camping, and we could make the best of it. We had fun playing badminton, walking to the cafe for coffee, and swimming at the beach.

So I wasn’t sure why, the next morning, I felt unusually uneasy and unsettled. As I stood in the tiny living room and looked around, it hit me: there wasn’t a single moment of beauty within those four walls. As a Taurus, I know I like pretty things. I’m drawn to order, symmetry, and good design. But I’d never realized before that beauty is more than a preference. It’s a need. I felt the lack of it on a physical and energetic level.

Updated on June 9, 2016January 8, 2015Leave a CommentBlog

When Your Belongings Don’t Belong

Paul is a 45-year-old former professional football player who has been divorced for 6 years. He was still living in the house he shared with his wife and children. The day he invited me over, I found him standing next to his china hutch looking frustrated.

“What’s wrong with this picture?” he asked. “I’m a 45-year-old single man with a china cabinet!”

His frustration had been building for months. He wanted to sell his house and create a new life for himself, but wasn’t sure how to start. Fortunately his inner wisdom spoke loudly in that first sentence.

Updated on June 9, 2016January 5, 2015Leave a CommentBlog

No Place Like Home

It’s hard to believe we’re nearly a week into 2015! Though I’m not one for resolutions, I did have every intention of writing this on January 1st. But I’ve been busy coming home–both to my apartment and to myself.

As you may know, 2014 presented me with the opportunity and the necessity of renting out my place for income. I certainly enjoyed the hospitality aspect of having guests. My family name is “Inman” so I suppose inn keeping is in my blood! But the nomadic nature of life became more than a little tiring.

Three kids and a dog sharing airbeds and basement floors can go from adventurous to harrowing faster than you’d think.

Updated on June 9, 2016December 9, 2014Leave a CommentBlog

Are you the girl you mean to be?

I’m sharing a video of my daughter singing “The Girl I Mean to Be” from The Secret Garden for several reasons. First, of course, is being proud as can be of her. She sang this for an audition in Ohio last week and knocked ’em dead.

More than that, though, is that this song speaks so powerfully to the little girl I once was.

Updated on June 9, 2016December 4, 2014Leave a CommentBlog

The Story of the Burglar and the Bread

Several years ago I lived next to a woman who was rather eccentric. She lived alone, and had an elaborate web of chains and padlocks rigged from her porch posts to her front door. One day, as I was getting into my car with my daughter, the woman approached us and, unprompted, launched into a story.

“Someone broke into my house,” she said.

My daughter leaned forward, listening intently, and I cringed. She was only 3 years old at the time and I didn’t want her to have nightmares.

Updated on June 9, 2016December 3, 2014Leave a CommentBlog

Giving Broccoli the Finger!

If you had told me 15 years ago, before I had kids, that feeding them a balanced diet would be my biggest challenge, I would not have believed it. Sibling rivalry? Too much TV? Bad grades? I was prepared for all of that. But seeing a lone stalk of broccoli or stray leaf of spinach with the power to send kids screaming, nearly igniting World War 3, has had me waving the white flag. I finally realized that the focus had to be on empowering my kids; it was time for the command to change hands.

In my house we talk often about the power of our hands. As an energy medicine practitioner, I encourage my kids to tune into the energy of their food, their thoughts, and their bodies. I want them to experience the subtle shifts that can be detected by the palms as a result of simply “activating” them through intention.

Updated on June 9, 2016December 2, 2014Leave a CommentBlog

We Are All Children Here

Recently I went to hear Don Jose Ruiz, the author of The Fifth Agreement, speak to a group of teens. He told stories about his own troubled adolescence and what it was like growing up as the son of best-selling spiritual author, Don Miguel Ruiz. He talked about his father making him stay home one night when his friends when out, and what it felt like to hear that their car had crashed and his best friend was killed. He talked about trying to take his own life with a knife.

Tammy Letherer

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