The Journey of Life

I became a statistic in December of 2002, when my husband, Russ Berrie, died of 

a massive stroke on Christmas Day. I joined a club I never wanted to belong to, 

along with 700,000 other women who lose their husbands each year. I will also 

reach another statistical marker for widows next year, when I hit the 14 year 

average that most women remain widows. (U.S. Census Bureau) 

Russell & Angelica Berrie

Widowhood, at any age, strikes women with disproportionate cruelty. As women 

tend to outlive their spouses, 84% of the 13.5 million people who lose their partners 
are women, 45% of those over 65 are females, four times as many widows as 
widowers (AARP). For widows over 65, 9.4% are likely to live below the low 
income threshold within five years of being widowed, a direct impact on their 
standard of living. Globally, over 115 million widows live in poverty. (UNITED 
NATIONS (AP) 6/23/2010) 

Thanksgiving: The Harvest of Presence

Thanksgiving is a national day of gratitude, a time to deepen our sense of presence. 

Deer in the woods

The essence of gratitude is rooted in attention, the awareness to witness the gifted nature of 
our lives. From a place of gratitude, we can unlock the fullness of each moment. 

Joy is the simplest form of gratitude. "Niente Senza Gioa!" (Nothing without Joy!) is a daily 
mantra to awaken our sense of wonder. Awake and alive, we see clearly the blessings that 
every single breath contains. 

May Thanksgiving be a time to harvest these moments of beauty in our life! 

The Lost Art of Wandering

Not all those who wander are lost. ~ J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Travel has always been for me an inner journey of awakening, a new way of seeing, a nurturing of the poetic instinct.

View of the Arc de Triomphe, Paris, 1946
Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

In Arabic literature of past ages, travel was considered one of the four great subjects worthy of the poet: love, song and blood, being the other three. These four contain the basic desires of the human heart, worthy of being elevated to a necessity for any human being who is truly alive. 

Celebrating 90 Years of Service at Holy Name Hospital

Holy Name's 2015 Annual Founders Ball was held last Saturday, October 10 at Pier 60 in Manhattan, New York.

Angelica with Holy Name CEO Mike Maron & wife Diane

This year was a particularly special one, as it celebrates the 90th anniversary of the founding of Holy Name Medical Center by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. 

The Refugee Crisis: A Leap in Empathy

The shift in the tide of empathy toward the global refugee crisis was undoubtedly the photo of a tiny Syrian boy's body on the beach, his shoes so small and his innocent face resting on the sand.

Two-year-old Alan Kurdi's image provoked people around the world to cry out at the injustice of humanity and the brutality of war. It awakened even the most apathetic soul to bring blankets and toys, open their homes, organize relief efforts and bypass traditional humanitarian agencies to respond in a deeply personal way.

At a time when we feel so much pain and don't know what to do for a global crisis that we have been helpless to act upon, we are awakened by the challenge to our soul of seeing our own humanity in the other. Knowing we cannot solve all the problems in the world has kept so many of us inside our own comfort zone, hesitant to take on the world.